[lit-ideas] Re: U.N. Special Committee on Palestine
- From: Carol Kirschenbaum <carolkir@xxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2006 06:06:26 -0700
Andrene wrote:
>stole the land, just the way a lot of others did, and because they stole the
>>land
ck: I said "conquered," not "stole." Stole from whom? How far back do you go?
Some tribal cultures still believe that no humans can "own" land--it's not
ownable. But most nations have borders and claim lands for themselves. By whose
right? God-giving rights? If you believe that, then Israel is the only nation
that has a right to that land, regardless of how long other groups have lived
there! (Ask the fundamentalist Christians...)
I happen not to be a biblical fundamentalist, however, but a pragmatist.
Israel exists. If it had lost any of the wars it's been fighting since its
inception, it wouldn't be a state today. To use your landlord metaphor, Israel
is fighting to keep its people from being tossed out and rendered homeless. Or
dead, as the Arab states keep vowing. With neighbors like those, a new home
would be a blessing, but there's no such place. Jews have a history of being
forced out of every country in which they've settled.
From this historical perspective, particularly after the Holocaust, having a
homeland--the state of Israel--is worth living for, and dying for, if
necessary. I understand this. It may not be fair to the previous occupants, but
it's unwise to keep trying to share your duplex with a neighbor who insists
that you die and leave the entire place to him. Why is this so difficult to
understand?
Carol
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