The land of Israel belongs to the Israelis
A nice op-ed from Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe....
Under siege since the day it was born, Israel has never known a day of true peace. It is the only nation in the world whose legitimacy is routinely called into question. It still has enemies who want it wiped off the map. Uniquely, the Jewish state came into being with the imprimatur of both the League of Nations and the United Nations. Yet time and again it is told it has no right to exist. Of course that is fatuous; few nations can present a birth certificate as storied as Israel's. Nonetheless, Israel's fundamental right to exist doesn't derive from UN votes, or promises in the Bible, or its own Declaration of Independence.
For the right of statehood ultimately accrues only to those who can fashion and sustain a nation. "The land of Israel belongs to Israelis," Yale's David Gelernter wrote in 2002, "for the same reason America belongs to Americans: Because Israelis conceived and built it - and what you create is yours. If you want a homeland, you must create one. You drain swamps, lay out farms, build houses, schools, roads, hospitals . . .
"That's how America got its homeland. And that is why Israel belongs to the Israelis."
posted by GayandRight @ 10:43 AM
3 Comments:
Interesting chat between Margart McMillan - Oxford historian and Michael Enright on the Ceeb.
She talked about "dual narratives" and the responsibility of historians to remain neutral and sift through the different truths of the time.
Her comments were based around the pre-historical population and 1948 population of "Palestine". How many of each "race" (note: many would say Arabs and Jews are the same race, but with different religions - sort of like Catholics and Protestants) lived there.
The problem with this is that it post-dates the idea of relativism - that there is no definite right or wrong so the views of majority bedhouins with no desire to nation build are as valid as those of Jews.
Discussion of the fact of violent acquisition of land was also made and sorta dismissed by her - now its all well and good to be a dogooder and say this side or that are wrong, but this ignores reality - virtually EVERY current nation in the developing world resulted from one group conquering another.
So why should anyone focus on Israel, rather than say France, Germany or anywhere else?
I had a lively discussion with a fellow I work with he felt the Muslims were being wronged by the Jews. My reply to that was .. so the Muslims have been in possession of the "holy lands" for what some 2000 years according to the bible. So name me one improvement. Interestingly enough he is a Sikh, who forsok hindusim after one Muslim outrage too many
here is an uncomplicated comment. screw the muslim arabs who want to deatroy israel
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