The Atlantic posts an article titled What would you do if your people had been under occupation for almost 50 years and your territory was blockaded by air, land, and sea? the answer: I might ask myself why my kinsmen in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and a half dozen other Arab countries plotted to begin a war in 1967 to push the Israelis into the sea. I might ask myself why I thought I was even entitled to a country called Palestine, when its erstwhile territory of the West Bank and Gaza Strip were actually Jordanian and Egyptian territories. Why were they territories of the Egyptians and Jordanians? Because they had been allotted to those countries by treaty after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. These same treaties established the Jewish mandate that led to Israels creation in 1948. Not Britain and Frances to give, you say? Well, then every other nation state in the same area has the same legitimacy problem as Israel because they all got created the same way. No Israel? No Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, etc. I might also ask myself why I wasnt content to live in territory set aside for me within the borders of modern Israel, which was allotted half its current size, rather than to believe my inept kinsmen promise that they would push the Jews into to sea so that I could have it all. I might look at my kinsmens nations around me... Syria, Iraq, Libya, Egypt, and ask myself why the hell I would want to have a country of my own if I couldnt do any better running it. I might, at long last, ask myself why I dont just choose to live in peace where I am on the awestruck Bank and build there a decent and equitable society, not just one more failed state that thrives on delusions of glory lost and unearned persecution. Take a cue from the Israelis.. Take a crappy piece of desert and make something of it. Take a cue from the Singaporeans and turn a pestilential backwater and turn it into a 21st century mini-powerhouse. Take a cue from the Koreans and turn a devastated land into a prosperous and vibrant democracy. Take a cue from those hearty souls who, often for reasons of persecution for their beliefs, left homes behind a century ago to sail the Atlantic for a wild and unknown world, and who, when they got there, didnt wallow in self pity but built the wealthiest nation on the planet. Id ask myself if my problem wasnt a lack of land, but my attitude! -James H Davis Jr
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 18:22:22 +0000
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