David Gelertner writes that, after 60 years, it's time to tell the Palestinians to get over themselves.
ow, every human being on earth who cares about facts and can tell a lie from a truth knows that there was no such thing as "Palestinian nationalism" until modern Zionism created it out of whole cloth, by placing enormous value on a piece of land that used to seem as precious to its landlords as a rat-ridden empty lot in a burnt-out neighborhood in the middle of nowhere, in the suburbs of nothing. The Jews gradually got possession of an arid stony wasteland (where the sun beats, / And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief / And the dry stone no sound of water)--complete with the odd picturesque, crumbling, dirty town; and they loved it. They turned it into a gleaming, thriving modern nation, not only a military but an intellectual powerhouse. And so it is only natural that the former owners' descendants want it back, and remember how much their ancestors loved it, and how the new owners only got possession by wickedness and deceit. Such memories have the strange property of growing clearer instead of cloudier every day.
Only one thing can restore the former owners' peace of mind. They must be kicked firmly in the pants and told "stop whining and get lost" so many times that they finally move on to another grievance.
Any competent psychologist will agree: When someone is mooning over a thing he can't have because it belongs to someone else, the responsible and humane course of treatment is not temporizing sweet-talk but a blunt lesson in the facts of life. "No, you cannot have my wife (girlfriend, husband, etc.), and we are not going to negotiate over it; let's talk about something else." (And it really doesn't matter that the two of you used to keep company; you never loved her.) "Know Thyself" was supposedly carved on the ancient Temple at Delphi; "Face Reality" should have been carved right next to it. There is no irreconcilable difference in the fight between Israel and the Palestinians, no bone-deep dispute that will haunt humanity forever. There is only greed and envy. They never disappear, but can easily move from one target to the next. The problem will be solved as soon as the world stops trying to solve it. When the international community moves on to fresh causes, so will the Palestinians.
And he has a proposal for what the UN could start debating.
The Bush administration, which has done so many small and medium things wrong and the biggest of all things right, could leave the world a parting gift by introducing some appropriate resolution in the Security Counsel or General Assembly. A proclamation that "anti-Zionism is a form of racism" might be just the thing. (The infamous "Zionism is racism" resolution, passed in 1975 and rescinded in 1991, remains a perfect symbol of depraved worldwide attitudes to Israel.) Or a U.S. resolution might call on the U.N. to take the unprecedented step of enforcing its own charter and booting out members that preach the destruction of Israel. (Article 2 part 4: "All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.") To start the ball rolling, Iran might be designated for immediate expulsion.
The resolution would be savaged and hooted down. But here and there it might make people think.
It shows how absolutely meaningless the United Nations is that they have so many members continually breaking
the U. N. charter and that is considered of no significance.
15 comments:
The only definitive way out of the Israeli/Palestinian mess is a major war with massive casualties. At
that point, when Israel wins, they need to grant citizenship to the remaining Arabs (Palestinians) - whom they have marginalized for decades.
What Jewish immigrants did with the land of Israel is impressive, but irrelevant. Using westernization as a justification for expelling people from land makes no sense. "Palestine" was an Ottoman backwater when the Zionist movement arrived at the turn of the 20th century. Of course it wasn't developed to the extent it is now.
That is like saying it is OK for some group of people with no contemporary ties to the land but are loosely descended from some former inhabitants of West Texas that they have the right to take it over and expel current inhabitants that are not OK with the new rulers because they plan to create farms and forests there. There are big chunks of the US which are underdeveloped (another eg. is West Virginia) but that doesn't mean it is ripe for take over.
Israel exists, and it is OK for it to kill people in defense of its citizenry. It isn't right, but it should be acceptable given they are a sovereign country.
It is not OK that they "withdrew" from Gaza and have kept it sealed off from the outside world. That is their error. Poverty and isolation only encourages support for the one group (Hamas) willing to stand up to the oppression.
It is a difficult situation, but if you dig through history you will find that Israel dug its own hole. The only part of it I resent is the US sends such a large amount of aid to Israel since it is such an affluent society.
You can thank Kids Prefer Cheese for bringing my attention to your blog. Lucky you...
For 60 years the "Palestinians " have chosen war instead of peace. In that time, with virtually no foreign aid, places like Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore have risen from mud huts to some of the highest standards of living on the planet.
Despite receiving more foreign aid than virtually anyone in history, the Palestinians have chosen to make their situation a hell hole instead of a paradise.
Incidentally, Gaza has a nine mile border with Egypt so it is impossible for Israel to cut Gaza off from the world. Furthermore, Israel is a creation of the UN.
doomletter,
Your 3rd paragraph analogy could be construed as a comparison between the UN creation of Israel and westward expansion in the US, the displacement of indigenous tribes and their confinement to reservations. Is that your intent?
One other question, are you aware that about 20% of Israeli citizens are, in fact, Arab?
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The UN has become a sick joke. It's Orwellian how corrupt and effectively evil they are.
Israel has a right to self-defense, period. Hamas fires missile from schools and apartment buildings. They won’t allow civilians to leave the danger area. Hamas wants Palistinian civilians killed so they can get your sympathy. Israel repeatedly warns cilvilians in the area through phone calls and dropping leaflets. Hamas has no excuses.
People must realize that this is not a border dispute. Islamic Fundamentalists want ALL Jews dead and gone. Period.
The delusional insanity of many on the Left and a few on the Right about this is frightening. They ignore all facts and logic. Hamas, a terrorist organization killing the so-called Palestinians' hope for peace, are evil garbage, they must be eliminated. They have sent thousands, yes thousands of missiles into Israel over the past couple of years and Israel had never exercised their right of self-defense, until recently, when Hamas broke the ceasefire and started firing rockets again.
Israel is FINALLY doing the right thing. If Hamas is destroyed, then, if the rest of the 'Palestinians' really want peace they can give up their dream of destroying Israel, if not, they will never have peace.
Israel must destroy as much of Hamas as possible before the MSM and the idiots and ignorants whine loud enough for them to stop. They must only quit when they are ready.
For EVERY missile shot into Israel at least ONE missile should be returned to the area as close as possible to the shooter. Tit for tat. Every single missile should be returned. Period. Treat them like adults, if they kill, they will be killed. If they send missiles, they will receive them. That is the only way they will learn. Screw public opinion, force them to see the truth, or let them be damned.
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absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
hope your kids grow up
to strap bombs on babies
to kill other children
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absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
let someone hit you
over and over again
and NEVER hit back harder
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absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
DO NOT defend your country
from terrorist monkeys
just let them bomb you at will
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absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
never mock Hamas
it's just their religion
you RIGHT-WING INFIDEL
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All real freedom starts with freedom of speech. Without freedom of speech there can be no real freedom.
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What Really Happened in the MidEast?
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Philosophy of Liberty Cartoon
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Help Stop Terrorism Today!
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USpace
:)
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Mighty Quinn,
First, Israel has cut Gaza off completely from the world. Since Hamas won the elections, Rafah crossing has been closed from all imports and exports. There is also an ongoing sea blockade of Gaza. Gaza's only trading partner right now is Israel - with the exception of smuggling. So mentioning a 9 mile border is irrelevant because that border is not under Palestinian control.
The reason it is closed is to limit arms imports, which I understand. Secondarily, the border is supposed to be staffed by Egypt and EU troops, but Hamas won't allow them to do so.
I do not claim that the Palestinians are innocent - particularly the elites. I do claim that the vast majority of Palestinians hate Israel and either want to get rich or go to war. Since they are shut off from the world economically in Gaza, guess what they want to do.
Your comparisons of Gaza to Singapore, Hong Kong and Korea are ridiculous and ignorant.
Pre-WWII all were major regional economic powers.
Post-WWII
Singapore thrived as under the one-party rule of Lee Kuan Yew's PAP. It had a long history of comparative affluence and expanded upon it.
Hong Kong was another island of capitalism that thrived under British rule throughout the 20th century.
Korea, which has a long and rich history of something much more significant that "mud huts," was modernized under a one-party state similar to Singapore.
Gaza was always a marginal land in comparison to surrounding regions - Gaza City being a modest port on and off throughout history. Post WWII Gaza continued to be relatively unimportant until the first Intifada. There was never a great infusion of investment capital to develop the economy of Gaza. I do not blame Israel for this, I am just stating a fact. Gaza today is dependent upon foreign aid - not foreign investment - and Israeli infrastructure.
If I were going to try to compare Gaza to another region, I would pick somewhere like East Timor during Indonesian occupation. The only major difference is the population of Gaza is swelled by Arabs displaced during several periods early in Israel's history.
tfhr,
The intent of my analogy was to note under-developed economically marginal territories in the modern day US. This was in response to the 'justification' advanced in the original post that Palestine was a barren wasteland prior to Zionist migration.
The creation of Israel is similar to westward expansion, but my analogy was supposed to be contemporary - not historical. The major difference is that for all of the inhumane treatment of natives during expansion of the US, the US government inevitably did offer full citizenship to all native Americans and also offered a number of other benefits to them. The Israeli solution historically was export most Arabs to Egypt and Jordan to keep a Jewish majority within Israeli borders.
Also, I know the demography of Israel - I have spent about 4 months there (in both Israel and the Occupied Territories). It is extremely important in understanding why Israel has historically handled the Arabs of Gaza and the West Bank. There are about 5.3 Million Jews in Israel. If you include the Arabs in the Occupied Territories (West Bank and Gaza), there are about 5.2 Million Arabs in Israel. There probably about another 10 million or so Arabs that identify themselves as Palestinian throughout the world. The majority of them will likely never return to live in the West Bank or Gaza, but there are 5-6 million Palestinians in Jordan which Jordan wants to get rid of at some point.
doomletter,
Your claim that Korea was a "Pre-WWII...major regional economic power" is flat wrong. The country was primitive in every sense of the word and had been exploited ruthlessly by the Japanese. It's people provided slave labor before and during the war and you should research the phrase "comfort girls" while you are at it.
When I lived in the Republic of Korea nearly twenty years ago, people I talked with would point out how few old trees could be found anywhere in the country because the Japanese had stripped Korea of its resources, including most of the trees. I was shown areas where forced labor was used to prepare fighting positions during the war and carve tunnels through rock during pre-war days.
Further, any economic power to be found in Singapore and Hong Kong was owed to their colonial status in British Empire. As a holding of Imperial Japan, Korea had no economy of it's own to be considered a "regional economic power". Korea was a slave holding under Japan not a "modernized one party state", as you claimed.
Egypt controls Gaza's Egyptian border and as such, Gaza is not "sealed off from the outside world" as you put it earlier in the thread, at least not by Israel alone. I think you meant UN troops when you included "EU" troops on the same border but you make the point that Hamas controls that border. I would just add the obvious: Hamas controls what goes through that border and what happens inside the Gaza borders.
I defer to your time spent on the ground in Israel when it comes to understanding the demographics but are there not Arab citizens of Israel? You seem to play that down.
Fhrt -- the arab citizens in Israel are second class citizens in law. For example, they are not allowed to serve in the military. Not good enough.
Israel bears greater responsibility for peacefully resolving this conflict because it is an organized state terrorizing disorganized civilians.
The sooner Americans start looking out for American interests, the better. Are you beholden to Israel, fhrt? Maybe time to put America first. We can't have a PM of Israel boasting about how he tells President Bush what to do, and stops Condi voting for her own UN proposal.
Was Korea decimated during Japanese occupation?
Yes it was, but that takes nothing away from the fact that Korea had a rich history prior to WWII. I use that in a generic sense to create a dividing line between old and new in the three places Mighty Quinn cited as comparable to Gaza. Korea was historically - excluding Japanese occupation - the center of empirical power. Gaza was never the center of such power.
Maybe my point got lost in the brevity of my statement, but surely you can't discount thousands of years of self-rule on the Korean peninsula because of 35 years of Japanese domination.
In response to your quote:
"Korea was a slave holding under Japan not a "modernized one party state", as you claimed."
I was trying to say that after WWII Korea developed under a capitalist one party state (under Park) similar to Singapore - again using it loosely because I realize it was not until well after WWII that the one-party state took hold in South Korea.
Again, my only point in mentioning any of this was because Mighty Quinn brought up how Gaza, Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong were similar when they are not similar at all. I think we can agree with that and move on.
To get back to something close to the original post, I acknowledge that there is a sizable Arab minority within Israel proper. I did not gloss over that at all. What I tried to do was point out that the Arab population would actually be quite a bit larger than what it is (close to 50% Jews 50% Arabs) if Israel would do the right thing and extend citizenship to all within their borders. They will not do so because that will undermine the model of a Jewish state. Therefore you have people that should be citizens of Israel (the Palestinians) but are completely disenfranchised. That is what led to the Palestinian identity in the first place.
So, I fully acknowledge that there are over a million Arabs living in Israel today with full citizenship.
Do you acknowledge there are millions more that are under the control of Israel without any political rights?
And please, stop saying that Egypt controls the Rafah crossing. Egypt and Israel control it. When I crossed it in 2005, it was an Israeli that stamped my passport (after a 3 hour long interrogation about my intentions in Gaza). After Hamas won the elections, the border was sealed off by Israel. I am not making this up, read about it for yourself.
The people of Gaza have no control over any traffic in and out of Gaza. It is all controlled by Israel, with the consent of Egypt (an ally of Israel). I did not mistype when I said EU troops either. The unilateral disengagement included language that said EU forces would control the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing. The problem is Hamas won the elections and Hamas will not accept EU troops in Gaza to man the border. This may change if Israel agrees to allow Turkish forces to staff the border, which is something that Hamas has offered as an alternative.
Gaza is essentially a prison that is supplied and controlled by Israel. That is not hyperbole, it is a statement of fact. Israel wants to break Hamas, so they have made things as difficult as possible for the people of Gaza since Hamas took control.
I want to reiterate that I don't think Israel is wrong to attack Hamas, which is an enemy of Israel. I also want to reiterate that all of the problems in Gaza are a result of the way Israel has handled the Arab people that occupy land they have considered to be part of Israel at different points in time.
If you want to continue this conversation in private, my email is doom@thedoomletter.com. Let me know.
That's absolute nonsense as Israeli Arabs are allowed to enlist but they are not conscripted. Bedouins, the Druze and Circassians are highly sought after because even though Muslim themselves they are excellent soldiers and have an abiding distrust of other Arabs and Muslims due to 300 years of persecution in Syria and Turkey after being exiled from Russia.
Biddle,
Have you read Pat Patterson's response to your errant claim about Israeli Arabs?
Why hide your hatred of Israel, just come out and say it. If you are in favor of firing rockets into Israeli towns, then just say so. Obama says he thinks it's wrong for Hamas to have fired over 6000 artillery rockets into Israel. Why are you against Obama? Are you an anti-Semitic too? Are you a skin-head?
P.S. - nice Gestapo trenchcoat
fhrt - grow up. Americans can criticize Israel without juveniles calling it anti-semitic.
In this case Israel is targeting civilians in a form of collective punishment. Israel is making Bush's mistake - creating 100 new enemies for every 10 he kills. That's why the US Army lost in Iraq, and got sent home by the Iraqis. If Israel doesn't stop killing civilians, they will lose too.
Israel has been killing civilians and "losing" for over 60 years now. Maybe like the fall of Rome it will happen eventually but I suspect not in our lifetimes. Plus I called the Israeli consulate after I wrote my comment and was told that indeed Israeli Arabs are exempt from conscription but they also must be native and oddly enough not from intermarriage. But the Bedouins, the Druze and the Circassians(honest, the consul's office used those references) are not exempt from conscription but are generally excused if they object to serving in combat but they have to do some kind of national service. Most except because it offers them a better chance at improving their economic status when leaving the military.
doomletter,
You've done a good job clarifying your case.
I'm aware that you were also careful about your choice of words when you said, "The people of Gaza have no control over any traffic in and out of Gaza." Regular folks certainly do not but Hamas most assuredly does smuggle weapons in and that is because the terrorist group controls access for it's own ends, much to the sadness of their civilian neighbors.
I think we can agree that if Hamas would stop its campaign of launching rockets at Israelis then Gaza inhabitants could embark upon a campaign of making Gaza livable. There certainly has been plenty of aid offered in the past.
I would welcome an EU effort on the scene. Though they are a NATO country, Turkey is not an EU member at this time. Has there been a suggestion by Turkey that they would help in some way or has Israel requested support? It is an interesting consideration but I don't think Gaza's residents will like the Turks much more than the Israelis.
Good discussion - I'll wait to hear more. Now I must be off to deal with the children.
Jaw-Bone, don't make me come back there....
Junior-Bone,
Please, if you're just going to be Biddle's parrot, be more interesting. By the way, Biddle always gets upset when I use only his last name so I thought I'd give you the honor of having used your full name at least once here.
Americans CAN criticize Israel without being anti-Semitic. We can also support Israel without supposedly putting Israel ahead of America as Biddle fumed angrily in his trench coat. (Back to your parrot-like support of Biddle, maybe he can put a parrot on his shoulder for the image he uses to deface these pages)
At any rate, the anti-Semitic riff was the counter weight to Biddle's insulting post and served as a little "tit for tat", a phrase I noticed USpace used earlier in this thread. Dennis Miller once wondered aloud what "tat" was and how he could acquire it to exchange for the former. Miller cracks me up with his ability to take the arcane or clap trap comments of others and turn them into entertainment.
However when you, little-Bone, regurgitate moonbat talking points its just sad.
For instance when you ranted, "That's why the US Army lost in Iraq, and got sent home by the Iraqis", I felt bad for you. I thought to myself, not only does this bone guy have some sort of odd inability to properly sort the order of letters in what he reads and writes, he is also plagued by irrational thoughts and delusions. I felt pity.
Let me help you: The US Army, along with all the other services, is still in Iraq. The SOFA agreement will hopefully allow us to pull more and more troops out as the situation continues to stabilize but be reassured that the elected Iraqi government reserves the right to ask for our continued support beyond the currently projected dates.
Did you understand that? I hope® so because I think it might help you calm down. I also hope® I didn't distract you with the whole "tit for tat" thing but you've got to learn to be able to handle your own thoughts better and it wouldn't hurt to have a sense of humor too.
j-bone®,
One more thing, if you're certain that Israel will lose if it "keeps killing civilians", how can Hamas win if it too keeps killing civilians? Are you saying it is OK for Hamas terrorists to kill civilians? You need to sort that out.
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