quote:
Originally posted by Baron Munchausen:
Actually, Israeli occupation begins in 1948. They NEVER HAD ANY RIGHT to the land to begin with. It's been one long invasion, just like the creation of the United States from the 'new' world, that just happened to have several million inconveniant natives. Do you challenge the historical record that the Palestinians had been living there for centuries? Or are they the wrong color to have rights to land they've occupied for centuries? They were trying to 'push them into the sea' because they CAME FROM THE SEA. They were invaders. The SE IV analogy is just as relevant on the other foot. How do you deal with an invader? Give him your territory with a smile and wander off to die? Or fight back?
The small technical differences between the Israeli occupation and some other historical parallels, that the Palestinians have not been slaughtered en masse but piecemeal, or that the people who are courageous enough to resist openly are more likely to get shot hardly makes it morally right. Living in this media-saturated age, they know they can't get away with open mass-murder. If not for the ubiquity of cameras, I have little doubt they'd find ways to reduce the population of Palestinians more quickly.
So, basically you are saying that Israel has no legal right to exist, that Jews have no historic claim to Palestine, that all of Israel was obtained entirely by conquest, and that the Israelis would love to kill all Palestinians. Do you really believe those things, or were you just a bit overwrought? Either way, I think you should study some more history.
quote:
Originally posted by Baron Munchausen:
But you really betray the vulgar American mindset that makes people angry by your final comment. The 'value' of the West Bank is irrelevant. These people want the right to live their own lives, with self-determination and dignity, ...
I was simply responding to assertions that the (supposed) economic problems (supposedly) inflicted on the Palestinians justifies them inflicting economic damage on the US. My point was only that the GDP of the WTC is bigger than the GDP of the West Bank, so that's an unfair tit-for-tat even if the asserters are correct, and even if no one at the WTC had been killed. (Actually, I was overwrought, and have no hard numbers for the relative GDPs. So that Last point might be BS on my part, unless you include the rebuilding cost.)
You and I are totally in agreement that freedom is priceless.