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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sylvester80 who wrote (474811)	10/11/2003 6:22:55 PM
From: Machaon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

MYTH : “Zionism is racism.” FACT : "In 1975, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution slandering Zionism by equating it with racism. In his spirited response to the resolution, Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Chaim Herzog noted the irony of the timing, the vote coming exactly 37 years after Kristallnacht. Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, which holds that Jews, like any other nation, are entitled to a homeland. History has demonstrated the need to ensure Jewish security through a national homeland. Zionism recognizes that Jewishness is defined by shared origin, religion, culture and history. The realization of the Zionist dream is exemplified by more than five million Jews, from more than 100 countries, who are Israeli citizens. Israel's Law of Return grants automatic citizenship to Jews, but non-Jews are also eligible to become citizens under naturalization procedures similar to those in other countries. Approximately 1,000,000 Muslim and Christian Arabs, Druze, Baha'is, Circassians and other ethnic groups also are represented in Israel's population. The presence in Israel of thousands of dark-skinned Jews from Ethiopia, Yemen and India is the best refutation of the calumny against Zionism. In a series of historic airlifts, labeled Moses (1984), Joshua (1985) and Solomon (1991), Israel rescued almost 42,000 members of the ancient Ethiopian Jewish community. Zionism does not discriminate against anyone. Israel's open and democratic character, and its scrupulous protection of the religious and political rights of Christians and Muslims, rebut the charge of exclusivity. Moreover, anyone — Jew or non-Jew, Israeli, American, or Saudi, black, white, yellow or purple — can be a Zionist. Writing after "Operation Moses" was revealed, William Safire noted: “...For the first time in history, thousands of black people are being brought to a country not in chains but in dignity, not as slaves but as citizens.” By contrast, the Arab states define citizenship strictly by native parentage. It is almost impossible to become a naturalized citizen in many Arab states, especially Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Several Arab nations have laws that facilitate the naturalization of foreign Arabs, with the specific exception of Palestinians. Jordan, on the other hand, instituted its own "law of return" in 1954, according citizenship to all former residents of Palestine, except for Jews. To single out Jewish self-determination for condemnation is itself a form of racism. When approached by a student at Harvard in 1968 who attacked Zionism, Martin Luther King responded: "When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You're talking anti-Semitism." The 1975 UN resolution was part of the Soviet-Arab Cold War anti-Israel campaign. Almost all the former non-Arab supporters of the resolution have apologized and changed their positions. When the General Assembly voted to repeal the resolution in 1991, only some Arab and Muslim states, as well as Cuba, North Korea and Vietnam were opposed. us-israel.org

To: sylvester80 who wrote (474811)	10/11/2003 6:27:06 PM
From: Machaon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

MYTH : “The 'traditional position' of the Arabs in Palestine was jeopardized by Jewish settlement.” FACT : For many centuries, Palestine was a sparsely populated, poorly cultivated and widely-neglected expanse of eroded hills, sandy deserts and malarial marshes. As late as 1880, the American consul in Jerusalem reported the area was continuing its historic decline. "The population and wealth of Palestine has not increased during the last forty years," he said. The Report of the Palestine Royal Commission quotes an account of the Maritime Plain in 1913: The road leading from Gaza to the north was only a summer track suitable for transport by camels and carts...no orange groves, orchards or vineyards were to be seen until one reached [the Jewish village of] Yabna [Yavne]....Houses were all of mud. No windows were anywhere to be seen....The ploughs used were of wood....The yields were very poor....The sanitary conditions in the village were horrible. Schools did not exist....The western part, towards the sea, was almost a desert....The villages in this area were few and thinly populated. Many ruins of villages were scattered over the area, as owing to the prevalence of malaria, many villages were deserted by their inhabitants. Lewis French, the British Director of Development wrote of Palestine: We found it inhabited by fellahin who lived in mud hovels and suffered severely from the prevalent malaria....Large areas...were uncultivated....The fellahin, if not themselves cattle thieves, were always ready to harbor these and other criminals. The individual plots...changed hands annually. There was little public security, and the fellahin's lot was an alternation of pillage and blackmail by their neighbors, the Bedouin.14 Surprisingly, many people who were not sympathetic to the Zionist cause believed the Jews would improve the condition of Palestinian Arabs. For example, Dawood Barakat, editor of the Egyptian paper Al-Ahram, wrote: "It is absolutely necessary that an entente be made between the Zionists and Arabs, because the war of words can only do evil. The Zionists are necessary for the country: The money which they will bring, their knowledge and intelligence, and the industriousness which characterizes them will contribute without doubt to the regeneration of the country." Even a leading Arab nationalist believed the return of the Jews to their homeland would help resuscitate the country. According to Sherif Hussein, the guardian of the Islamic Holy Places in Arabia: The resources of the country are still virgin soil and will be developed by the Jewish immigrants. One of the most amazing things until recent times was that the Palestinian used to leave his country, wandering over the high seas in every direction. His native soil could not retain a hold on him, though his ancestors had lived on it for 1000 years. At the same time we have seen the Jews from foreign countries streaming to Palestine from Russia, Germany, Austria, Spain, America. The cause of causes could not escape those who had a gift of deeper insight. They knew that the country was for its original sons (abna'ihilasliyin), for all their differences, a sacred and beloved homeland. The return of these exiles (jaliya) to their homeland will prove materially and spiritually [to be] an experimental school for their brethren who are with them in the fields, factories, trades and in all things connected with toil and labor. As Hussein foresaw, the regeneration of Palestine, and the growth of its population, came only after Jews returned in massive numbers. Mark Twain, who visited Palestine in 1867, described it as: “...[a] desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds-a silent mournful expanse....A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action....We never saw a human being on the whole route....There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of the worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.” us-israel.org

To: sylvester80 who wrote (474811)	10/11/2003 6:31:02 PM
From: Machaon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

MYTH : "The governments of Arab states grant basic human rights to their citizens." FACT : "While much attention has been focused on alleged Israeli human rights violations in the volatile West Bank and Gaza, the popular press has chosen to virtually ignore violations of fundamental human rights that take place daily in almost every Arab country. According to annual reports compiled by the State Department, most of the Arab states are ruled by oppressive, dictatorial regimes, which deny their citizens basic freedoms of political expression, speech, press and due process. The Arab Human Development Report published by a group of Arab researchers from the UN Development Program concluded that out of the seven regions of the world, Arab countries had the lowest freedom score. They also had the lowest ranking for "voice and accountability," a measure of various aspects of the political process, civil liberties, political rights and independence of the media." us-israel.org

To: sylvester80 who wrote (474811)	10/11/2003 6:33:49 PM
From: Machaon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

The Jewish People represent just one fifth of one percent (that's 1/500) of the human race. They are but one of many small groups of people with their own culture, language and homeland. One would expect that they should hardly be heard of - except perhaps a brief mention in a small multi-cultural footnote of a high school geography book. This is obviously far from the case. Jews are at the center of every creative, scientific, cultural, political, ideological movement and endeavor. Jews are over-represented as Nobel Prize recipients, winning at least 20% (that's 1/5) of all awards given to date. Jews founded Hollywood, and are today the dominant cultural influence in television, radio, cinema, journalism and theater in America and elsewhere. Jews are over-represented in all forms of medicine, in all the professions, in every sport, in modeling and fashion, in law-enforcement and the military, in political sex scandals, in new-age religion... In almost everything that represents the free world and all of its trappings, Jews are there. yahoodi.com

To: sylvester80 who wrote (474811)	10/11/2003 6:40:41 PM
From: Machaon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Guess what all of the following people have in common: Noah Wyle -- Actor, 'Dr John Carter' on TV's ER Shiri Appleby -- Star of television show, Roswell Michael Landon -- Little Joe Cartwright on Bonanza Mark Frankel -- Actor in 'Sisters' and 'Fortune Hunter' Cary Grant -- Coolest, funniest actor in the history of film. Mandy Patinkin -- Emmy & Tony award-winning actor, 'Dr Jeffrey Geiger' on TV's Chicago Hope Alicia Silverstone -- Actress - Clueless, The Crush, The Babysitter, Batman Gwyneth Paltrow -- actress - oscar winner Al Jolson -- famous entertainer. Starred in the first talking movie William Shatner -- Captain James T. Kirk on the original 'Star Trek' Harrison Ford -- Actor: ' Raiders of the Lost Ark', 'Star Wars', ' American Graffiti', 'Witness', 'The Fugitive' Natalie Portman -- Actress, Queen Amidala in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Sarah Jessica Parker -- Acress in 'Sex and the City', 'LA Story' Seth Green -- televison actor, Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Family Guy. Robert Downey, Jr. -- actor in 'Less Than Zero,' 'Chaplin,' 'Short Cuts.' Paul Newman -- Academy Award winning actor and philanthropist Jon Lovitz -- Comedian/actor on TV's Saturday Night Live David Duchovny -- famous actor - Fox Mulder in X-files Yasmine Bleeth -- Beautiful Baywatch babe and actress Matthew Broderick -- Actor in 'Wargames', 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off', 'Biloxi Blues' Debra Messing -- Grace in the TV Show Will and Grace Ben Stiller -- Director/Actor: Seinfeld, SNL, Reality Bites, Something About Mary, The Cable Guy Woody Allen -- Film Maker/Actor: Annie Hall, Bullets Over Broadway, Mighty Aphrodite, Antz Yves Montand -- Famous French Actor/Singer Bette Midler -- Singer and Actress: 'The Rose', 'The First Wives Club', 'Beaches', 'Down and Out in Beverly Hills' Michael Douglas -- Fatal Attraction, The American President Dustin Hoffman -- Oscar-winning Actor, The Graduate, Tootsie, Rainman, Midnight Cowbooy,... Mel Brooks -- Film director, producer, actor: Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein Ben Kingsley -- Played Itzchak Stern in Schindler's List Sarah Silverman -- very beautiful Actress and Comedian Daniel Day-Lewis -- Oscar-winning actor, The Name Of The Father, The Age Of Innocence, My Left Foot Billy Crystal -- Comedian/Actor: When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride, Throw Momma, City Slickers Fyvush Finkle -- Probably most widely known for his portrayal of lawyer Wambaugh on 'Picket Fences' Peter Sellers -- Actor in many comedys such as Dr. Strangelove,all of the The Pink Panther movies,The Party,etc. Ed Ames -- Actor: 'Daniel Boone', 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest', 'The Crucible' Goldie Hawn -- Actress in Private Benjamin, Laugh-In, and countless other movies Camryn Manheim -- actress - 'The Practice' Kirk Douglas -- Actor, 82 films strong Paul Newman -- Academy Award winning actor and philanthropist Lisa Bonet -- Actress: 'The Cosby Show', 'A Different World', Enemy Of The State' Jane Seymour -- Brittish Actress: 'Live and Let die', TV's 'East of Eden', 'Dr. Quinn; Medicine Woman' Juliana Marguiles -- Actress: ER, Paradise Road, The Newton Boys Milena Kunis -- Actress in That 70's Show on FOX Gina Gershon -- actress in Bound, Snoops Goldie Hawn -- Actress in Private Benjamin, Laugh-In, and countless other movies Kevin Kline -- Actor: Sophie's Choice, A Fish Called Wanda, Dave, French Kiss Debra Winger -- Actress, 'An Officer and a Gentleman', 'Urban Cowboy' Peter Falk -- Actor: Columbo, Roommates, The Sunshine Boys David Arquette -- Scream films, ATT ads, brother of Rosanna Harvey Keitel -- With over 60 movies to his credit, one of the leading actors in America Tracy Pollan -- Family Ties, wife of Michael J. Fox Jon Favreau -- 'Swingers' star and director (played Mikey), also appeared in 'The Replacements', 'Very Bad Things'. Leonard Nimoy -- Actor, 'Spock' on Star Trek, the original series and movies Michele Lee -- Actress: starred in all 344 episodes of 'Knots Landing' Mili Avital -- Actress (Stargate, Dead Man, Invasion of Privacy, Kissing a Fool) Tony Curtis -- One of the best and most prolific American Movie Actor Mindy Cohn -- Actress from 'Facts of Life' Richard Dreyfuss -- Academy award-winning actor: American Graffiti, Goodbye Girl, Close Encounters, Jaws... Jason Alexander -- Actor: George Costanza on Seinfeld, Pretty Woman, The Paper Gaby Hoffmann -- Actress: 'Field of Dreams', 'Sleepless in Seattle', 'Volcano' Lauren Bacall -- Great actress and wife of Humphrey Bogart Laurence Harvey -- actor ('Manchurian Candidate'; 'Room At The Top'; 'Butterfield 8') Bronson Pinchot -- Actor: Beverly Hills Cop, First Wives Club, TV's 'Perfect Strangers' Mia Kirshner -- Actress: Mad City, The Grass Harp, Anna Karenina Hank Azaria -- The Simpsons, The Birdcage George Burns -- Comedian/Actor: The Sunshine Boys, Oh, God! Steve Bond -- television actor, General Hospital, Santa Barbara. Elliott Gould -- Actor: 'Bob & Carol', 'M.A.S.H.', 'Getting Straight' Rodney Dangerfield -- Comedian/Actor: Caddyshack, Back to School, Meet Wally Sparks Rob Schneider -- Comedian/Actor: 'The Waterboy', 'Demolition Man', 'Down Periscope' Jerry Stiller -- Comedian/Actor: George's dad on Seinfeld Douglas Fairbanks -- Actor and Producer: 'The Thief of Bagdad', 'Robin Hood', 'Three Musketeers' Paul Reiser -- television actor, Mad About You, My Two Dads. Tanya Roberts -- Actress/Model: 'Charlie's Angels', ' View to a Kill', 'Sheena', 'Beastmaster' Adam Goldberg -- Pvt. Mellish in the movie saving Private Ryan Joshua Malina -- played the role of 'jeremy' on the t.v. show 'sports night.' Sarah Bernhardt -- French Actress, one of the most famous in the history of the theater Lainie Kazan -- Actress and Singer: My Favorite Year, Beaches Erich von Stroheim -- Director and Actor: The Merry Widdow, The Grand Illusion, Sunset Boulevard Taylor Negron -- Actor: 'Better off Dead', 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' Tom Baker -- Actor: played 'Doctor Who' from 1974 - 1981 Howie Mandel -- Actor/Comedian: 'Gremlins', 'A Fine Mess', 'Little Monsters' Harvey Fierstein -- comedian, filmmaker, writer & star of 'Torch Song Trilogy' Richard Lewis -- Comedian/actor: 'Robin Hood: Men In Tights', TV's 'Anything But Love' Paulette Goddard -- movie actress (Marion Levy); once married to Charlie Chaplin Judy Holliday -- stage and screen actress and singer, winner of an Oscar, a Tony, and a Golden Globe award Theodore Bikel -- Actor, singer, linguist, storyteller, activist Robert Clary -- Actor who played Lebeau on 'Hogan's Heroes' Lilyan Tashman -- Actress in an impressive 66 films. Richard Benjamin -- Actor: 'Portnoy's Complaint', 'Sunshine Boys', 'My Favorite Year' John Banner -- Actor: best known as Sergeant Schultz in the TV series 'Hogan's Heroes' Robbie Roberts -- Actor/Composer: 'The Crossing Guard', 'Raging Bull', 'Color of Money' Alla Nazimova -- Writer, actress, producer and visionary: 'War Brides', 'Camille', ' Salome' Piper Laurie -- Actress: Children of a Lesser God, Twin Peaks, The Hustler, Carrie Red Buttons -- Comedian/Actor: The Red Buttons Show, Sayonara, They Shoot Horses, It Could Happen to You Walter Koenig -- Actor: Ensign Chekov on Star Trek Edward G. Robinson -- One of the leading film actors of the '30s and '40s, often played gangsters Moni Ovadia -- Italian actor, singer, writer, very active in yiddish culture Dyan Cannon -- Actress: 'Heaven Can Wait', TV's 'Ally McBeal' Wynona Ryder -- Young screen beauty with real acting talent yahoodi.com

To: sylvester80 who wrote (474811)	10/11/2003 6:45:38 PM
From: Machaon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

MYTH : "Israel discriminates against its Arab citizens." FACT : "Israel is one of the most open societies in the world. Out of a population of 6.3 million, about 1.1 million — 18 percent of the population — are non-Jews (945,000 Muslims, 130,000 Christians and 100,000 Druze). Arabs in Israel have equal voting rights; in fact, <font color=red>it is one of the few places in the Middle East where Arab women may vote.<font color=black> Arabs currently hold 8 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Israeli Arabs have also held various government posts, including one who served as Israel's ambassador to Finland and the current deputy mayor of Tel Aviv. Ariel Sharon's original cabinet included the first Arab minister, Salah Tarif, a Druze who served as a minister without portfolio. An Arab is also a Supreme Court justice. <font color=red>Arabic, like Hebrew, is an official language in Israel. More than 300,000 Arab children attend Israeli schools.<font color=black> At the time of Israel's founding, there was one Arab high school in the country. Today, there are hundreds of Arab schools. The sole legal distinction between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel is that the latter are not required to serve in the Israeli army. This is to spare Arab citizens the need to take up arms against their brethren. Nevertheless, Bedouins have served in paratroop units and other Arabs have volunteered for military duty. Compulsory military service is applied to the Druze and Circassian communities at their own request. Some economic and social gaps between Israeli Jews and Arabs result from the latter not serving in the military. Veterans qualify for many benefits not available to non-veterans. Moreover, the army aids in the socialization process. On the other hand, Arabs do have an advantage in obtaining some jobs during the years Israelis are in the military. In addition, industries like construction and trucking have come to be dominated by Israeli Arabs. Although Israeli Arabs have occasionally been involved in terrorist activities, they have generally behaved as loyal citizens. During the 1967, 1973 and 1982 wars, none engaged in any acts of sabotage or disloyalty. Sometimes, in fact, Arabs volunteered to take over civilian functions for reservists. During the outbreak of violence in the territories that began in September 2000, Israeli Arabs for the first time engaged in widespread protests with some violence. The United States has been independent for 226 years and still has not integrated all of its diverse communities. Even today, nearly 40 years after civil rights legislation was adopted, discrimination has not been eradicated. It should not be surprising that Israel has not solved all of its social problems in only 54 years. us-israel.org

To: sylvester80 who wrote (474811)	10/11/2003 6:48:13 PM
From: Machaon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

MYTH : "Israeli Arabs are discriminated against in employment." FACT : "Israeli law prohibits discrimination in employment. According to the State Department, all Israeli workers "may join and establish labor organizations freely." Most unions are part of the Histadrut or the smaller Histadrut Haovdim Haleumit (National Federation of Labor), both of which are independent of the Government." us-israel.org

To: sylvester80 who wrote (474811)	10/11/2003 6:52:40 PM
From: Machaon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

MYTH : "Israel's treatment of Palestinians is similar to the treatment of blacks in apartheid South Africa." FACT : "Even before the State of Israel was established, Jewish leaders consciously sought to avoid the situation that prevailed in South Africa. As David Ben-Gurion told Palestinian nationalist Musa Alami in 1934: We do not want to create a situation like that which exists in South Africa, where the whites are the owners and rulers, and the blacks are the workers. If we do not do all kinds of work, easy and hard, skilled and unskilled, if we become merely landlords, then this will not be our homeland. Today, within Israel, Jews are a majority, but the Arab minority are full citizens who enjoy equal rights. Arabs are represented in the Knesset, and have served in the Cabinet, high-level foreign ministry posts (e.g., Ambassador to Finland) and on the Supreme Court. Under apartheid, black South Africans could not vote and were not citizens of the country in which they formed the overwhelming majority of the population. Laws dictated where they could live, work and travel. And, in South Africa, the government killed blacks who protested against its policies. By contrast, Israel allows freedom of movement, assembly and speech. Some of the government's harshest critics are Israeli Arabs who are members of the Knesset. The situation of Palestinians in the territories is different. The security requirements of the nation, and a violent insurrection in the territories, forced Israel to impose restrictions on Arab residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip that are not necessary inside Israel's pre-1967 borders. The Palestinians in the territories, typically, dispute Israel's right to exist whereas blacks did not seek the destruction of South Africa, only the apartheid regime. If Israel were to give Palestinians full citizenship, it would mean the territories had been annexed. No Israeli government has been prepared to take that step. Instead, through negotiations, Israel agreed to give the Palestinians increasing authority over their own affairs. It is likely that a final settlement will allow most Palestinians to become citizens of their own state. “There is still one other question arising out of the disaster of nations which remains unsolved to this day, and whose profound tragedy, only a Jew can comprehend. This is the African question. Just call to mind all those terrible episodes of the slave trade, of human beings who, merely because they were black, were stolen like cattle, taken prisoner, captured and sold. Their children grew up in strange lands, the objects of contempt and hostility because their complexions were different. I am not ashamed to say, though I may expose myself to ridicule for saying so, that once I have witnessed the redemption of the Jews, my people, I wish also to assist in the redemption of the Africans.”" us-israel.org

To: sylvester80 who wrote (474811)	10/11/2003 6:55:07 PM
From: Machaon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

MYTH : “Israel’s complaints about Palestinian terrorists hiding among civilians are just an effort to justify their murder of innocent people.” FACT : "Israel never intentionally targets civilians. Unfortunately, Palestinian terrorists have purposely tried to hide among the civilian population in an effort to use the Israeli army's morality against it. The terrorists themselves do not care about the lives of innocent Palestinians, which is why they are not hesitant to use them as shields. This behavior is a violation of international law. Article 51 of the 1977 amendment to the 1949 Geneva Conventions specifically prohibts the use of human shields: The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular attempts to shield military objects from attacks or to shield, favor or impede military operations.13 Thus, the Palestinian terrorists are ultimately responsible for noncombatants who are inadvertently killed or wounded as a result of the terrorists' practice of hiding among civilians to use them as shields." us-israel.org

To: sylvester80 who wrote (474811)	10/11/2003 6:58:05 PM
From: Machaon	Respond to of 769670

MYTH : “Israel was responsible for the 1973 war.” FACT : "On October 6, 1973 — Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar — Egypt and Syria opened a coordinated surprise attack against Israel. The equivalent of the total forces of NATO in Europe were mobilized on Israel's borders. On the Golan Heights, approximately 180 Israeli tanks faced an onslaught of 1,400 Syrian tanks. Along the Suez Canal, fewer than 500 Israeli defenders were attacked by 80,000 Egyptians. Thrown onto the defensive during the first two days of fighting, Israel mobilized its reserves and eventually repulsed the invaders and carried the war deep into Syria and Egypt. The Arab states were swiftly resupplied by sea and air from the Soviet Union, which rejected U.S. efforts to work toward an immediate ceasefire. As a result, the United States belatedly began its own airlift to Israel. Two weeks later, Egypt was saved from a disastrous defeat by the UN Security Council, which had failed to act while the tide was in the Arabs' favor. The Soviet Union showed no interest in initiating peacemaking efforts while it looked like the Arabs might win. The same was true for UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim. On October 22, the Security Council adopted Resolution 338 calling for "all parties to the present fighting to cease all firing and terminate all military activity immediately." The vote came on the day that Israeli forces cut off and isolated the Egyptian Third Army and were in a position to destroy it. Despite the Israel Defense Forces' ultimate success on the battlefield, the war was considered a diplomatic and military failure. A total of 2,688 Israeli soldiers were killed. us-israel.org