The British knew what was coming and wanted no part of it.
They let the Palestinian Jews, Moslems, and Christians down.
This may be the case. But the British carved state after state out of the remnants of the Ottoman Empire, none of which had any more legitimacy than Israel.
The Israelis came in, rehabilitated their Hebrew culture, language, and language in the land their ancestors once claimed as a Kingdom. It was to be their "safe haven" away from the bigotry and genocidal pogroms that were occurring throughout Europe.
Egypt, for example. Why the name Egypt? The Kingdom of Egypt disappeared from the face of the planet thousands of years ago. Certainly the culture, religion, and language that made that society unique disappeared. Can anyone say that the Arabs are truly Egyptians by way of culture? What about the Coptic Christians, who can date their culture back to the time of Christ? Why didn't they have the right to name the country, as well as the right to determine how many Arabs could inhabit the area?
Can't we justifiably say that the Arabs have taken advantage and undermined the Coptic Christians at every turn?? I think we can.
So if we're going to go back and review who did what to whom, we should not look at the historical and geographical context, but also recognize that power will be manifested by those who have the means and are best able to organize. The Palestinians could have unified and made the same claim to statehood that the Jews did, but for whatever reason, they chose not to, or to let their rivals undermine their efforts.
So who is to blame? Those who undermined because they could, or those who permitted themselves to be undermined?
Tough question.. And probably one of the best reasons that for peace to be established, history is going to need to be "put in its place" and a relationship formed on the basis of future benefits from that relationship.
Hawk |
