Yes, Israel wanted more jews, granted.
To you this is a footnote. I see it as the entire focal point. From day one, Zionism and Israel has been about gathering a worldwided dispersed people into a forged homeland. Jews being expelled from other countries plays directly into that. AFAIK, many current Israeli people would LOVE to see even the USA expell Jews, to FORCE them to come to Israel. Jews are Jews, they are one people. True, there was, and is some friction with certain segments of Jewish immigration (IIRC I once read some articles on Black Jews and their trials after immigration to Isreal), but by and large, Jews are welcomed to Israel, even if there is short term pain in incorporating them.
The reverse is not true at all. Take Jordan, already dominated by Pals, but ruled by a minority. What country in their right mind wants more of the outsiders? People carry on and on about Jordan not taking responsibility for the Pals, but until Jordan is truly democratic, and ruled by Pals I doubt that will happen (although Jordan once made some offers in the distant past along those lines).
I'm not concerned much at all by what was fair or unfair in the past, ACCEPT to the degree that it impacts the present. As I have said many times, I think Israel is an acceptable, even a good idea. It was poorly executed, hence the problems. Modern populations end up defining the modern solution, so the eventually the populations adapt to the old colonial borders, or change them, a result we might still see in Iraq. So what. |
