another country?

Submitted by John Philips (Japan), Aug 14, 2007 at 21:09

Your question: "Quiz time: Which Middle Eastern country disappeared from the map not long ago for more than six months?"

A possible answer: Palestine. I don't want to get into the argument about the fact that other Arab countries took over what was left of the Palestinian part of Palestine after the war at the creation of Israel. As long as the Palestinians don't have their own country, so long they will be making trouble. The Palestinian Declaration of Independence could be read as a declaration against other Arab countries as against Israel. Of course if you accept Arab nationalism you can argue that the other Arab countries should just absorb the Israelis, but if you don't accept Arab nationalism you recognize the reality that Egyptians, Moroccans, Yemenis, etc. are different nationalities, who all need their own countries. Interesting how Israeli and Arab nationalism feed off each other.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".