Tomis Kapitan

John Searle describes our sense of freedom as an experience of a "gap" between an intentional action and its psychological antecedents, specifically, our reasons.. Since the gap is itself understood as a lack of causation, then no agent can accept the antecedent determination of voluntary action except at the price of "practical inconsistency." I argue that despite Searle's insightful discussion,

There have been five major wars between Israelis and Arabs. While differing in immediate causes, objectives, and impact, each was rooted in the comparatively recent conflict between Jews and Arabs over Palestine. In 1917, the British government pledged to facilitate establishment of a "Jewish national home" in Palestine, and during Britain's Mandate over Palestine (1922-1948) immigration increased the Jewish presence from less than 10 percent of the population in 1918 to one-third by 1947. Overwhelming Arab opposition spiraled into rebellion during the late 1930s, prompting Britain to declare in 1939 that it was not part of Mandate policy that Palestine should become a Jewish state. However, in November 1947, the UN General Assembly recommended partition of Palestine into a Jewish state on 54 percent of mandated territory and an Arab state on 45 percent, with Jerusalem under UN administration. Publicly, most Zionists agreed to this compromise but the Arab countries were opposed, declaring the resolution to be a violation of self-determination. Fighting immediately broke out among the Palestinian Arabs and Jews, and when British forces evacuated in mid-May 1948. the better equipped and more numerous Jewish forces established a clear superiority, capturing territory assigned to the proposed Arab state. Civilians on both sides were targeted, but massacres like that at the Arab village of Deir Yassin in April by Jewish irregulars precipitated a widespread exodus of Arabs from their homes and villages.

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