Fred -
<My point is that if the Arabs, for political and religious reasons, killed hundreds of thousands of Arabs, it stands to reason that Jews (and Christians) would not fare better - >
<<My point is that if the Americans, for political reasons, killed hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, it stands to reason that the Cubans (and Chinese) would not fare better ->>
...Fred - you are gleaning examples of the worst of a religion (Islam) and extrapolating that to a specific situation. It makes for a politics of hysteria - "We must strike first for clearly they are savages who will destroy us if we don't!". History is full of attrocities justified by that type of racial/religious generalization/bigotry.
...But while you are at generalizations, try this one - for 500 years the Christians persecuted the Jews in the Holy Land. That was ended when the Islamic Arabs under Omar took control of the Holy Land. For the next 1000 years the Jews were free of persecution except for the occasional Crusade. What do you conclude?
2) Right of return -
...11 Dec 1948 - General Assembly Resolution, Creation of Concilliation Comission for Palestine -
<<11. Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid or the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible;>>
...1967 Resolution 242 "For achieving a just settlement of the refugee problem;"
...I won't waste my time debating the merits of the right of return. It is enough to know that the Palestinians believe that they have a legitimized right of return and they will not give that up readily.
3) The use of force -
...Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't it the bully who was advocating the use of force. And didn't your son "negotiate" out of that without having to resort to force? Would it have been better if your son did advocate the use of force and you had to bail him out of the prison ward of the hospital?
...Its one thing to negotiate from a position of strength but quite another to use strength to negotiate. Once you start fighting the negotiation changes from who's the biggest winner to who's the biggest loser. Case in point - are either the Palestinians or the Israelis better off now than they were two years ago?
4) - once a terrorist, always a terrorist eh?
...You seem to forget that Begin was a terrorist at one time in his life and yet Sadat was able to make a lasting peace with him. |
