Hi Nadine Carroll; Re: "A hundred years ago, Palestine didn't exist at all. The region was part of three different Ottoman vilayets."
Israel didn't exist at all 100 years ago either.
As far as comparing the West Bank to Texas, the last I saw the citizens of Texas, on average, were quite proud to be American. You can't say the same about the average denizen of the West Bank.
But there is an even more fundamental difference between the Occupied Territories and Tibet or Texas. That is that the US and China are great powers, and it is traditional on this planet for the great powers to control shitty little countries, especially shitty little countries on their borders. You can find thousands of examples of this, but it won't make Israel a great power.
One obvious example is Palestine itself. It was on the border of a great power, Turkey, which controlled it for centuries. Now if it is morally right for Israel to control the Occupied Territories (and carve off chunks for ethnic cleansing and colonization) then certainly it was morally right for Turkey to run the place too.
No, the moral argument is a lose because it ignores the practical realities. The practical reality is that Tibet is quite safe in the clutches of China. Texas and California, too, are safe in the hold of the United States. But the various occupied territories are not safe under the control of Israel.
What's worse, by continuing to expand into them Israel is ruining its chances for retaining Jewish power in Israel proper. This is something that moderates in Israel have known for years. As Israel expands, it inevitably dilutes its Jewish percentage.
'Founding father' Abba Eban spoke eloquently on Israel's behalf
Chicago Jewish Community Online
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His most famous line came after the PLO rejected a plan for Palestinian control over most of the West Bank and Gaza Strip that was part of the Camp David Accords that Israel and Egypt signed in 1978.
The Palestinians, he said, "never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity."
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After 1967, he quickly came out in favor of a Palestinian state, opposing Israeli rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
He once said that Israel was "tearing up its own birth certificate. Israel's birth is intrinsically and intimately linked with the idea of sharing territory and sovereignty."
...
juf.org
-- Carl |
