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Showing Original Post only (View all)The Heart of the Problem With Israel: The Mass Expulsion of the Palestinian People [View all]
Central to the achievement of the Zionist dream is the notion that Jewish lives matter more than Arab lives.As Israeli government violence against the Palestinians in Gaza intensifies (the latest news being an aggressive ground invasion), I saw a discussion on-line about whether Israel has become more brutal or the brutality has simply become more visible to the public.
I remembered listening to Benjamin Netanyahu when he was at MIT in the 1970s. He called himself Bibi Nitai and said he was in self-exile until the Labor Party, which he despised, was out of power. He spoke contemptuously about Arabs, and predicted he would be the leader of Israel someday and would protect the Jewish state in the way it deserved. The immediate response many of us had was: Heaven help us all if he ever gets into power in Israel.
I also remember the many Israeli leaders I met in the 1970s from Labor and Mapam and from smaller parties on the Zionist left who seemed kind and caring and markedly different from Benjamin Netanyahuand in many ways they were, not just in their political rhetoric (they all said they were socialists) but as human beings, or so it seemed. But when I finally dug a little deeper and read my history, I learned how they, too, were participantsin fact, often leadersin the plan to drive the Palestinians out of their homes and off their land. Nothing very kind or caring about that, to say the least.
The bottom line: Israel was created based on the expulsion of over 700,000 Palestinians from their land and from their homes (what Palestinians call the Nakba, the catastrophe). This is the heart of the problem.
http://www.alternet.org/world/heart-problem-israel-mass-expulsion-palestinian-people
My question in all this is who made the decision to put the the nation of Isreal there to begin with. I admit that I really don't know the answers to this. I don't remember the rational for this in our history books DM
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The Heart of the Problem With Israel: The Mass Expulsion of the Palestinian People [View all]
madokie
Jul 2014
OP
It also exposed the Israelis' proprensity to steal other people's homes and property
brentspeak
Jul 2014
#66
You say you do not understand the rational for placing the Jewish nation in a land far away from the
Fred Sanders
Jul 2014
#6
I have hope because the Millennials are asking fundamental questions. Like, "Why?"
Spitfire of ATJ
Jul 2014
#16
A nation born under siege and surrounded will always be on a defensive footing. eom
MohRokTah
Jul 2014
#18
Jewish people used to be all over the Middle East living side by side with Arabs in peace...
Spitfire of ATJ
Jul 2014
#19
And which history card do you think is relevant? Maybe the one which shows the assassination attempt
WinkyDink
Jul 2014
#50
Typical. It's now time to accuse me of being "ignorant" and to tell me to go away....
Spitfire of ATJ
Jul 2014
#86
What's funny is the claim that being against Israeli aggression means you MUST hate the Jews.
Spitfire of ATJ
Jul 2014
#105
Absolutely NOT. I DON'T see that when it comes to anyone beating the shit out of someone else....
Spitfire of ATJ
Jul 2014
#109
That is certainly true, but some posts in this thread are nothing but demonization
cali
Jul 2014
#82
Anti-semitism is term coined to make hatred of jews more palatable and more scientific sounding
cali
Jul 2014
#77
the term "Anti-semitism" is used as a club to cut off criticism of Israel.
Spitfire of ATJ
Jul 2014
#85
Oh, you mean when I was accused of being anti-Semitic because I say Israel is run by Right Wingers?
Spitfire of ATJ
Jul 2014
#111
"Bashing them as whack jobs (like you did) for having this belief is indeed anti-semitic."
Spitfire of ATJ
Jul 2014
#115
So historical information began with the Internet? Sure, I could Google, but I didn't post
WinkyDink
Jul 2014
#114
Exactly. What if the UN decided to take your house and give it to someone else?
LuvNewcastle
Jul 2014
#37
Oh, FGS. Do you know nothing of what happens after wars? Lands are re-arranged. Ask the Germans.
WinkyDink
Jul 2014
#47
How is it that some Arabs were incorporated into Israel and some weren't?
aint_no_life_nowhere
Jul 2014
#25
I think you need to read some history. The FACTS are more complex, and less Arab-friendly, than
WinkyDink
Jul 2014
#46
What about the genocide and ethic cleansing of the Native American people?
workinclasszero
Jul 2014
#58