Posted on 01/18/2013 9:08:08 AM PST by Nachum
Surprisingly little attention has been paid to former Sen. Chuck Hagel's 2008 memoir, America: Our Next Chapter. In it, Hagel lays out his thoughts on a wide range of issues, including the Israel-Palestinian conflict and Iran, to which he devotes one chapter each. Hagel's attempt to describe the origins and history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reveals that he does not know the facts--and fills the void with anti-Israel bias.
Hagel identifies the origins of the conflict by claiming: "the Arab-Israeli standoff was first set in motion by the Balfour Declaration of 1919 promising the Jewish people a homeland and the Arabs their own independent states." (68). That is not what the Balfour Declaration says. It refers only to "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people," with regard for the "civil and religious rights" of other communities.
The conflict arose not from the Balfour Declaration, but from the Palestinian Arabs' utter rejection of any form of Jewish self-determination in the area--a rejection that became radicalized and violent under the influence of Palestinian leader (and Nazi collaborator) Hajj Amin Al-Husseini. Hagel's revisionist history undermines the legitimacy of Israeli sovereignty in international law, while muting the extremism of the Palestinians' response.
It is not the only time Hagel downplays Palestinian extremism. He blames the "lack of aid and investment" (81) to the Palestinians as the reason that Hamas took over Gaza in a violent coup in 2007. Not only do Palestinians receive a huge amount of international aid, but in Gaza Palestinians wasted and destroyed the aid and assistance they received, most notoriously in the case of donated greenhouses, which were looted.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
The list, Ping
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list
This just makes me love BiBi MORE! LOL.
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.