Quote:
Originally posted by schmooky007
...like i said, the arabs will go on with the bloodshed. it's in their genes. they're cannibals. it doesn't matter if there's someone other than sharon in office...
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*splutters coffee over the monitor*
I thought legend had it that it was the Jewish who stole Christian children and ate them... unless... no, surely not... the whole thing's bullshit?
Look, plain and simple. The root of the problem is that in 1947, the UN (under severe political pressure from the United States which bordered on illegal) passed an "agreement" which offered the Jews 55% of Palestine, even though they only owned 7% of it.
In my opinion, the US was attempting to make the best effort they could in what was a dire, dire decade. The Palestinians refused to accept these decisions on the grounds that:
a) It was illegally imposed because of pressure from the US
b) It gave the Israelis the better part of the land
c) It would be used as a basis for further expansion
All three objections were entirely understandable - but essentially ignored.
Now sure, sure. A Palastinian 'state' never actually existed and there had never been an 'Independent Palestinian State'. Before 1918 it was part of the Ottoman Empire. After that, British Empire. Fair enough - but the land was almost exclusively occupied by Arabs with a small Jewish minority which (for the most part) lived peacefully side by side with those Arabs. 'The problem' only occured when the huge influx occurred, declaring ownership of the better parts of the region, under the claim that the Jewish God had promised the land.
At the risk of being labelled an Anti-Semite - I would argue that such a course of action is bound to piss off any owner/occupiers. Put it this way, if Russia declared that 55% of the US or UK should be turned over to a group of people in diaspora and turned into an independant state - what do you think would happen? I'll hazard a guess, at the risk of being labelled a 'stuffed-shirt Brit', that the average American would fight to the death. Beleive it or not, the average Brit would think along similar lines. Believe this or not, the average Palestinian Arab has similar feelings.
The Palestinians and Israelis are both courageous and determined people. Both feel that if they lose this war they will be killed or dispossessed, whether that is realistic or not.
Though I hate the idea of segregation, partition is the only way forward. That has to include some way of guaranteeing the security of both Israel and Palestine from incursion by the other side. That might mean stationing half a million troops on the frontier, but I can't see a realistic and presently achievable alternative.
There isn't just two sides to this story (pro-arab/anti-semite or pro-Israel/anti-terror), that's a foolish mistake to make. It's a very much a George Bush fallacy in the vein of 'you're either with us or against us'. It's also known as a
'false dichotomy'. Furthermore, you will be very hard pressed to find anybody in semi-educated real life who is actually dense enough to proclaim
"Hitler would be very proud of you" in response to the suggestion that Israel had acted improperly, or that there appears to be a curious pattern to US support. In fact, this one of the biggest
strawman fallacies I can imagine. Neither 'side' are law abiding, neither 'side' has any more territorial rights than the other and neither are justified in their attacks. This latest one will only perpetuate the situation.