Ongoing plight of Palestinian Christians

[ThomistColin]

4. Perhaps most insidiously, telling all Palestinians (whom people seem to collectively group 'Arab' and 'Muslim') to basically ''go back to where you came from'' is like telling third or fourth generation African Americans to get on a boat to Africa. Would anyone here do that?

May I ask how saying that to an Israeli is any different?
Most of the young Jews today in Israel are descended of immigrant AND native blood. There have been Jews in Palestine since the great return during the fall of Rome. So, saying it to a Jew is not helpful.

Also, its not helpful when you have leaders of Hamas claiming that they will "wipe Israel off the map" and "spill every drop of Jewish blood".

Both sides are in the wrong...don't take a side in this.

 

[ThomistColin]

If you want my argument for Palestinians being able to have the land they lay claim to, it would be a legal argument on the basis of international treaties regarding international law on occupation and on the legal borders of Palestine and the state of Israel, which are currently being infringed by the Israeli occupation.

Since the formation of the nations, Palestinians have lost more than 50% of the land they legally own to the Israelis.

This is your best argument.

However, place yourself into the mindset of Golda Meir, who founded the occupation policy. You've almost just lost your entire nation in a single night. You have staved off the wolves, and yet you are still surrounded. Do you allow the wolves to return to their pack and return the next night, or do you cage them?

Now, I don't agree with Prime Minister Meir's views. In fact, I think Israel should return to its original borders while sharing Jerusalem, but I do understand her views. I can place myself into that crisis and conceive of myself of walking down that survivalist path of thought.

Until both sides understands the other, even on the most minute of points, there can be no peace.

 

[Human]

May I ask how saying that to an Israeli is any different?

It isn't, in the context you've presented. If someone says to an Israeli ''go back home you don't belong here'', that is not right. However, we aren't talking about just social discrimination here. There is a big difference between immigration to another country, and illegal military seizure of land. If Africans want to move to America, well for them. If Africans want to militarily occupy America, that is a very different scenario.

Most of the young Jews today in Israel are descended of immigrant AND native blood. There have been Jews in Palestine since the great return during the fall of Rome. So, saying it to a Jew is not helpful.

No, it is not. But again, social integration and multiculturalism are not the political issue; illegal territorial expansion by military force is the issue.

Also, its not helpful when you have leaders of Hamas claiming that they will "wipe Israel off the map" and "spill every drop of Jewish blood".

Agreed, and unfortunately for the everyday Palestinian, it is the militant Hamas who have come to be thier speakers.

Both sides are in the wrong...don't take a side in this

I'm a relative thinker, and any notion that I'm taking sides is one that misunderstands my motives.

 

[kaylagrl]

Whether you recognize Palestinians as a people is irrelevent to whether or not they exist. What you're saying is like saying, during the height of the USSR, that there are no such thing as Ukranians; they exist now as they existed then. The British Empire recognized that the Israelis existed even when there was no Israel and the whole of Israel and Palestine was called 'British Palestine'. It was the British who pushed to create the partition of Israel and Palestine, and now the Palestinians are squashed into parameters of a 5-fold magnitude population density compared to the Israelis. The simple fact of the matter is that the lands of Palestine should be several times larger than they currently are, but Israel have claimed much of that land and illegally occupied it.

I recommend Robert Fisk's book, ''The Great War for Civilization''. He's lived and reported in the Middle East for the best part of 30 years, on many sides of different divides.

Thanks for the book recommendation but Im not anti Semitic and I know history. Israel deserves the land.Not saying you are anti-Semitic.Just look a little closer at history.