Survival or Armageddon?
President Bush’s speech in Israel during his recent visit there to celebrate the country’s 60th anniversary criticized Senator Obama for willing to “appease” terrorists. His speech was criticized in America for being partisan because as a sitting president he is expected to stay out of the electoral fray. Bush’s speech and visit was also criticized by the Palestinians for even taking place. Stories of Bush’s visit, like many of the stories about Israel’s 60th Anniversary celebrations, were followed by stories of the Palestinian Nakba, the Palestinian word for catastrophe. Palestinians use the term for what they describe as the cataclysm that befell them with the rebirth of the state of Israel in 1948. The political spin of who is right, wrong and to blame for the state of Israel has to be put aside and both sides must sincerely try to survive the next 60 years as friendly sovereign neighbors. The alternative is Armageddon.
The simple facts are: The history of Jews running a political state has not been good. The last two times it did so, first under King Solomon, Jews ended up in exile in Babylon and the Jewish Commonwealth of the Second Temple period was conquered by the Romans who scattered the Jews and renamed the area Palestine. Zionism may actually be the most successful national liberation movement of the 20th-century. Today there are 5.4 million Jews in Israel, 1.3 million Christian and Muslim Arabs and an additional 3.4 million more Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza. While Israel’s short term threat is Iran, a greater long term danger is that it becomes overwhelmed by Arabs. It is estimated by 2020 Jews will only make up 47% of the population between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
Israel has welcomed Jews from all over the world, including those evicted from Muslim and Arab countries because of their religion. Jewish refugees from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and all other Arab countries, whose families lived there for centuries, have been quietly absorbed by Israel without any claims of compensation or demands for the right to return. Together they built an economy that produced a gross national product of $150 billion in 2007. The Palestinians can do the same.
Palestinians are successful business people, merchants and politicians in the countries they have settled in. Antonio Saca, the president of El Salvador, is one of 100,000 Salvadorians of Palestinian origin. There are an estimated 10 million Palestinians worldwide. Those living in Arab countries cannot become citizens. Most of them are conflict-weary and simply want a passport and a secure place to call home.
Sixty years ago, the Palestinians refused partition and ended up stateless. If rejecting partition was a mistake then, it is a bigger one now that Israel’s population has increased eightfold. Palestinians deserve a better future. But they can help themselves by putting history behind them and coming to terms, as the Israelis already have, with the obvious. A peaceful future is possible only with two states, not just one. The alternative is Armageddon.
The simple facts are: The history of Jews running a political state has not been good. The last two times it did so, first under King Solomon, Jews ended up in exile in Babylon and the Jewish Commonwealth of the Second Temple period was conquered by the Romans who scattered the Jews and renamed the area Palestine. Zionism may actually be the most successful national liberation movement of the 20th-century. Today there are 5.4 million Jews in Israel, 1.3 million Christian and Muslim Arabs and an additional 3.4 million more Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza. While Israel’s short term threat is Iran, a greater long term danger is that it becomes overwhelmed by Arabs. It is estimated by 2020 Jews will only make up 47% of the population between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
Israel has welcomed Jews from all over the world, including those evicted from Muslim and Arab countries because of their religion. Jewish refugees from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and all other Arab countries, whose families lived there for centuries, have been quietly absorbed by Israel without any claims of compensation or demands for the right to return. Together they built an economy that produced a gross national product of $150 billion in 2007. The Palestinians can do the same.
Palestinians are successful business people, merchants and politicians in the countries they have settled in. Antonio Saca, the president of El Salvador, is one of 100,000 Salvadorians of Palestinian origin. There are an estimated 10 million Palestinians worldwide. Those living in Arab countries cannot become citizens. Most of them are conflict-weary and simply want a passport and a secure place to call home.
Sixty years ago, the Palestinians refused partition and ended up stateless. If rejecting partition was a mistake then, it is a bigger one now that Israel’s population has increased eightfold. Palestinians deserve a better future. But they can help themselves by putting history behind them and coming to terms, as the Israelis already have, with the obvious. A peaceful future is possible only with two states, not just one. The alternative is Armageddon.
posted by Peter de Krassel's Custom Maid Politics at 6:54 AM
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