It seems that many of the individual debates regarding Israeli policy - the West Bank wall, the flotilla, the Gaza operation, the Lebanon operation, settlement expansion in the West Bank, etc - can be reduced to a single question. If this basic question can be satisfactorily answered, the rest will follow; the implications will percolate back upward until these peripheral controversies seem far more tractable. The problem is that this fundamental premise is worse than contested - contradictory views are taken as self-evident by different camps. The question is this: Does a Jewish homeland have a right to exist in the Middle East?
In any discussion regarding the above-mentioned issues, most pro-Israel American Jews depend heavily on an affirmative answer to this question. In fact, when you get down to it, it's the fundamental premise of their arguments.
At the other end of the spectrum, it is clear that the Arab nations in the area, including the Palestinian Authority, disagree on a fundamental level. It is the PA's refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist - and note that this is a symbolic concession, not a practical one - that is currently stalling the peace process.
So what is the answer? Is the fundamental premise sound?
On the one hand, our American sensibilities would incline us to say no, the existence of a Jewish nation is inherently discriminatory. What about the 20% non-Jewish minority in Israel? What are their rights?
On the other hand, why single out Israel? There are plenty of unequivocally religious governments in the world, most of them Muslim, and all of them more theocratic than Israel. According to one former presidential candidate, the United States itself should be listed among their ranks.
I'm writing this post in the hope that YOU have something to say about it. From an emotional perspective, I think most of you know where my loyalties lie, but my mind is open - I want your opinions.
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Many justifications for Israel's right to exist as a Jewish State:
ReplyDelete1.The Jewish people were displaced from their ancestral homeland by the Romans 2000 years ago and they have always had the "right" to this land
2. The Balfour Declaration in 1917 affirmed that the will be a Jewish and an Arab state to be carved from their mandate of Palestine
3.The United Nations voted to divide Palestine into a Jewish and Arab state. The Arabs have always refused and from 1948-1967 the "west bank" was an "autonomous" land under the aegis of Jordan. The Arabs were NEVER willing to accept anything but all of the mandated Palestine as their nation.
There is no country in the Western Hemispher that is populated and controlled by "natives". That applies to Australia, much of Europe, and much of the mid -east. In contra-distinction though to the Western hemisphere nations where Aztecs, Mayans, Incans, Apache, etc. were ruling until Europeans arrived a few hundred years ago,the land of Israel was populated and ruled by the Jewish people a few Millenia ago!! Therefore the justification for legitimate rule of territory dates much further back for the Jewish people in Israel than for Blacks or Whites in the United States!
ReplyDeleteIs there any justification for a "Palestinean State" in the region? Most "Palestinean" leaders were born in other arab countries. There really is no distinct Palestinean People with a long standing shared heretage. By any reasonable definition, a Palestinean State already exists in Jordan. Reparation for displaced arabs is reasonable but "right of return" is impractical and for Israel, suicidal.
ReplyDeleteGary's point is well taken. Trans-Jordan(later just Jordan) was established a year or so before partition of Palestine. The population was 80% Palestinian and 20% Hashemite.Rather than give or allow the Palestinians self determination the "kingdom" was allowed to be ruled by the Hashimite king.The Palestinians tried to kill him and his son 3 times. The Israelis helped protect the King and there was a near hit but the King was short and the bullet flew over his head.Palestinians live in Jordan and it would have been a convenient and acceptable homeland for them
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