Spring Break
Stop the foreign aid for Israel
Ian Bezek
Issue date: 12/9/08 Section: Opinion
My comments from last week about Israel generated a lot of attention, so I thought I'd devote a whole column to the subject, starting with taking a closer look at the birth of modern Israel.
I'll begin by quoting Mahatma Gandhi, who in 1947 said, "The Jews are a persecuted people worthy of world sympathy and India sympathizes with them . . . The Arabs are a great people with a great history and therefore if they provide refuge for the Jews without the mediation of any nation, it will be in their tradition of generosity."
I share Gandhi's views. The Jews had obviously suffered greatly and deserved sympathy. However, sympathy alone didn't give them the right to seize land Arabs had owned for 2,500 years.
Gandhi specifically said that the Arabs could choose -- not be forced, but choose -- to give Jews refuge and it would have been a great generosity. Israel didn't have a right to the land; it was the Arabs' decision to make, and they chose not to give the Jews land.
While Israel claimed to have bought the land from the Arabs, their claim rings hollow. The Palestinians that had lived there for centuries didn't see a dime of the proceeds. The land purchase was about as valid as America's so-called purchases of Native American land.
Gandhi was asked in 1947 what "the most acceptable solution to the Palestine problem" was. Gandhi replied, "The abandonment wholly by the Jews of terrorism and other forms of violence." Israel proceeded to terrorize Palestinians as they illegally drove the Arabs from their land in 1948 creating hundreds of thousands of refugees leaving with little more than the shirts on their backs.
Despite stealing the Palestinians' land, the new Israeli leadership promised the conquered native population, "full and equal citizenship and due representation." Israel has completely failed to deliver this promise.
According to the American non-profit organization Remember These Children, since 2000, 118 Israeli children were killed by Palestinian attacks, while 1,045 Palestinians were killed by Israelis. Israel is building an illegal wall to protect itself from the Palestinians, though clearly Israelis have been far more violent recently.
I'll begin by quoting Mahatma Gandhi, who in 1947 said, "The Jews are a persecuted people worthy of world sympathy and India sympathizes with them . . . The Arabs are a great people with a great history and therefore if they provide refuge for the Jews without the mediation of any nation, it will be in their tradition of generosity."
I share Gandhi's views. The Jews had obviously suffered greatly and deserved sympathy. However, sympathy alone didn't give them the right to seize land Arabs had owned for 2,500 years.
Gandhi specifically said that the Arabs could choose -- not be forced, but choose -- to give Jews refuge and it would have been a great generosity. Israel didn't have a right to the land; it was the Arabs' decision to make, and they chose not to give the Jews land.
While Israel claimed to have bought the land from the Arabs, their claim rings hollow. The Palestinians that had lived there for centuries didn't see a dime of the proceeds. The land purchase was about as valid as America's so-called purchases of Native American land.
Gandhi was asked in 1947 what "the most acceptable solution to the Palestine problem" was. Gandhi replied, "The abandonment wholly by the Jews of terrorism and other forms of violence." Israel proceeded to terrorize Palestinians as they illegally drove the Arabs from their land in 1948 creating hundreds of thousands of refugees leaving with little more than the shirts on their backs.
Despite stealing the Palestinians' land, the new Israeli leadership promised the conquered native population, "full and equal citizenship and due representation." Israel has completely failed to deliver this promise.
According to the American non-profit organization Remember These Children, since 2000, 118 Israeli children were killed by Palestinian attacks, while 1,045 Palestinians were killed by Israelis. Israel is building an illegal wall to protect itself from the Palestinians, though clearly Israelis have been far more violent recently.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 62
John
posted 12/09/08 @ 10:26 AM MST
Ian, your oblivious attitude to the truth of the subject you write about is staggering. "On November 29, 1947, after much debate and discussion, the UN recommended the partition of Palestine into two states  one Jewish and one Arab. (Continued…)
Arvensis
posted 12/09/08 @ 4:56 PM MST
Ian -
There are certain facts that you are not going to get from the mainstream media. As I pointed out replying to your last article: there is an overwhelming number of Israeli citizens serving in our government. (Continued…)
JS
posted 12/09/08 @ 6:27 PM MST
>>""On November 29, 1947, after much debate and discussion, the UN recommended the partition of Palestine into two states  one Jewish and one Arab. The Jews accepted the UN resolution while the Arabs rejected it. (Continued…)
JS
posted 12/10/08 @ 3:00 AM MST
>>"there is an overwhelming number of Israeli citizens serving in our government."
You mean somebody like Emanuel who was appointed Wight House Chief of Staff (the 2nd most powerful man in Washington) only day following Election Day?
NL
posted 12/10/08 @ 9:35 AM MST
Hi Ian,
My daughter is a student at CSU and brought to my attention your artical.
I grew up in Israel and yes the stories are sad but Ian, Did you have a chance to visit Israel befor you wrote this artical,do you know how much money Israel give the palestinians?do you know that only today they got 100,000,000 NIS (about $25,000,000)?
Do you know why they are not allowed to cross the "border" to Israel? It all happened after the terrosits attacks on Israelies that went to work or school in the morning and never came back because the bus they were on was blowen to pieces by a crazy man or woman. (Continued…)
JS
posted 12/15/08 @ 12:06 PM MST
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/12/20081210551198584.html
Registered Independent
posted 12/16/08 @ 6:01 PM MST
Response to "JS":
Oh, well that last posting of yours certainly clears things up regarding the "facts" and viewpoints you have delineated here.
You actually believe "Al Jazeera" to be at least a somewhat legitimate news source. (Continued…)
JS
posted 12/17/08 @ 12:35 PM MST
>>You actually believe "Al Jazeera" to be at least a somewhat legitimate news source. <<
No, sorry, neoconservative Donald Rumsfeld called it "inaccurate. (Continued…)
np
posted 1/06/09 @ 1:48 PM MST
Stop foreign aid everywhere, we need to keep money in the US to fix the problems we have here.
Fahad
posted 1/07/09 @ 12:46 PM MST
Hi,
I am an Arab student in CSU who lived in the middle east for 18 years and will soon start writing an article about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Continued…)
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