Soren wrote on Nov 19
th, 2008 at 7:17pm:
No doubt.
Israel was also attacked on the day of its birth and the attackss have not abated.
to be sure, but one must also look at what the birth of Israel meant - which was the dispossession of the indigenous inhabitants (officially called the nakba
http://www.alnakba.org/ . I'm not saying this justifies all Palestinian acts- but it's important to look at what happened within context and with perspective.
No indigenous people have ever simply made way for settlers/invaders/conquerors. indigenous australians didn't (those who did believed them not to be settlers, but to be temporary settlers living a nomadic lifestyle much like their own. they did not know they staked claim to the land until later when it became clearer. whereas others who caught on to what was going on would stage various kinds of attacks).
the difference between indigneous australians and indigneous palestinians is that IA did not have the numbers/capability/opporunity and realisation of what was happening, to effectively keep the europeans away
I don't think you can blame the palestinians for fighting back because it is the natural reaction of anyone whose lands are being taken away, whose home is being taken away. does this excuse all action taken in the 60 years since? certainly not. but it does lend towards understanding why people have been fighting for 60 years.
the fact is that those who came into israel/palestine and claimed it as their own had no right to do so, and the original breach of the rights of palestinians is a huge thing.
we need only look at the pain and difficulty that similar situations have caused with other indigenous populations- and these occurred many hundreds of years ago.
one can look at northern ireland. many look at the 'freedom fighters' as heroes who fought against the english rule etc etc- yet when it comes to palestinians they are regarded as terrorists, with no regard for human life and with no legitimate reason to be angry or to feel injustice in the first place. it simply isn't true.
now people look at the palestinians as animals and say that normal people don't act this way- but palestinians aren't living in a normal situation. certainly I do not morally agree with many actions, but I do understand why they have come about. I understand they are a result of pain, as opposed to a result of some inherent barbarism.
there are also other forms of abuse or terrorism apart from blowing up people and buses. such as blocking aid, blocking food, overt violence towards individuals, the oppression of personal freedoms etc etc
there's a very interesting book called 'us and them' by peter manning. he goes to israel and palestine and his observations (as well as factual, referenced materials he has in the book- are quite interesting)
Quote:Yet its muslim citizens enjoy greater freedom and opportunities than their coreligionists in any of the muslim majority countries. Palestinians ought to recognise that and ask why they must speend generation after generation as refugees in Muslim countries.
the situation in Palestine is quite terrible and does cause incredible suffering I agree. but this is not just down to palestinians. the war itself has a huge effect. you may say that the war is only going on because of the palos- on the one hand this is true- israelis would be quite happy not to fight and to simlpy take over the rest of the land. this suits them because it's what they want.
palestinians of course do not want this- they have something to be fighting for and fighting against.
and then you get kids who grow up in this environment- the education system is shot, you have kids without proper schooling, their world is in disarray and it has a huge effect on their mentality. I remember some study about the pictures drawn by palo kids- and they were so dark and sad, it was just terrible.
this is not to say israelis don't suffer- I'm sure they do. but essentially they do live in
relative comfort- in comparison to the suffering of the palestinians.
Quote:Only recently, Palestinian 'fighters' sought refugee in Israel from ... er... other Palestinian fighters. They got it, and medical treatment of their gunshot wounds suffered while fighting their muslim Paleestinian brothers in Gaza.
yes- it's very complex, no black and white in sight
Quote:The palestinians act like barbarians and blame israel because israel resists their incessant efforts to - destroy Israel. How inconsiderate of the jews. How racists and islamophobic.
and yet the palestinians are resisting the effort of the israelis to destroy palestine. which they are quite intent on doing. if I'm to look at injustice here- the original injustice is against the palos