Comments on: Jewish settlements and peace talks http://www.theworld.org/2009/07/24/jewish-settlements-and-peace-talks/ Global Perspectives for an American Audience Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:15:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: tamar boussi http://www.theworld.org/2009/07/24/jewish-settlements-and-peace-talks/comment-page-1/#comment-710 tamar boussi Sat, 25 Jul 2009 17:40:23 +0000 http://www.theworld.org/?p=6690#comment-710 A simple question, Why is it that Arabs can and do live anywhere in the Jewish state of Israel, Jews, however, may not live in areas largely populated by Arabs? The only explanation that is apparent is racism. Perhaps you have another definition. A simple question, Why is it that Arabs can and do live anywhere in the Jewish state of Israel, Jews, however, may not live in areas largely populated by Arabs? The only explanation that is apparent is racism. Perhaps you have another definition.

]]> By: DB http://www.theworld.org/2009/07/24/jewish-settlements-and-peace-talks/comment-page-1/#comment-704 DB Sat, 25 Jul 2009 02:50:31 +0000 http://www.theworld.org/?p=6690#comment-704 I heard two things in your report on Israeli settlements in the West Bank that told half-truths. First was the comment that the argument supporting West Bank settlements in the interest of preserving Israel's security had "faded away" and was no longer valid. This comment should have been followed immediately by description of what happened when Israel ceded another disputed area, Gaza, to Palestinian interests. Internecine conflict among Palestinian parties destroyed much of the infrastructure left behind by Israel, and Gaza has become a major center of armed and deadly harrassment of Southern Israel, particularly the cities of Sderot and Ashkelon where the economies are devastated and traumatic stress disorder affects much of the population. Is your reporter aware that Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon treats Arabs injured in their conflicts with each other and with Israel, who then return to Gaza to launch more rockets at Ashkelon? Security at areas bordering Palestinian-held territory is not an issue that has "faded away" or proved itself invalid. If anything, the Gaza experience has demonstrated how vulnerable Israel remains to violent attacks from its neighbors. The second comment that I found presumptuous was the characterization that most American Jews do not accept the argument that the lands known as Judea and Sameria are "God-given". This implies that most American Jews do not accept that Israel has any long-standing claim to that area. In fact, all it reveals is that most American Jews do not accept God. Check any poll on religious belief in this country, and you'll find your footnote for my statement. There is a long, interesting history of assimilation among European Jews who believed that if they dressed, spoke, and worshipped like their Gentile neighbors, maybe those neighbors would stop persecuting and killing them. Those European Jews brought that outlook with them to America, and within one generation hardly any American Jews understood their own religion and history more than superficially. If you are no longer fully Jewish but you're not anything else either, what are you? You are a secular humanist agnostic, most likely. Where's God in that outlook? Overwhelmingly, American Jews misunderstand where they came from and find it easier to believe that Israel is somehow responsible for the plight of Arabs who identify as Palestinian, than that it was Palestinian leadership itself that has perpetuated the anger and frustration of Palestinian Arabs to win international sympathy to their goal of eliminating Israel. Do you doubt this? Consider that in its 60-year history, Israel has done nothing but absorb refugees -both Jewish and non-Jewish- from the Middle East, from Western Europe, from Africa, from the Americas, and from the former Soviet Union. Presently, Israel is experiencing increased in-migration from France, where anti-Semitism has grown more virulent, and from the Philippines. These refugees are given Hebrew language training, and assistance to find employment and housing. ITALICIZE: There are millions of refugees in Israel but there are no refugee camps in Israel. I do wish the international press corps would expand its sources beyond academics and Palestinian public relations. The story is much, much more complicated than your sources want you to reveal. For example, how much of the listening public knows that in the ENTIRE WORLD there are only 13 million Jews, half of whom live in Israel? This is a minute population that in Israel has created a thriving economy, a heroic military, and much of the electronic and medical innovation we enjoy in the rest of the world. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, and it is, for now, holding back the force of the jihadists surrounding it.[Note: I did NOT say Muslims; I said 'jihadists'] Israel is the low-hanging fruit they desire on their way to "rectifying" the rest of the world. How can any of us deny Israel whatever it requires to defend itself? It is small, it is valiant, it comes between us and the extremists who want to convert us, and it has been under attack every day since the very day the United Nations birthed it in 1948. I heard two things in your report on Israeli settlements in the West Bank that told half-truths.
First was the comment that the argument supporting West Bank settlements in the interest of preserving Israel’s security had “faded away” and was no longer valid. This comment should have been followed immediately by description of what happened when Israel ceded another disputed area, Gaza, to Palestinian interests. Internecine conflict among Palestinian parties destroyed much of the infrastructure left behind by Israel, and Gaza has become a major center of armed and deadly harrassment of Southern Israel, particularly the cities of Sderot and Ashkelon where the economies are devastated and traumatic stress disorder affects much of the population. Is your reporter aware that Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon treats Arabs injured in their conflicts with each other and with Israel, who then return to Gaza to launch more rockets at Ashkelon?
Security at areas bordering Palestinian-held territory is not an issue that has “faded away” or proved itself invalid. If anything, the Gaza experience has demonstrated how vulnerable Israel remains to violent attacks from its neighbors.

The second comment that I found presumptuous was the characterization that most American Jews do not accept the argument that the lands known as Judea and Sameria are “God-given”. This implies that most American Jews do not accept that Israel has any long-standing claim to that area. In fact, all it reveals is that most American Jews do not accept God. Check any poll on religious belief in this country, and you’ll find your footnote for my statement.
There is a long, interesting history of assimilation among European Jews who believed that if they dressed, spoke, and worshipped like their Gentile neighbors, maybe those neighbors would stop persecuting and killing them. Those European Jews brought that outlook with them to America, and within one generation hardly any American Jews understood their own religion and history more than superficially. If you are no longer fully Jewish but you’re not anything else either, what are you? You are a secular humanist agnostic, most likely. Where’s God in that outlook?

Overwhelmingly, American Jews misunderstand where they came from and find it easier to believe that Israel is somehow responsible for the plight of Arabs who identify as Palestinian, than that it was Palestinian leadership itself that has perpetuated the anger and frustration of Palestinian Arabs to win international sympathy to their goal of eliminating Israel. Do you doubt this? Consider that in its 60-year history, Israel has done nothing but absorb refugees -both Jewish and non-Jewish- from the Middle East, from Western Europe, from Africa, from the Americas, and from the former Soviet Union. Presently, Israel is experiencing increased in-migration from France, where anti-Semitism has grown more virulent, and from the Philippines. These refugees are given Hebrew language training, and assistance to find employment and housing. ITALICIZE: There are millions of refugees in Israel but there are no refugee camps in Israel.

I do wish the international press corps would expand its sources beyond academics and Palestinian public relations. The story is much, much more complicated than your sources want you to reveal.

For example, how much of the listening public knows that in the ENTIRE WORLD there are only 13 million Jews, half of whom live in Israel? This is a minute population that in Israel has created a thriving economy, a heroic military, and much of the electronic and medical innovation we enjoy in the rest of the world. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, and it is, for now, holding back the force of the jihadists surrounding it.[Note: I did NOT say Muslims; I said 'jihadists'] Israel is the low-hanging fruit they desire on their way to “rectifying” the rest of the world.

How can any of us deny Israel whatever it requires to defend itself?
It is small, it is valiant, it comes between us and the extremists who want to convert us, and it has been under attack every day since the very day the United Nations birthed it in 1948.

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