[Anamensis]

You know, it's funny, I used to be quite sympathetic to the Palestinians and pretty anti-Israel. I used to say all the same cliches, "The Jews stole the land... two wrongs don't make a right... the Arabs were there first!" I guess my sympathies for Irish Catholics who wanted a united Ireland colored my feelings, I saw the Palestinians' situation as similar to the Irish. It was only here at FR that I started hearing the other side of the story, and it's amazing how much of my former opinions were based on knee-jerk sympathy for a perceived underdog fostered very much by a leftist public school background that taught me that the poor are automatically morally entitled to whatever the rich have, and that those who have must have taken it all by force from those who have not.

[dennisw]

knee-jerk sympathy for a perceived underdog fostered very much by a leftist public school background that taught me that the poor are automatically morally entitled to whatever the rich have, and that those who have must have taken it all by force from those who have not.

Same happened to me. Just because the Palestinians are a bunch of poor and angry 3rd worlders does not make their cause right. And the Palestinian "issue" is really just part of the larger picture of Islam versus the Jews of Israel. Pallies should look within to solve their problems instead of blaming Jews.

The Palestinians do have some legitimate grievances. But from them they have fashioned a lot of propaganda that appeals to the liberalism and sense of fair play that Americans have.

[Lent]

I appreciate your candid comments. Yeah, much of this "palestinian" sympathy has its origin in misdirected and misguided leftist idealism about the "poor" and "dispossessed".