The Sudetenland analogy

Submitted by Jeff in USA (United States), Apr 11, 2006 at 20:14

In fact, the Sudetenland analogy is just about perfect.

The Sudetenland is a region of Czechoslovakia along the border with Germany. Before World War II this region had an ethnic German population. It also contained mountains along the border, and Czechoslovakian border fortifications. Because of the Sudetenland's ethnic German population, Nazi Germany demanded that it be handed over to German rule. The Nazis claimed they had no further designs on Czech territory. Ethnic German agitators in the Sudetenland supported the Nazi goal of annexing it. Even though Czechoslovakia was a fellow democracy and Nazi Germany was an expansionist fascist dictatorship, other Western democracies betrayed Czechoslovakia and forced it to hand over the Sudetenland to Germany. Without the Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia was geographically defenseless. Within a few months, Germany occupied the rest of the country.

Today the West Bank and Gaza are regions under Israel's control along its borders with its Muslim neighbors. They have a mostly-Muslim population. A glance at the map shows that the loss of these areas would make Israel far harder to defend. Because of their Muslim population, the Islamists demand that they be handed over to Muslim rule. Some of them claim they have no further designs on Israeli territory. Muslim agitators in the West Bank and Gaza support the goal of Muslim rule (a "Palestinian state"). Some Western democracies seem quite willing to pressure Israel, a fellow democracy, to hand over the areas to the Islamofascists.

After World War II and the horrors of Nazi occupation, the Czechs expelled the Sudeten Germans so that they could never again be used as a pretext to claim the Sudetenland for Germany. I hope the Israelis will not wait until they have been subjected to a Palestinian state and a new war.

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