[Abcdxxxx]

Do you really in your heart believe that there are "two wrongs for every fault"...or that we can't look at history and see that there is a value to ascribing who is a victim, without blame? As I've said, Israel's existance, and having Jewish neighbors was the original provocation. The way Israel, and Jews have responded is all relative to that.


There were Palestinian Arabs, just like there were Palestinian Jews. It wasn't an identity, nor was there a seperate tribal identity from those Arabs who went on to form Jordan. So when I say mythology, I'm talking about a post-PLO concept of a Palestinian. A great deal of Arabs involved in the Palestinian cause aren't related to the original 600,000 (or whatever number you want to use) at all. Do the math. Israel has 1million Arabs....more then half of Jordan's population are Palestinian...there are Palestinians in the EU, US, and elsewhere.... how the hell do you end up with 3 million in Gaza alone ?! The PA leadership is mostly Egyptian. I don't mean Palestinians raised in Egypt, I mean outright Egyptians, who started within Egyptian nationalist organizations before adopting the Palestinian angle. The cliche answer is to question if Palestinians have their own distinct style of food, song, dance, etc. The idea of Palestinian refugee camps is ambigious, and misleading as well. Even taking the name Palestine, and claiming it as their own is wrapped in mythology. So there's a great deal of mythology involved. That said, identity politics really come down to "hey if you want to call yourself a Palestinian and say you're a seperate people, then fiiiiiine". It's no coincidence that some of the first self declared Palestinian Historians were Literature, and Linguistics professors.

Do I believe they have a right to a State? I believe Jordan was meant to be their State, as part of the "two states for two people" concept. I 'm fine with the idea of a 2nd Palestinian State in Gaza, and a portion of the WB, but I know that's not going to satisfy their nationalist goals. The map used in PA schools shows the entirety of Israel labeled green for Palestinian. I also think that with plenty of Arab owned land for them, the draw to Israel isn't real estate. They're not looking for equal rights, they're looking to replace Israel's rights. Their refusal to live next door to Jews is my biggest concern.... and I think it's unlikely that some American college kids will be using Marxist texts to argue my right to return to Iraq and evict all the Arabs there, any time soon. It would be pretty ridiculous if they did, don't you think?