"FREE PALESTINE"
This is the cry we hear from various quarters, including famously in 2014, the England cricketer and self-confessed Muslim, Moeen Ali.
Supporters of the "Free Palestine" cause come from two distinct camps.
Firstly, there is the western liberal, pro-equality, anti-war, pro-education, pro-democracy camp.
Secondly, there are the militant Islamic, violently anti-Jew, anti-American bigots who want to establish an Islamic Caliphate across the middle east, and see Israel as a Western influenced buffer zone, requiring destruction.
Well, I have good news for those from Camp #1! A Free Palestine already exists! It is a multi-party, liberal democracy with religious freedom and gender equality built into its constitution, and an inclusive parliamentary democracy that is so successful, a party only needs 5% of the vote to get an MP.
'Where is this vision of PC-correctness?' you cry. It is right there - it's called Israel! But you cannot reject this perfect vision of statehood simply because you don't like the name can you? That would be the biggest case of 'cutting off your nose to spite your face' in history! Israel has more democratically elected Arab MPs than any other country in the world - about 20% of the parliament!
Of course, you may have a deep down feeling that, despite these easily verifiable facts, you are still opposed to the existance of Israel! Perhaps you need to consider if you actually belong to Camp #2!
Showing posts with label anti-Semitism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anti-Semitism. Show all posts
Monday, 15 December 2014
Friday, 31 October 2014
Temple Mount
According to the BBC, the Palestinians are regarding the temporary closure of access to Temple Mount as a declaration of war!
See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-29828547
This is a little hypocritical, given the Palestinian’s attacks on, and attempted destruction of, Jewish holy sites such as the Tomb of Rachel and the Tomb of Joseph, amongst many others, in the West Bank area. The truth is that the holy Muslim sites on Temple Mount have been preserved and protected by the state of Israel as part of its constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. How many Muslim states have that? In many, possession of a bible is a criminal offence!
It’s also a bit late! The Middle East is divided between Arabs and Jews – the Arabs get 27 out of 28 countries, and an area about that of Western Europe whilst the Jews get one country, about the size of Wales – and the Arab countries have all been formally at war with Israel since 1948 (except for a couple that have signed peace deals since). The fact that the Palestinians are not formally at war is an admission that they do not regard themselves at a state, and, of course, evidence that there was no active concept of a Palestinian state until the late 1960’s. In the 1947/48 war, the Arab countries were fighting not for the Palestinians, but for the Jordanians (the Hashemite Kingdom of Trans-Jordan, population 80%+ Palestinian) and the Egyptians, who wanted the land vacated by the Turks after World War One, when their 1000+ year occupation came to an end.
(Don’t forget that Israel was founded not only Jews wanting a safe homeland after the Holocaust, but also by Armenians wanted to escape from the genocide inflicted on them by the Turks during and after WW1).
Given that the Palestinians have been dedicated to the destruction of Israel for several decades, so it will interesting to note how this new state of war changes things - at least it would mean that the Palestinians recognise that Israel exists!
See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-29828547
This is a little hypocritical, given the Palestinian’s attacks on, and attempted destruction of, Jewish holy sites such as the Tomb of Rachel and the Tomb of Joseph, amongst many others, in the West Bank area. The truth is that the holy Muslim sites on Temple Mount have been preserved and protected by the state of Israel as part of its constitutional guarantee of religious freedom. How many Muslim states have that? In many, possession of a bible is a criminal offence!
It’s also a bit late! The Middle East is divided between Arabs and Jews – the Arabs get 27 out of 28 countries, and an area about that of Western Europe whilst the Jews get one country, about the size of Wales – and the Arab countries have all been formally at war with Israel since 1948 (except for a couple that have signed peace deals since). The fact that the Palestinians are not formally at war is an admission that they do not regard themselves at a state, and, of course, evidence that there was no active concept of a Palestinian state until the late 1960’s. In the 1947/48 war, the Arab countries were fighting not for the Palestinians, but for the Jordanians (the Hashemite Kingdom of Trans-Jordan, population 80%+ Palestinian) and the Egyptians, who wanted the land vacated by the Turks after World War One, when their 1000+ year occupation came to an end.
(Don’t forget that Israel was founded not only Jews wanting a safe homeland after the Holocaust, but also by Armenians wanted to escape from the genocide inflicted on them by the Turks during and after WW1).
Given that the Palestinians have been dedicated to the destruction of Israel for several decades, so it will interesting to note how this new state of war changes things - at least it would mean that the Palestinians recognise that Israel exists!
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