On May 14, 1948, the leaders of Jewish statehood in Palestine gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum to hear David Ben Gurion read a declaration of independence. After 32 minutes, Ben-Gurion said: “The State of Israel has arisen. The meeting is over.” That was it. Israel was born. It took the say so of a few men convinced that their nation’s time for self-determination had come. They didn’t need the United Nations’ partition map. They didn’t need Arab recognition. They certainly weren’t going to let Arab hostility stop them. It took Harry Truman just 11 minutes to recognize Israel’s existence.
It has taken Israel and the United States 63 years, and counting, to recognize Palestinians’ equal right to exist. The Obama administration, shamelessly and unpardonably, is about to make matters worse by blocking a Palestinian attempt to gain recognition as a state at the United Nations. The administration’s pandering to Israel and its contempt for the principles of our own Declaration of Independence will demolish what’s left of its credibility in an Arab world daily being remade along principles America is abandoning.
Click On:
- Fact-Checking Rick Perry on Palestine-Israel
- When Obama Bombs
- U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel, 1949-2011
- The Rise of Egyptian Aspirations, The Fall of the American Brand
- Gainesville’s Terry Jones Did Not Murder 11 UN Workers and Afghans. Muslims Did.
In the United States and Israel, the story goes that it’s Palestinians who deny Israel’s right to exist. A minority of Palestinians do, and only on paper and in their blinkered, bigoted fantasies. A majority of them have long ago recognized that opposing Israel’s right to exist is like imagining that the sky can be turned green. It won’t happen. The Palestinian Authority and the PLO formally recognized Israel’s right to exist in 1993 and renounced terrorism. Hamas, the break-away militant organization, continues to reject Israeli existence, but with about as much hope of carrying through that rejection as nutty Texans have of one day being their own state again. It’s an idiot’s fantasy.
Israel, on the other hand, has brutally denied Palestinians’ right to exist—not just in words, but in every reality that counts, by denying them a country of their own, a history, a culture, an identity (it’s an Israeli fancy that Palestine and Palestinians as such have never and do not exist), by continuing to oppress, humiliate and kill them, as illegitimate military occupations usually do. Their homes are demolished, their properties expropriated, their lands diminished by the continued illegal colonization of East Jerusalem and the West Bank by Israeli occupiers still euphemistically but inaccurately referred to as “settlers.” The euphemism is accepted practice in every American media, a complicity to injustice—and an overt bias—that goes unremarked, as do other distortions.
Palestinians, overwhelmingly civilians, have been killed at six times the rate of Israelis since 2000, and double the rate since the end of Israel’s last bloodletting—the barbaric assault on Gaza at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. Specifically, Israeli forces have killed 227 Palestinians since that assault, most of them civilians. Israeli civilians have murdered six additional Palestinians. In comparison, Palestinians have killed 16 Israeli civilians and four Israeli soldiers, for a total of 20 Israelis, a ratio of almost 12-to-1. The numbers alone are terrorizing, to say nothing of the human cost. But the American press still manages to portray the situation as a lopsided pity for a besieged Israel, its back against an imaginary wall.
One wall is there, of course. Israel built it around Palestinian portions of the West Bank, a wall no less sordid than the Soviet one that once divided Berlin. Israel hasn’t needed to build a wall around Gaza. It maintains a blockade there by sea, air, tanks and infantry, creating, in the words of the Turkish prime minister, “an open-air prison.” You can’t blame Palestinians for saying: enough.
In a few days, Palestinians at the United Nations are going to call for a vote on statehood. They’re turning the tables on 1948. Almost every nation on earth will be supportive except two: Israel and the United States. The Obama administration is putting on a strange spectacle as it tries desperately to avert that vote and convince the Palestinians not to do what every fiber of American principle ought to be supporting and celebrating for the Palestinians: a declaration of self-determination and independence. Obama’s posse is arguing against evidence that the only just course is face-to-face negotiations, as if that would be nullified if Palestinians had their own state. Of course it wouldn’t be: it would enable Palestinians to negotiate from a more equal position, an equality Israel dreads and has been denying them, with American help, all along. Besides, Obama came to power raising expectations that he would get Palestinians and Israelis to the negotiating table, ending eight wasted years under George W. Bush, whose lip service to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was Obamesque.
The Obama administration is pulling its latest denial of Palestinian rights even as it’s been backhandedly supporting the aspirations of the Arab spring and the overthrow of tyrannies in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, though you can’t accuse Obama of being consistent on the matter. He talks a good game of condemning the Syrian regime’s murders of its own people, but sends an envoy to kiss the ring of the Bahraini king who has been doing the same thing with his people. He looks the other way when Bahrain calls on Saudi tanks to help with the skull-crushing (understanding that most of Saudi Arabia’s military is American-built and American-trained). The difference is that the United States depends on Bahrain to host the Navy’s 5th Fleet in the Persian Gulf. And Obama continues to give Saudi Arabia, the Middle East’s most repressive and backward nation—socially, politically, religiously—a pass.
Obama came to office portraying himself as Palestinians’ best hope for independence. He’s turned into just another obstructionist. He opposes Palestinian independence in part because he worries about losing the Jewish vote in Florida in 2012. How low his sights have fallen, though on that score he has the majority of the American public with him: the untenable contradiction between brandishing American ideals for everyone else while denying them for Palestinians is one Israeli import that remains recession- and reality-proof. The outcome will be ruinous, but self-inflicted.
Other Views on Palestinian Statehood:
- Reza Aslan: Yes to a Palestinian State
- Ephraim Karsh: There Is No Palestinian State
- Robert Danin: Why the Move Is an Unnecessary Gamble
- Gideon Levy: Israel does not want a Palestinian state. Period.
- Gideon Levy: Obama’s Historic Opportunity
- Jeff Barak: Playing a Dangerous Game
- Rick Perry: Tne U.S. Must Support Israel at the U.N.
Toomer says
Syrian, Jordian, Iranian refugees is what makes up the group . There is no palestinian people. As such, NO palestine state.
Mary says
Illegal occupation? Self determination and independence? These people do not want to live peacefully. Toomer is correct, there is no Palistinian people.
They want to annihilate Israel and then the United States. No other Arab country wants them. They kill just as many Israeli children in their beds with their rockets. The Israelis fight for the right to protect their own people. I don’t condone any of this behavior, but there will never be peace between among these people. When they are attacked, Israel retaliates harshly. They do not attack without provocation.
We support Israel; that is not going to change. Israel has been our ally.
Where are you getting your figures? I’m sorry, but I find this article offensive.
Pierre Tristam says
These people Mary? These people? Why not call them sand niggers as long as you’re at it and be done with it (as I’ve been called a few times, along with ragheads and towelheads, to finer sensibilities). You should find the article offensive, though that’s an understatement: What Israel (and Obama) have been doing is beyond offensive. It’s a daily crime on a mass scale. Incidentally, this article is relatively tame compared to what you’d read in the Israeli press about Israel, the Israeli press being considerably less hung up about describing things as they are than ours is.
Where am I getting my figures? I’m glad you asked, because I don’t cite on faith. I like my facts verified, not foxified. If you mean the death tally and the outrageous kill ratio, which includes far more Palestinian children massacred by Israelis than the reverse, the figures are compiled by B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights organization. Have a look at their complete sets of stats. I challenge you to find a single one where Palestinians are causing more damage or more bloodshed than Israelis.
You could also check out the United Nations’ weekly “Protection of Civilian Weekly Report” for the week of Sept. 7-13, or any week for that matter (they’re archived, going back years. Here’s what you get in current edition, in part:
It goes on. Have a look. You have no idea.
Then again, like Toomer, you don’t think Palestinians exist, they’re even less than subhuman to you: they’re off the map, so naturally any numbers that might show what blood they shed would be suspect, since they have no blood to shed and no place to be other than where they are not seen, not heard, and preferably not mentioned, for fear of offending.
real people says
for 630 some years the Ottoman Empire controlled that area all the way to Spain, every one worked for the Ottoman including my great grandfather (whom was a Governor from Gaza strip to south Lebanon) , many started as farmers harvested the land leased to them (per say) by The Ottoman and they paid their dues and this land got passed on to generation after the other to the point every one believed that’s their land and during and after world war I the European Jews (and while the Ottoman Empire in financial trouble) bought this land from the Ottomans. the only area the Ottoman never controlled or occupied is the mountain of Lebanon that’s why was a saying ( congrats to whom has a Goat sleeping place in the mounting of Lebanon.) and the mounting of Lebanon was and always occupied by Lebanese Catholics and Greek Orthodox and they where very close to the west (France and England) and that’s how Lebanon ended up to be the only Cristian ruled state back then, now it is equal or less when comes to Islam.
Mr Toomer: with all do respect the Iranian has nothing to do with this story back then. the Iranian are Persian, and they existed way before Islam and they weren’t Islam back then, they had their on religion and what I liked about it, it had simple rules: see good, think good, say good and do good. and when comes to King Hussein the king of Jordan he was placed their at age of 18 after he was educated in England and was replaced by an English ruler till he reached the age of 18, in reality King Hussein or the Hashimy family where the Profit Mohamed ancestors and they suppose to rule Saudi Arabia but the deal back then handed Saudi Arabia to AL sood (the famiy pf sood) and it was in agreement with king Faisal in exchange of the existence of the Jewish state. and when come to Syria the Ottoman called the whole area (belad al Shaam) means the country of Shaam which is the capital of Syria now.
I can go on and on, but guys please remember, they all cousins and will never be peace in this part of the world.
Jojo says
I can see your point Pierre. This area has a long history of occupation and I do see the hopelessness of the area. I try to understand the different factions and issues in the area with no scholarly results to settlement for everyone.
I compare Palestine to the English occupation of Northern Ireland. It’s our land and I firmly believe that the British return it to the people of the Republic of Ireland.
Mary says
I do have an idea, I have seen it.
There are two sides to every story, Pierre. Do you think statehood will stop the violence?
Michelle says
who cares.
rdh says
Are these the same people who supported and harbored Bin Ladin while milking the USA for billions of dollars every year???
Yogi says
Israel is a sovereign country. She doesn’t have to give up one square foot of her land to anyone just because a majority of the world feels it is right and moral to do. This would be equal to any ethnic group demanding statehood and sovereignty within the borders of the Untied States just because they say so and are supported by the United Nations.
that is theft and I, as an American, won’t support it. You won’t win your argument by attacking the legitimacy of Israel’s right to exist. That is exactly what you appear to be doing. You leave a lot of holes in your story. Very biased.
Pierre Tristam says
Yogi, you’re misreading the piece. No one is asking Israel to give up any of her land. The West Bank and East Jerusalem are not her land. They’re occupied territory under every definition of international law and a half dozen Security Council resolutions. Nor is the piece anywhere so much as hinting against the legitimacy of Israel’s existence. Your suggestion that it does is flat-out lie, though a rote and tired tactic used against critics of Israel that displays precisely the sort of bias you accuse the piece of. You fall in your own holes.
palmcoaster says
As I can see here we still have many of my fellow Americans believing that these Palestinians have no right to statehood and that is what will keep our young men diying for a wealthy greedy allied interest, on the region. Is like feeding two sides of this fire and using our soldiers and hard earned taxes to water down this engulfing fire. There is still people in America so brainwashed that believe that all these past and present conflicts so costly in our boys and girls lives and in money, will achieve total control of the Muslim world by us and the Israelis. We never learn nothing then, specially the fact that ” We can only kill a man while immortalizing their cause, by doing so” Why don’t we get the hell out of there and let “whoever, fight the battles they pick on” and will be winner rule. No support absolutely to anyone, no weapons, no intelligence total hands off and we Americans will be the real winners. Do not feed a fire and ultimately will consume itself.
Thank you to Flagler Live for posting the reality links here. If there would not be this unfair and undeniable support for “one of the two factions in the Middle East” this conflict would have already ended long time ago…..thousands of lives saved and a mountain of dollars benefiting Americans instead.
Johnny Taxpayer says
Why are areas you claim are Palestine occupied by Israel? Because the “peace loving” Palestinians continue to lob rockets into Israel and kill Israeli children. The Palestinians are not innocent civilians, as you claim, they gave up that title when they elected a government which is recognized around the world and here as a terrorist group supported and funded by Iran and Syria, and still refuse to recognize Israels right to exist!
Robert says
Pierre,
You are wasting your time and effort replying.
Racism and ethnocentrism are alive, strong and kicking not only here in Florida but in the good ole US of A.
Middle easterners and brown people from below the border are it for the moment.
confused says
i dont care what they do,as long as it doesnt effect this side of the planet
Yogi says
Pierre,
Territory occupied as a result of a legitimate defense of the sovereign homeland. Israel took land they won at war after being attacked. You trivialize Truman’s authority as President of a nation the just rid the world of evil tyranny on two fronts. At that time, and long before you were born, we [the world] gave Israel that land and the right to exist and defend itself as a sovereign nation. We stood by her when she took those territories and gave our word once more to defend her. If Israel has done anything illegal, she would have been stopped and forced to make good. Israel defends herself and you call the actions illegal. That would equate to the President sending in the National Guard to New York if it was suddenly attacked by forces within our borders and you didn’t like the way the offenders and attackers were killed. According to your thinking you would deem the same types of actions illegal. That is not rational. By some accounts we stole New York a long time ago from the natives because some believe we didn’t pay enough for the place. That isn’t what settled law says. Through your logic you would argue New york is an occupied territory? I don’t think it will fly. Your heart lies elsewhere and not with the USA.
Lin says
I’ve tried for many years to understand this situation. I know Israel is an ally and that is a reason to support them BUT
Has Israel expanded settlements beyond the partitioned borders and persecuted the Palestinians?
Before the partitioning, where did the Palestinians live?
Maybe I have to go back & reread all this history — wish I had more spare time.
some guy says
Blogs » Ali Abunimah’s blog
PLO ambassador Maen Areikat offers tacit support for Israeli ethnic cleansing, apartheid
Submitted by Ali Abunimah on Wed, 09/14/2011 – 19:26
In a shocking statement, Maen Areikat, the “ambassador” of the unelected, unrepresentative Palestinian Authority/PLO leadership, has reportedly espoused Israel’s brutal vision of apartheid and racial segregation.
Even worse, his comments provide support for Israeli leaders who advocate expulsion of Palestinian citizens of Israel.
USA Today reports:
WASHINGTON – The Palestine Liberation Organization’s ambassador to the United States said Tuesday that any future Palestinian state it seeks with help from the United Nations and the United States should be free of Jews.
Im sure that this would include all of Isrial when/if they win their war against Isrial.
Mary says
Pierre is not wasting his time replying. Only when there is unemotional dialogue on this, will we be able to resolve it.
We must learn to find a way to do this, for the good of our own country as well.
We must find a way to stop hating.
Yogi says
Which hatred?
Regardless of all the attempts at whitewashing–attempting to create (largely via bribery) Mahmoud Abbas Fatah good cops to contrast with Hamas bad cops, there is no doubt that the vast majority of Arabs, whom the world demands that Israel cave in to, want it dead. Poll after poll confirms this.
Now united, both “moderate” Fatah’s Abbas and Hamas openly declare that they will never recognize Israel as the State of the Jews. They preach nothing but murderous Jew-hatred in Arabic to their own people (regardless of what some might say to a gullible West), and insist on inundating Israel–after a total withdrawal to the ’49 armistice lines–with jihadi real and alleged refugees. Recall that there were more Jewish refugees from “Arab” lands who fled the war Arabs started in 1948 than vice-versa.
Given this dominant rejectionist, self-centered, and subjugating Arab mindset, with such folks, there can be no accommodation. And yet another state created for them is uncalled for.
There are scores of millions of truly stateless, more deserving non-Arab peoples in the region whose own rights must at last be addressed first–rights deprived of them mostly by those very same Arabs demanding the suicide of Israel.
Gerald Honigman
There are scores of millions of truly stateless, more deserving non-Arab peoples in the region whose own rights must at last be addressed first–rights deprived of them mostly by those very same Arabs demanding the suicide of Israel.
NortonSmitty says
rdh Billions harboring the Bin Ladins? No, those would be the Bush family. The Bush families most loyal friends, specifically the most lucrative business partners of the Bush family for the last forty years. The ones that bailed out the cokehead loser known as our 43rd president from bankruptcy by “investing” in Airbusto (Bush in Arabic) Energy Corp. in the ’80s and then rolled their funding into another opportunity for the Saudi Kings favorite American family’s least gifted offspring, Harken Energy. When the prodigal genius drove that into the ground, the Bin Ladins, out of the goodness of their hearts, poured enough cash into “buying” it to not only save it from bankruptcy, but bought out the worthless stock from GW at a price that allowed him to show enough of a profit to invest in the Texas Ranger baseball team.
Just in case if he ever did decide to run for President, he could say “See, he really did have a job once.”
It would be very cynical to say that their investments paid off for them the day that Uncle Osama killed all of those Americans and somehow the only airplanes that were allowed to leave the ground on the days after 9/11 were the ones carrying the Bin Ladin family out of our country before they could be inconvenienced by some non-believer asking if maybe they had heard from Uncle Osama lately.
Plus, one of the first Presidential Orders by the Shrub was that Saudi citizens could enter our country without passports or visas. You know, like they were Canadians. And in case you have forgotten, 17 of the 19 accused hijackers were Saudi Arabians.
We are TV watching nutless and brainless sheep. The Arabs are hitting the streets and dying for their countries. We have Tea Parties.
palmcoaster says
@Yogi (we the world) gave Israel that land. Was not (we the world), were the two winners of WWII, us (USA) and Britain as the Russians didn’t care to be involved. History is written by triumphant’s.
How would you like that after an international war our triumphant enemies come and give Florida to Japan or Iran or France? That was the permanent conflict created then and we sure are dearly paying today in lives and money.
Outsider says
“In the United States and Israel, the story goes that it’s Palestinians who deny Israel’s right to exist. A minority of Palestinians do, and only on paper and in their blinkered, bigoted fantasies”
Really Pierre? Thousands of rockets a year are lobbed from Palestinian held territories onto Israeli civilians, and as I understand it, those are not “paper” people. When the Palestinians prove they can live peacefully alongside Israel, then it should be done. Even a schmuck like me knew that the only thing ceding control of the Gaza strip and West Bank was going to do was give the Palestinians better aim, and that’s exactly what happened. Of course there’s a blockade around Gaza, to prevent the delivery of those rockets. Humanitarian aid is permitted through. Oh, and those Palestinian children are killed because the militants run and hide among the children after they launch their rockets, so it’s really the Palestinians killing their own children, as well as those of Israel. The only thing those animal militants like better than a live child is a dead, tattered child that they can hold up to the camera in furtherance of their lies and propoganda.
Mary says
ALL hatred, Yogi. There is no tolerance for speaking one’s opinion, right or wrong.
That only has one ending.
Jojo says
…Just saying, Laurence of Arabia, is a classic movie of the British involvement in the area. Watch the uninterrupted version. A great movie by an Irish actor.
Liana G says
From the Harry Truman Library
” In 1917 Chaim Weizmann, scientist, statesman, and Zionist, persuaded the British government to issue a statement favoring the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine. The statement which became known as the Balfour Declaration, was, in part, payment to the Jews for their support of the British against the Turks during World War I. After the war, the League of Nations ratified the declaration and in 1922 appointed Britain to rule in Palestine.
This course of events caused Jews to be optimistic about the eventual establishment of a homeland. Their optimism inspired the immigration to Palestine of Jews from many countries, particularly from Germany when Nazi persecution of Jews began. The arrival of many Jewish immigrants in the 1930s awakened Arab fears that Palestine would become a national homeland for Jews. By 1936 guerilla fighting had broken out between the Jews and Arabs. Unable to maintain peace, Britain issued a white paper in 1939 that restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine. The Jews, feeling betrayed, bitterly opposed the policy and looked to the United States for support.
While President Franklin D. Roosevelt appeared to be sympathetic to the Jewish cause, his assurances to the Arabs that the United States would not intervene without consulting both parties caused public uncertainty about his position. When President Harry S. Truman took office, he made clear that his sympathies were with the Jews and accepted the Balfour Declaration, explaining that it was in keeping with former President Woodrow Wilson’s principle of “self determination.” Truman initiated several studies of the Palestine situation that supported his belief that, as a result of the Holocaust, Jews were oppressed and also in need of a homeland.
Britain and the United States, in a joint effort to examine the dilemma, established the “Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry.” In April 1946, the committee submitted recommendations that Palestine not be dominated by either Arabs or Jews. It concluded that attempts to establish nationhood or independence would result in civil strife; that a trusteeship agreement aimed at bringing Jews and Arabs together should be established by the United Nations; that full Jewish immigration be allowed into Palestine; and that two autonomous states be established with a strong central government to control Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and the Negev, the southernmost section of Palestine.
British, Arab, and Jewish reactions to the recommendations were not favorable. Jewish terrorism in Palestine antagonized the British, and by February 1947 Arab-Jewish communications had collapsed. Britain, anxious to rid itself of the problem, set the United Nations in motion, formally requesting on April 2, 1947, that the U.N. General Assembly set up the Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP). This committee recommended that the British mandate over Palestine be ended and that the territory be partitioned into two states. Jewish reaction was mixed — some wanted control of all of Palestine; others realized that partition spelled hope for their dream of a homeland. The Arabs were not at all agreeable to the UNSCOP plan. In October the Arab League Council directed the governments of its member states to move troops to the Palestine border. Meanwhile, President Truman instructed the State Department to support the U.N. plan, and, reluctantly, it did so. On November 29, 1947, the partition plan was passed in the U.N. General Assembly.
UN Resolution 181, defined the outline of a settlement in Palestine creating both a Jewish and a Palestinian homeland. The 1947 UN Partition divided the area into three entities: a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone around Jerusalem.
At midnight on May 14, 1948, the Provisional Government of Israel proclaimed the new State of Israel. On that same date the United States, in the person of President Truman, recognized the provisional Jewish government as de facto authority of the new Jewish state (de jure recognition was extended on January 31). The U.S. delegates to the U.N. and top ranking State Department officials were angered that Truman released his recognition statement to the press without notifying them first. On May 15, 1948, the Arab states issued their response statement and Arab armies invaded Israel and the first Arab-Israeli war began.
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/israel/large/index.php
Yes, there were Palestinian people living in Palestine long before British decided to take this sovreign country to give to Jews as payment for helping them fight.
And for those who agree with this, can I come pitch a tent in your yard to just stay for a couple of weeks, maybe live? I just need a small piece of your land in a little obscure corner. That’s all I want …I promise…
palmcoaster says
I can’t agree more w/Liana. Exactly what was done to the Palestinians and all the ensuing conflicts created over that, is what developed nowadays in 9/11 with all our brave soldiers losing their lives in these wars. America pathetic economic crisis paying for them wars. just because Britain and USA decided to give away the Palestinian land and to make it worst this morning I was told the the USA voted to denied Palestine representation on the UN. No wonder these Muslims want to butcher us all the time. And the beat goes on, feeding the wide pockets of the war suppliers and the politicians that support them.
Lets put ourselves in the same situation as the Palestinians if; would have been a WWII conflict were the US stayed neutral at the end the triumphan countries decide to force settle refugees in an area like California because has some unused desert land that can be developed by the refugees and there is goes take away California from us and give it to the refugees with the Pacific access and all. How you guys would have like that? We provide the weapons that kill these Muslims or our soldiers have to do it and I can tell you once more that; we can kill a man and immortalize his cause by doing so, someone else will take his place. No current politician seems to want to hear President Carter on this issue, as money talks.
palmcoaster says
By the way and as I can see Bin Laden may be dead….but he won anyway. Look at our country, we are all broke, look at what we have to endure on those airports, look at the costly Homeland Security apparatus we have to pay for and the concern if we travel overseas, look at our millions of Americans out of work.
Sure he won so far by breaking our economy and even when he is no longer there, the conflicts worsen.
Did everyone see on TV our decorated young soldier that saved 27 lives in Afghanistan asked what he though he achieved while risking so much his own, to save his battle brothers? Except saving those lives and not being able to save the last four in the advance post, he said he achieved NOTHING! Stop these wars and bring our soldiers home! Lets Israel fight the battles they pick on. Some of the worlds wealthiest are Israelis and they have the money and can pay mercenaries that our soldiers should not be.
palmcoaster says
@Mary…do you have a child on the battle field in the Middle East or happened to loose one there fighting?
I don’t think so.. Have you thought to go and volunteer in those wars supporting Israel, other than volunteer our soldiers and our hard earned dollars for that? Because this is what your undeniable support should include.
palmcoaster says
Practical solution to the Middle East wars for the USA. Everyone here that supports Israel would have to volunteer for the battle field, get trained and serve and also donate to fund all the needed war supplies.
The one’s of us, that do not want to support we stay put, no soldiers no money. Sure these wars will be over soon then. Same for Palestinians supporters…if any.
Mary says
Palmcoaster, I mean what I said and will reveal no more. I was there in the 70’s. Have seen far more than you know. And family have extensive experience in US military in middle east, and are thankfully, still alive. Have lost friends to this terrorist conflict, will lose more, unfortunately. This is not about land, it is about the right of Israel to exist. All people should have the right to exist.
These wars will never be over, whether we are there or not.
Mary says
All people have the right, Pierre, including the Palestinians. I’m not sure there is a solution to this. We cannot take any of these actions back.
This will not be settled until the last man is dead.
Josh says
People fail to understand, the Arabs want no Jews to have any holy places to pray. They take our city, then claim we had never had any rights, they plan to destroy the Western Wall, erase its history. Jews will NEVER allow this, you want war, you’ll get war if they do. if they want peace, Israel should give back the West Bank, keep ‘East’ Jerusalem and call it a deal. They get their state but no part of Jerusalem.
dealingwithidiots1 says
why would anyone think that statehood is deserved or overdue…what are you thinking?
…but there must be some room in the desert some place for these killers?
Val Jaffee says
@ Josh
SOME Jews. Not all Jews support what Israel is doing. And some very prominent ones have put their careers at great risk to speak out – Noam Chomsky, Amy Goodman, Avishai Margalit, Michael Walzer are but a few. The following is a worth reading if you wish to know the truth That is totally up to you, of course.
Zionism and Anti-Semitism
“We implore and beseech our Jewish brethren to realize that the Zionists are not the saviors of the Jewish People and guarantors of their safety, but rather the instigators and original cause of Jewish suffering in the Holy Land and worldwide. The idea that Zionism and the State of “Israel” is the protector of Jews is probably the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the Jewish People. Indeed, where else since 1945 have Jews been in such physical danger as in the Zionist state?!…
Torah-true Jews wish to live in peace and harmony with their neighbors in every country among the community of nations, including in historic Palestine. They deplore acts and policies of violence carried out by those who, misusing the name of Israel our forefather, have substituted the ideal of chauvinist nationalism for the eternal values of the Torah, the eternal divinely bestowed inheritance of the Jewish people.
It has been the age-old intention of Zionism to intentionally stir up anti-Semitism anywhere possible, and even more commonly, to take advantage of any Jewish suffering anywhere in order to enhance its cause Indeed, hatred of Jews and Jewish suffering is the oxygen of the Zionist movement, and from the very beginning has been to deliberately incite hatred of the Jew and then, in feigned horror, use it to justify the existence of the Zionist state – this is, of course, Machiavellianism raised to the highest degree. Thus, the Zionists thrive on hatred and suffering of Jews, and seek to benefit thereby through keeping Jews in perpetual fear, causing them to ignore the true nature of Zionism, and instead to consider the Zionist state is their salvation.
ANTI-SEMITISM BY POLITICAL ZIONISM
Although Zionists and others dispute it, the undeniable fact is that revolutionary secular and apostate elements in the Jewish community in Europe contributed greatly to hostility towards Jews after World War I. This aroused hatred of Jews in general among many non-Jews. While a prisoner in 1924 in the fortress of Lansberg on the River Lech, Hitler wrote his Mein Kampf. When he became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, he was assisted by Goebbels, Roseberg and Streicher. From them came the declarations, “The Jews of Germany caused the defeat of Germany in the 1914-1918 war; the Jews of Germany were responsible for the terrible conditions in Germany that followed the war; the Jews of Germany are foreigners and they wish to remain foreigners; they have no loyalty to the country of their birth; they are not human; they are filthy dogs; they have no right to intrude into Germany’s affairs; there are too many Jews in Germany.
As far as Zionism is concerned, the founder of Zionism and apostate, Theodor Herzl, sought to intensify hatred of the Jew in order to enhance the cause of political Zionism. Here are some of his “pearls”:
“It is essential that the sufferings of Jews. . . become worse. . . this will assist in realization of our plans. . .I have an excellent idea. . . I shall induce anti-semites to liquidate Jewish wealth. . . The anti-semites will assist us thereby in that they will strengthen the persecution and oppression of Jews. The anti-semites shall be our best friends”. (From his Diary, Part I, pp. 16)
Additional words from the vivid imagination of this dreamer, from p. 68 of Part I of his Diary.
So anti-Semitism, which is a deeply imbedded force in the subconscious mind of the masses, will not harm the Jews. I actually find it to be advantageous to building the Jewish character, education by the masses that will lead to assimilation. This education can only happen through suffering, and the Jews will adapt.
http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/zionism/zanda.cfm