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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (7724)	10/27/2001 11:29:46 AM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Well, it depends on who you talk to. I've known quite a few Palestinians in my life and they cringe at being called Arab. Many of them are Palestinian Christians, as well as their facial features differly considerably. Some say their origins are the Phillitines, thus the current conflict being perpetuation of the historical one. And some say they are the "Edomites": members.aol.com But they are no more Arabs, than are the Arabs living along the nile Egyptians. The entire area has been conquered, colonized and culturally marginalized so many times by so many nations that none of them bear a resemblance to their historical ancestors. But whereas the Palestinians claim they are a cultural nationality seeking a homeland, the Iraelis are an ethno-religious nation, just as diverse, but sharing one religion. And an interesting link where an author discusses whether Zionism can be rightfully accused of being "racist": progress.org "Jews that lived in Ethiopia are as black as their Christian neighbors. In India, Jews who have lived there for hundreds of years look Indian. Chinese Jews looked Chinese. Jews who come from northern Africa look like Arabs. European Jews look Caucasian. There are many ways to look Jewish. Anyone from any race may convert to Judaism and become a Jew. So are Jews a race? A dictionary will tell you that a "race" in this context is a variety of the human species characterized by various physical features such as skin color, hair color and texture, body shape and size, eye color, and so on. Anthropologists have divided human beings into several races, such as the Caucasoid, Negroid, Mongoloid, African pygmy, and American Indian. Race is a genetic classification; one is born into a race and is of a certain race or mixed race because of one's ancestors. One can covert into a religion, but one cannot change one's race. Jews are therefore not a race. Jews are members of a religion, Judaism. There was at one time a Hebrew nation that was an ethnic group, but since ancient times the scattering of Jews throughout the world and intermarriage and conversions have made the Hebrew origin less a genetic and more a spiritual tie. There is also a culture tied to the religion and its laws regarding diet, the Sabbath, and various rituals, along with cultural practices picked up in various locations that are "Jewish" by coincidence. But there is no "Jewish race."