Subject:
|
Re: Conflict in the Middle East
|
Newsgroups:
|
lugnet.off-topic.debate
|
Date:
|
Thu, 4 Apr 2002 00:11:52 GMT
|
Viewed:
|
595 times
|
| |
|
|
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Frank Filz writes:
> If desperation was the primary factor in these environments, then I
> don't think Northern Ireland would have the violence that it has. They
> have a basically peaceful environment, where for the most part,
> everyone's rights are respected. Yet they still feel a need to throw
> rocks at school kids. Why? How would desperation explain that? If you
> agree that desperation is not the factor in NI, then what makes it
> different from the ME?
Well, actually I reject the notion that desperation is not a factor in N.I.
Peace is one issue, freedom is another. I am not sure I can condone a state
of peace maintained at the expense of freedom and self-rule -- is one
expected to be happy with both an invading force and it's collaborators?
Frankly, I think the parallels between the situation in N.I. and the
situation in the M.E. are staggering. The instance of the M.E. seems
particularly eggregious because it was rather like putting two contentious
groups into the same bearbaiting pit. Was there any other foreseeable result
than the very situation we have today? One couldn't have manufactured a
situation more ripe for conflict if one had tried to do so...
> I would agree that there were problems with how Israel was formed. I
> would ask though what a group of people is supposed to do who feel they
> are unwanted anywhere? <SNIP -- Just read the previous post please>
> This is what makes the ME such a mess. I think most people accept that
> the Israeli people need someplace to call home. The same is true for the
> Palestinians. The question is how to resolve the conflicting claims.
Well, we certainly have had plenty of Jewish persons ALL OVER THE WORLD for
a very long time. I myself do not live in the country of my forefathers,
what exactly gave the Zionists special rights to be treated differently than
the whole rest of the world?
Frankly, there are so many damned Jewish persons in the whole of the world
that I find myself dating one every other time I start dating someone new --
I am sorry for the lame attempt at humor, but is anyone really expected to
believe that Jewish people had nowhere to go? Haven't you ever seen a Neal
Simon play? If they are all supposed to be in Israel, what are they all
doing here in the states, or over there in Russia? Etc, etc, etc...
Bookshelf 2000 informs me that the population of Israel is somewhere in the
neighborhood of 4-5 million persons, not really that many people when you
think about it. We could put them practically anywhere. And I have no
objections to being put in close proximity to the average Jewish babe...
...I guess in this regard the Palestinians are missing out on the obvious
benefits of having these unwanted neighbors. =)
> I'm sure I've missed some. With such detailed numbers, we could better
> evaluate what is really going on. I think these numbers would show that
> a higher percentage of the Israeli casualties are "innocent". On the
> other hand, one does have to temper this by the fact that obviously in a
> battle between an Israeli armored squadron and a horse of Palestinian
> rock throwers, the casualties will be rather lopsided.
If people were occupying my home, I might do just about anything to expel
them from an area I might rightfully consider my own. Perhaps nothing
justifies violence, but I think even I have to draw the line when it comes
to the defense of my own home and country -- are the Palestinians really
that out of line? The fact that they have failed to successfully press the
point over a period of decades has created the advent of a whole group of
persons that were actually born in modern day Israel, and I am hard pressed
to imagine that these people do not NOW have rights to the same lands -- it
IS the only home they have known too! It's a pickle alright -- I just don't
like the demonization of the Palestinians as some kind of terrorist
monsters, and you can't judge the whole of them by the actions of a very few
of them. They have done and continue to do exactly what anyone might do to
defend their most basic rights to their own space. All violence is
repugnent, I am just saying that I don't find the Palestinians attitude that
surprising.
And while the idea of suicide-bombers is horrifying -- I think we are less
disturbed by their motives than by the fact that they are clearly willing to
die to punctuate their statements. I don't think I will EVER have a motive
for which I am INTENDING to die -- the idea that someone else could feel
precisely that way is chilling.
-- Hop-Frog
P.S. Hey! How about we move the Israelis to Wyoming instead? =) Y'all can
say what you like about the beauty of the "promised land" but Wyoming is
dramatically beautiful in a way that defies description.
|
|
Message has 1 Reply:
Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Conflict in the Middle East
|
| (...) I agree that desperation is what is driving _most_ of the Palestinians. However, a small number have achieved positions of power (not really Arafat, though he certainly has some power) due to their ability to lead and incite rebellion. These (...) (23 years ago, 3-Apr-02, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
|
93 Messages in This Thread:
 
- Entire Thread on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
This Message and its Replies on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
|
|
|
|
