I have so many beefs with this issue that it's hard to know where to start.
First, it really pisses me off that many American's knee jerk Jews=good Muslim=bad mentality that has led us so many times to unilaterally support Israel's positions even when they are morally and politically (to the rest of the international community) untenable positions. This is part of the impetuous behind the building of illegal outposts in the Palestinian territories-- the Bush administration (and to be fair, several other previous administrations) basically told Israel that we wouldn't interfere or raise issues while publicly sticking to the idea that a 2 state solution was the goal...
including no more outposts and expulsion of settlers who had built illegally.
Second, I am sick of the cries of "terrorism" by the Israeli government regarding violence by the Palestinians towards Israel. What? Because the violence towards the Palestinians is perpetrated by a standing army it's
not terrorism? I'm not saying that the Palestinian actions are okay, but when you are confronted by force from a huge, well equipped army, what are you supposed to do in response? How are you supposed to defend yourselves. Our own history would argue that the citizenry takes up arms to battle an unjust government.
Third,
hello Israeli state (differentiating from citizens, the majority of which, in pole after pole, want a more conciliatory attitude towards the Palestinians...including dismantling of illegal settlements). Remember the beginning of the Holocaust? What in the world do you think you are doing to the Palestinians? Remember the ghettos- starving and displacing people into submission? Remember the killing? Remember the papers you were required to carry at all times? Remember the taking of your property for no reason other than someone else coveted it? Remember all of that? Remember how the world said it should never happen again? Guess what? It is happening and this time you are the perpetrators.
And now this. The ruling didn't even say that the houses in Jerusalem belonged to the Israelis in question, the authenticity of the property deeds used as the basis for the eviction is still making its way through the courts. They kicked the Palestinians (who had been living as extended families in these houses for over 50 years) out while the issue of the deeds is still pending. The houses themselves never even belonged to Israelis, the were built by the UN to house refugees and were given (by Jordan) to the (now previous) families prior to the 1967 Jordanian/Israeli war. The turnover of the houses to the Jews is a result of deeds on the property that date back to Ottoman rule (anywhere from 100 to 500 years ago).
I find it rather ironic that the Israelis are adamantly against the right of return but argue that Israeli taking of property and building of settlements is a return of Israelis to their biblical/historical homelands.
And last week several new settlements were inaugurated as an act of "defiance" towards the Obama administration:
Quote:
“We are rebuilding the land of Israel,” Rabbi Yigael Shandorfi, leader of a religious academy at the neighboring settlement outpost of Nahliel, said during the ceremony. “Our hope is that there will be roads, electricity and water.” The message to President Obama, he said, is that this is Jewish land. He did not use the president’s name, but an insulting Hebrew slang for a black man and the phrase “that Arab they call a president.”
None of the hundreds gathered — mostly couples with large families, but also armed young men and teenagers from other outposts — objected. Yitzhak Shadmi, leader of the regional council of settlements, said Mr. Obama was a racist and anti-Semite for his assertion that Jews should not build here, but Arabs could.
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How about an American act of defiance? How about instead of continuing to give the Israelis billions in aid and access to the latest in military hardware, all while begging them to pay us heed, we get serious and tell them that yes, they
can do whatever they want...
without our financial and defensive help.