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vincentML -> RE: Israel (10/1/2012 6:04:42 PM)
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People do bad things in the name of religion and in the name of their "gods". This is a simple reality of human history.
I find that it is not helpful to claim one side is necessarily worse or better than the other. Evil done in "god's" name is still evil, regardless of one's religion.
My point exactly, FTP.
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The solutions in the Middle East are going to be difficult. But I will say this. One thing that would help is for America to try to reach out to Islamic moderates throughout the world. Arab is not the same as Islam. There are many Muslims who are NOT Arab. And Islam is not the same as terrorist. There are many Muslim people who are moderates.
A confusion of terms, FTP. The world of Islam is heterogenious as to their myths and scriptures. I use the word Islamist in place of terrorists or extremists because those terms are emotionally loaded. Islamists in my lexicon are fundamentalist or purist Muslims. I do not equate Islamists with all Muslims. Just as there are Jews who are not Orthodox there are Muslims who are not Islamists. Your moderate Muslims. But there is a political/religious/ethnic conflict, as I understand it, between Islamists and Muslims and other Muslims. And between Shia and Sunni, between Arab and Turk, Kurd and Persian, Afghani and Pushtan and Pakistani. They are all Muslim but there are historical lines of friction between them. So, who among these welcome an Israeli state? And if they do how does it play into their own political/religious/ethnic interests?
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What has happened in the world is that the issue of Israel, instead of being about Palestinians and Jews trying to come to peaceful terms within a geo-political unit (or two) has, instead, become a worldwide conflict of Islam against America and Israel. It is confusing the issue, and making it practically impossible to move forward.
Disagree. Israel was born out of years of Zionist immigration, the dismemberment of Ottoman Empire, the decline of British Empire, the guilt/chaos of the European Holocaust, and the dawn of the Russian/American Cold War. All of these were factors, as I understand it, and in the face of resistence from the people of Palestine. President Truman was not eager to get on board, and President Eisenhower forced Israel back from their attack on Suez (do I have that right?) When did the United States become an ally of Israel? What is our strategic interest? How is our support for Israel seen in the light of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other incursions we have made into the affairs of ME nations? In light of our support for ME and North African dictators? Maybe we should look into the mirror and answer these questions before we point the finger of blame elsewhere.
Israel continues to occupy Palestinian territory in contradiction of the Oslo Accords of 1993. How can there be a solution as long as Israeli troops and settlements choke the Palestinian economy and spirit?
By way of interest and to illustrate the chaos in Europe post WWII, my neighbor Alex, who passed away this year, was liberated from a Nazi camp and drifted down to Yugoslavia. From there to a refugee camp in Crete. Then three years in the Israeli Defense Forces before migrating to Canada with forged papers. Amazing and poignant story of true grit. He worked night and day for two years to get his wife and child from Israel to Canada. Just sharing some personal knowledge.
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