Just another day in cheery Israel

by bboyneko 36 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Elsewhere

  There they go again... fighting over barren desert land.

  "As every one knows, there are mistakes in the Bible" - The Watchtower, April 15, 1928, p. 126
  Believe in yourself, not mythology.
  <x ><
• 

  MegaDude

  The conflict between Isreal and the Arabs will never be peacefully settled by them working it out between themselves. It will take a UN council to decide who gets what land, march in there, and enforce the boundaries with a strong military presence.
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  Valis

  I would also urge those that are interested to read the following article from Harper's magazine.

  http://www.harpers.org/online/gaza_diary/?pg=1

  It is one writers description and account of the living conditions that the Palestinians have to endure. I would never endorse killing people, but I certainly wouldn't live under the yolk of abuse the Plaestinians do. So much for being God's children eh? I think both sides are behaving badly. Sharon should be removed from his position and Arafat should be disregarded as the "leader" of the Palestinian people. The Israeli people can't control their leader and his army, and Arafat can't control his people and their suicide bombers. Some weird twist there...Have a read and then decide.

  Sincerely,

  District Overbeer
• 

  LDH

  ThiChi

  I agree with you. I can't prove God *didn't* give them that land.

  I was making reference to the fact that millenia old religions and disagreements can be the basis for modern day tragedy. And that each side can claim posession of said land.

  The UN needs to get together a plan and see to it that the Palestinians have a land of their own. Otherwise, the fighting in the Middle East will continue over there and will spread to the rest of the world.

  Lisa
• 

  Xander

  I don't understand why people have such a hard time understanding the Palestinians.

  Many of us are in the US, no? Now, imagine...the UN hears a plea from Native Americans to get their land back. The UN decides 'sure, that sounds like fun', and take the entire US west of the Mississippi and makes it 'Indian Territory'. The Indians there then proceed to take over the land and impose their religion on all. Cananda and Mexico get worried, and invades the now Indian Western US. The Indians push them back, and advance into the Eastern US and take over all the states up to the Appalachians.

  Now, do you think I, as a newly overrun Ohioan am going to sit here and take that?

  Is the Palestinian position REALLY that hard to understand?

  That said, once all the above actions are taken (or, in reality, the actions the UN took in 1948), what can you do to fix the problem? It's just one of those things that, once done, is irreperable. No good will come of it ever - that region will NEVER settle down.

  (And I'll never understand the Israeli position - by their own religious texts, they admit they weren't the inhabitants of that land originally! Their entire justification for living there is 'god gave us this land'. The arabs at least have the partially arguable position of 'we were here first'.)

  Xander F
  (Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America - Ohio order)

  A fanatic is one who, upon losing sight of his goals, redoubles his efforts.
  --George Santayana
• 

  peaceloveharmony

  val,

  thanks for posting that great article. i have to say, if i was forced to live like that you bet i'd be fighting back like hell. what a mess :(
• 

  Carmel

  PLH, the irony of the situation is that Israel adopted a policy in 1948 shortly after it became a state, to allow any of the Arabs that fled to neighboring countries to return and live as citizens. The property they abandoned was held for 50 years, no one could purchase it, so that the original owners could return and claim it and live peacefully. Less than three percent did so. I was living in Israel in 1998 when the 50 years ran out and the property was awarded or sold to Jews and Arabs alike who paid the taxes and fees for the past 50 years. This is one of the irratants to the Arabs (Palistinians, which is a misnomer) They know they had their chance and botched it. Not too long after that Arafat refused the deal with Clinton. Its all related but often not discussed. It would have been a huge disruption for many to move off land and out of homes to allow the original owners to return, but it was the law and happened in some cases. I don't have much sympathy for the Arabs who whine about Israel mistreating them when they had 50 years to resolve it. Those that did chose to stay or return and become citizens are far better off than most Arabs in most Arab countries.

  carmel
• 

  Satanus

  Arabs are descendents of abraham as well. They are semites as well. Yahweh promised abraham his descendents would get the land. The promise is fulfilled by arabs as well. Everyone seems to forget this.

  SS
• 

  Yerusalyim

  Well, might I suggest that we all look at facts rather than opinions. There is still NO evidence of any autrocities in Jenin OTHER than Palestinian militants PURPOSEFULLY hiding in and fighting from civilian areas.

  Less than 100 bodies have been found. There's no way to verify which are non combatants and which are not. Perhaps if the Palestinian Militants had NOT fought from civilian areas not as many civilians would have been killed.

  The Israelis originally took pains to do house to house fighting so as to avoid mass destruction where they could have just bombed and shelled. Only after the Palis used kids, babies really, to lure 13 soldiers to their death in booby trapped allies did the Israelis bring in bulldozers.

  Are conditions in the Palestinian territories rough? Somewhat, but the Palis live better in the "Occupied Territories" than they do in any other Arab country. The towns and "refugee camps" are self governed, yet what has the PA or their Arab "Brothers" done to improve BASIC infastructure. Why are there even refugee camps in the PA territory? Why haven't permenant settlements been built yet? Is it because of all the graft and corruption that drains off millions and millions to personal accounts of PA authorities?

  Xander, the biggest problem with the scenario you've drawn is that you assume the Palestinians ever had a government in place. Xander, most of the people who call themselves Palestinains are really just Arab immigrants, most who didn't start moving into Palestine until after it seemed a Jewish State would become a reality. (Arafat himself is Egyptian, NOT Palestinian.

  YERUSALYIM
  "Vanity! It's my favorite sin!"
  [Al Pacino as Satan, in "DEVIL'S ADVOCATE"]
• 

  Xander

  Xander, the biggest problem with the scenario you've drawn is that you assume the Palestinians ever had a government in place.

  The presence of the existing government in my example is incidental - the point is that the Israelites have no claim to the land other than their religious teachings (which tell us, btw, that they never had a claim to the land before, either, but killed and enslaved the previous inhabitants of it to take it).

  Giving someone a stretch of land that displaces current residents (no matter how many, no matter if self-governed or not) based solely on their religious teachings that 'god gave them this land' and that they had invaded and occupied it once before, is NOT something the UN should have done.

  Xander F
  (Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America - Ohio order)

  A fanatic is one who, upon losing sight of his goals, redoubles his efforts.
  --George Santayana