Posted on 06/05/2002 2:14:21 PM PDT by lucy1
Thanks those those who made the positive comments -regardless if you agree with the author or not
It seems that some folks can't take an opposing opinion without getting all riled up and making personal attacks, etc.
Neither side is 100% innocent. On the other hand, what Arab country can we really trust -honestly? NO matter what we do to help them, we always get the knife stuck in our backs by them. Sure, there are good and bad among all races. But for some reason, most Muslim nations have those crappy, unpredictable governments.
Sadly, there are no web sites I have found that give a total true view of what went on. You've either got the Arab side or the Israeli side. I started getting my information over 20 years ago when I was doing some traveling for the government. I always liked to research a country before I went there and had both classified and unclassified sources. Surprisingly, much of the "unbiased" information came from open sources. After putting together the information you can debunk or confirm what you have on site.
Don't depend on the internet for factual information. Use all sources available. It takes time, I know. I no longer have the luxury of the kind of research I used to do but I've "been there and done that".
Now, if your argument is "we're reclaiming ancient lands wrongfully taken from us by the Ottomans (or whomever)", that's fine and the line of reasoning has its strengths and weaknesses; however, that is very different from saying "hey, nobody was really using it so it's ours".
Abandon the illegal settlements, build a real wall - seperate the countries just like the United Nations envisioned 50 years ago...peace will come then.
Second, the point is that Palestine is an AREA, not a country. Even during the Ottoman empire it was occupied by Jews, Moslems, and Christians. There was no Palestinian state, hence no one purports to name an historical Palestinian ruler [at least post Herod, who was a Jew!].
Therefore, the argument is not that the land was not in use, but that the claim to a "Palestinian homeland" by Arafat is itself weak.
Furthermore, one should put it in the context of what occurs in any area where the Moslems gain pre-eminence: for instance Egypt, where Coptic Christians are second class citizens or the Sudan where Christians are enslaved. The Jews have a definite stake in maintaining the rule of a Jewish state.
Are you referring to how no Arab nation has allowed these people to be assimilated, but instead forced them into refugee camps so that they could be used a symbol and a political force against Israel?
But the title of the article is "The Jews took no one's land". Well, that's just plain untrue. Now, you can argue that it was RIGHTFULLY taken, but obviously Palestine did not just drop out of the sky in 1948 for the Jews to move in. No matter how unorganized and sparsely inhabited it may or may not have been, the arabs there considered it theirs, and it was taken from them at the point of a gun.
Actually, information on this thread from Farah says: Arab leaders urged Arabs to leave the area so they would not be caught in the crossfire. They could return to their homes, they were told, after Israel was crushed and the Jews destroyed. It didn't work out that way. By most counts, several hundred thousand Arabs were displaced by this war not by Israeli aggression, not by some Jewish real-estate grab, not by Israeli expansionism.
If this is not true, then refute it.
It is hypocritical not to believe in the right of conquest. Except if you live in Antartica, you live on land that has been repeatedly conquered, and you have no right to be there other than the right conferred by conquest. If the Mexicans can recapture Texas, it will be because we Americans have become so weak we no longer deserve it.
P.S. I'm not sure I'm right about this, but think I am.
Did the Arabs ever have it? Prior to 1917, for centuries, the Turks had it. Although Turks and Arabs are both Moslems, they sure don't tend to like each other. By the way, Turkish rulers spent a lot of their time in Palestine protecting the Jews from local Arabs who would from time to time massacre Jews. Although, during the last few decades of Turkish rule, Palestine's Jews finally began to arise from centuries of lethargy and arm themselves for self-defense.
The people who took Palestine from the Turks, not the Arabs, at the point of a gun, were the British, in 1917. Then the U.N. divided Palestine in 1947 between mostly Jewish areas, which were supposed to go to Israel, and mostly Arab areas, which were supposed to go to the Arabs. Palestine's Arabs have never accepted this concept, leading to everything which has happenned since then.
In any case, as I've said beforee, if the argument is "we're reclaiming land that was wrongfully taken from us", that's fine, we can discuss that issue - however that's very different from the gist of this article which is basically saying that Palestine was vacant, unclaimed and freely available for Jewish settlement.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.