presumption, entitlement, mess mess mess

Submitted by Derek Lamson (United States), Feb 22, 2008 at 03:25

Dear Miss Lisette from Canada,

This won't make any difference to you whatsoever, but you probably enjoy getting angry at this point, so read on. Perhaps one of Mr. Pipes other readers may read this and decide to do some of his or her own thinking for a change. Let's start with your first presumption, where you say:

"...while the Palestinian Arabs are regarded as "occupied", despite the fact that such an analogy is ludicrous and devoid of any historical/moral equivalence..."

Miss Murad, it is not ludicrous to describe the Palestinian Arabs as "occupied" because you decide so.

What do you call living under the jurisdiction of a hostile and alien army since 1967? I mean, whose army is it? It is the IDF, the armed forces of the State of Israel, and it is the whole government of the West Bank, outside of the very limited Palestinian Authority areas. When Yesha settler radicals cut down some Palestinian Arab farmer's olive trees - with depressing regularity, in the West Bank - who do you think the farmer can go to for redress? He can go to the military, if he's crazy. Does he get relief that way, from the IDF? Miss Murad, we both know he does not. It's not his army, and they're not there to help him.

Your presumption of entitlement of course is that the Arab farmer should leave, right? I mean... you're in Montreal, and his family, on the other hand has been growing olives in the West Bank probably as long as Jews have ever been there, but still your point is that you own or Israel owns or the Jewish people own all of Israel/Palestine by ... what? Divine right? Well, OK, you can put that on the table, but people will disagree with you.

Israel's own very large very well organized peace movement reads the same Torah you do, and disagrees with you, and calls for two states - Israel and Palestine - to share the region in peace. I don't agree with you, Miss Murad, and I read my Bible, and I vote and pay my taxes, here in the US. I'm neither anti-Israeli, nor anti-Jewish. I'm pro-peace. I do happen to like Arabs, Miss Murad. I met several when I travelled in Hebron and the West Bank just last winter. By the way, most of the European states don't agree with your 'divine right' justification to grab up all the land either, and nor does the growing political movement in the US for peace and justice for the Palestinians.

When people see - not you, but open minded people - see, like I did, poor Arab villagers separated from their only livelihood, their olive groves, wheat fields, gardens, and grazing, by an IDF barrier erected solely for harassing them; when you see them cut off completely from their own property, land that they have legal title to, it begins to sink in that, why yes, they are an occupied people. An occupation that is condemned through several UN resolutions, condemned by the International Courts of Justice, and I believe, Miss Murad, an occupation that is condemned by God for it's heartlessness and injustice.

We're tossing George W. out on his ear, Miss Murad, a little man with a little mind, who wasn't very well informed, and what he did see, he saw in black and white. The world's more complicated that that, thank God. We will continue to work to combat bigotry and misinformation about the history of the region and the true conditions of Palestinian arabs when and wherever we can.

... Have a nice day.

Derek in Portland, Oregon USA

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".