Fundamentalism (General)

by Walter, Saturday, November 01, 2008, 11:47 (5662 days ago) @ David Turell

Thank you to David Turell and dhw for replying to my comments. David, you say my comment is much too simplistic, but with respect I have to say your historical account is downright onesided. It makes it sound as if the situation is all the fault of the Arabs. You say the UN division of Palestine in 1947 recognized duly purchased areas of the British colony for Zionists. If you are going to accept the authority of the UN for that, you will have to accept the authority of the UN when it passes resolutions condemning Israel's agression and building of illegal settlements in occupied territories, and calling on Israel to withdraw from those territories. Log onto http://www.jatonyc.org/UNresolutions.html for more details. And in case your wondering, that is a website run by American Jews Against the Occupation based in New York. Israel only recognizes those resolutions that favour it, and the Americans simply back them up whatever. They also refuse to contemplate the return of Arab refugees, many of whom live in appalling conditions. You say that after the 1948 war they got "sequestered" in the Gaza Strip and later on the West Bank. Sequestered is a nice sounding word. Thousands of Arabs were driven from their homes by the Israelis. Fancy words won't alter the dire truth. - You say it will take a generation or two for the Arabs to develop democracy. But your ignoring the fact that they voted democratically for Hamas, and the west said no. So the western way of democracy is to say go ahead and vote, but you can only vote the government we want. - I want to stress that I'm not anti-Jewish. Nor are the Jews in New York. Nor are my Jewish friends who live in Israel and want a peaceful solution that will be fair to the Palestinians. The Arabs must recognize Israel's right to exist, and they must mean it. But Israel holds all the trump cards, and the west and especially the States must push for concessions instead of supporting the status quo. - Dwh, I have read what you wrote on 23 September. I agree completely and I like your conclusion: "Recognition of shared human dignity, with the relief of poverty and suffering and an open road to happiness, is the only solution."