To debate or not to debate

Submitted by Walter Manchur (Canada), Aug 5, 2005 at 17:23

At first blush your decision not to participate in these debates seems like a principled position. However, there will be negative consequences. Consider for a moment the situation regarding Israel and the Palestinians. Because of the continuous propaganda war waged by the Palestinians, the world has come to believe that the nation of Israel was created from land owned and inhabited by Arab Palestinians. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Balfour Declaration in 1917 and the intent of the League of Nations was to establish a homeland for the Jews in a land that was desolate and unproductive, inhabited by a small Jewish population and migrant Bedouins and Arabs. The land set aside by the League of Nations and transferred to the administration of Britain included the present land of Israel and the land now known as Jordan. The League of Nations and Britain did not confiscate land inhabited by Arabs and designate it for the Jews. Yet that is what the world believes. Why? Because the Jews decided settle the land, prepare it and make it agriculturally productive, without concerning themselves as to whether the world understood the history of the creation of Israel. The Arabs on the other hand began a propaganda war that they were being robbed of their homeland. The Jews did not respond to the propaganda war, and today the consequences are obvious. The world believes the horrendous lie that the Jews robbed the Arabs of the land they now inhabit. Furthermore Britain mishandled their mandate and allocated the area of Jordan to the Arabs contrary to the intent of the League of Nations. Therefore if Middle East experts such as you withdraw from the debate, Islamists will propagate their lies, which the world will believe and the truth will be lost and the world will in a large measure continue to blame the Jews for the violence in the Middle East. Dr. Pipes, the world needs to hear your voice regardless of the forum.

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