http://www.alligator.org/edit/opinion/issues/02-spring/current/c03letts21.html
Editor: In his column in Tuesday’s Alligator, “Civil unrest threatens Middle East,” Howard Newman accuses Middle Eastern countries of trying to “refocus from the real problem.” Gee, I guess they learned this tactic from Israelis who point to the despotic rulers in Arab regimes whenever someone questions their apartheid tactics.
The fact that tyrants rule these other countries and many of them are in shambles is in no way pertinent to the Palestinian problem. That’s the equivalent of slaveholders demanding better treatment of Indians every time they were accused of oppressing blacks.
Newman further blames the current conflict on the Palestinians because of their refusal of the “generous” Camp David offer. But this offer was as big of a sham as the state of Israel itself.
What Newman neglected to mention was that the offer only included part of the West Bank, a small portion of the land that was originally taken away from the Palestinians. In addition, this land would not have been one chunk. It would have been small plots of land scattered around, with plenty of Israeli settlements and checkpoints in between.
But of course, no Israeli would acknowledge this because it would make their arguments completely baseless, which they are.
Looking at how much land Israel had in the early 1900s and how much they have now clarifies the conflict. Over the years Israel has continued to take Palestinian land all the while claiming they want peace.
But despite what Newman claims, Israel does not work for peace. The truth of the matter is that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon doesn’t want peace any more than he wants to celebrate the Islamic new year, or else he would have stopped targeting innocent Palestinians and demolishing their homes a long time ago.
Sharon has probably killed more civilians than all the suicide bombers combined. By continuing his oppression of the Palestinian people, Sharon himself (and others like him) create these suicide bombers who feel they have nothing else they can do to defend their land and people.
The Palestinians are not the enemy here, but continued oppression of them is. Despite various groups claiming they fight for Palestinian rights, the Palestinians are getting screwed all over.
The Palestinians do want peace, but they won’t settle for any proposal that doesn’t include justice.
Raja Abdulrahim
2JM
And to them, the only "justice" is when all the jews are eradicated from that land.
Ah ha! Here is the nub of "Palestinian" complaint: the fact that Israel exists at all.
The only thing these people (and I use that term advisedly) are good at is lying. Before the late 1800s, before the large inmigration of Jews to "Zion", this precious "Palestine" was a freakin' wasteland! Totally worthless. Sparsely populated. Only after an influx of Jews made the land profitable, made it prosperous, did Arabs from neighboring countries decide that "Palestine" was a place of value to them. There are no indigenious Palestinians. They are (vitually all of them) immigrants themselves to the region around Israel. Arafat himself was born and raised in Egypt. The idea that Israel squats over "their land" is the biggest crock perpetrated on a gullible world. And even if it had been "Palestinian land," they voluntarily gave it up at the suggestion and urging of their Arab neighbors who believed that in 1948 they would crush the new Jewish state, and turn it back over to Arabs. It didn't happen. They lost it in a war perpetrated by Arab aggression against the infant Israel. Those Arabs who lost their homes in 1948...I have sympathy for them, but that they were few compared to the parasites and whiners who now claim it's "their land." In fact, most of the legitimate refugees from the 1948 war with Israel are probably now dead of old age. Why is it the legitimate Arab refugees were not absorbed into the compatible nations and cultures of Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt after 1948? Why, after nearly 54 years, are there still "refugees" from the 1948 war? The whole premise that the "Palestinians" make for their "homeland" is a farce of Grade-A quality. They're not patriots hungering for a return of their sovereignty. They never had sovereignty! They are murderous thugs. And if the Arabs want peace with Israel, then tell the Palestinian Authority to give up its sham crusade and settle in the surrounding Arab lands.
Sure they are - no doubt there is a faction of innocent Palestinians who want to live their lives in peace, and they are getting screwed, by their OWN PEOPLE.
Tell me please, how much of the billions in foreign aid that the PA has received over the last decade has gone to better the lives and infrastructure of the Palestinian people? Why are Arafat's people (adopted people, I should say, considering the man is Egyptian) living in squalor while he sports a few houses and a dozen cars, private planes and helicopters (oops, forgot - they were thankfully destroyed a few months back) and a huge personal security force?
Tell me why the Palestinians are the only people in history who have not been repatriated but have been forced to remain in "camps" (although I will never understand how camps can have houses with walls and roofs) by their brethren because they are convenient pawns in their so-called claim to the land. How come the 800k Jews who were kicked out of Arab countries at about the same time have managed to rebuild lives for themselves in other countries but the Palestinians cannot? Why are there still fences around these camps, and don't tell me it's because of Israel, because many of these camps are in areas totally controlled by Arafat.
Answer for me if you can, why Jordan is not EVER taken to task for the FACT that they stole much of the Palestinian mandate while everyone was distracted by fighting Israel in 48. Why does no one ever complain about the FACT that Jordan in 1950 claimed the land they annexed in 48 as a permanent part of their country over the objections of the rest of the Arab League? Why do you think so many residents of Jordan consider themselves Palestinian? It's not because they are living in exile - east of the west bank used to be considered "Palestine" also, and many, many "Palestinians" can point to a place east of the Jordan and call it home.
Answer some of those questions in regard to the poor oppressed Palestinian people. Better yet, teach those few innocents how to ask for themselves.
And while we're at it, let's ask a question of those not-so-innocent Palestinians. If they are so poor and downtrodden and reacting solely from unfair oppression, why is it that they have been kicked out of virtually every country that has ever given them sanctuary? They're just misunderstood, right?