Relocating Israeli Arabs makes sense (commentary)

[KevinTheOmnivore]

This piece is a bit old, but I feel it's relevant with what's going on now. What are some opinions on this tactic? Are we seeing a "creeping" version of this being put into use now???

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Relocating Israeli Arabs makes sense

By Robert I. Lappin
The Jewish Advocate

Boston, Massachusetts
December 27, 2002 ?January 2, 2003

Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz has promulgated a practical way for
Israel to deal with terrorism. He proposes that Israel, with fair, advance
warning, destroy Arab villages that have been used as a base for terrorist
operations. The residents would have 24 hours to leave, and then Israeli
troops would come in and bulldoze the buildings. Israeli leaders would do
well to implement Dershowitz뭩 proposal.

A detail that Dershowoutz has not dealt with is the relocation of those
displaced.

The Arab world and the world of Islam are saturated with hatred of Jews and
of Israel, beyond the point of no return. That Israel is an interloper of
Arab hegemony that must be expunged is an Islamic dictum. It is now widely
recognized that negotiations, including the Oslo peace process and the Barak
initiative, have been a snare and a delusion, and that negotiations are not
a realistic option, given the existing and foreseeable circumstances.
Terror, by suicide-homicide, is the Arab tactic of choice to destroy Israel,
and indeed to intimidate the world.

To protect its citizens, Israel must occupy then West Bank and Gaza Strip
for the foreseeable future, thereby ruling, de facto, over several million
Palestinians. If Israel relinquishes its hold on the territories and
retreats, as it has so many times, terror and suicide attacks resume. This
is intolerable.

To rule over another people is an assault on the Jewish conscience, and
unacceptable over the long run to the world as well. However, the very
process of relocation, once started, may result in shocking the Arabs into a
condition of reality, even to the point of moderating their behavior.

Nonetheless, an option that must be considered is the unspeakable:
relocating Arabs from the West Bank and Gaza to Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and
other Arab countries. Relocation can be a gradual process, starting with
those who will be displaced under the Dershowitz plan.

In tandem with this policy of relocation, Israel should pass a bill, already
presented in the Knesset, encouraging Arab emigration to Arab lands by
offering a basket of financial assistance. Israeli Arabs, most of whom
identify with Israel뭩 enemies, are a deadly source of terrorism. Another
bill, already in the Knesset, calls for every citizen of Israel to take an
oath of loyalty to the state of Israel as a Jewish state as a condition for
citizenship. As a nation under siege, from both within and without,
inhabitants of Israel who are unwilling should be subject to relocation.

It is time, too, for Israel to affirm its rightful claim to Judea, Samaria
and Gaza. Our Torah provides a solid deed to this land, which should be
asserted. The historical roots of the idea of relocation must be vigorously
presented to the world. Since the time of Mohammed, relocations of
Christians, non-Islamic people, and Jews have been commonplace in the
Islamic world. Elsewhere in the world, relocation of tens of millions of
hostile populations have taken place, particularly following World War II.
It is not acceptable for the world to impose on Israel, or for Israel to
impose on itself, standards that no other
nation has assumed. It cannot be required that Israeli Jews live permanently
with people whose greatest joy is the mass murder of Jewish civilians.
Events have borne out that Jewish-Arabs coexistence is no more than a cruel
fantasy.

As difficult as it will be, Israel will have to hunker down and make the
best of the extreme economic and political adversities that it will face
under this plan. Solidarity and support of Diaspora Jewry for Israel will be
essential, perhaps as never before, since Israel뭩 rebirth.
-30-

Robert I. Lappin of Massachusetts is a businessman, philanthropist and past
president of the Jewish Federation of North Shore.

[theapportioner]

Apartheid using "knowledge" as a will to power. What more is there to say?

[AChimp]

I think that the best solution would be to just build a huge wall in between them and tell both sides not to cross it under penalty of death. Then, you actually post foreign guards along to wall to make sure that no one crosses.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

The wall, or fence idea has been discussed. I heard some guy from their Labor Party speak at my school last semester, and he basically said that such a barrier would be merely psychological, particularly in a land where a Jew and an Arab aren't always discernable.

Spinster-- I particularly like how the Talmud is the "deed" to the land.

[theapportioner]

This guy is especially revolting in his fanaticism, but it does illustrate how many, even moderate supporters of Israel's activities consciously or unconsciously use irrelevant historical facts, geographical details, supposedly altruistic intentions etc. as instruments of political, social, cultural domination. Again knowledge as a will to power. Palestinians are guilty of the same tactics, but essential difference is that Israel is in a far more dominant position, and thus calls the shots.

[theapportioner]

On the fence idea:

The New York Times recently had a piece on how the perpetrator of a recent suicide attack on Israeli soil was a British citizen, who went to Israel on a plane. But caveat emptor; since it is the Times it is probably completely fabricated by those arrogant hacks.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Originally Posted by theapportioner

This guy is especially revolting in his fanaticism, but it does illustrate how many, even moderate supporters of Israel's activities consciously or unconsciously use irrelevant historical facts, geographical details, supposedly altruistic intentions etc. as instruments of political, social, cultural domination.

Eh, I don't don't how in line this is with the "moderate" Israeli perspective, although it was published in the Jewish Advocate, which I don't recall(?) being anything of a "radical" publication....

I really just posted this to see if it'd pull Abcdxxxx out of the wood works.

[AChimp]

Then they'll just have to ask everybody what their religion is before assigning them a side. If the Arabs lie, it won't really matter because they'll all blow themselves up eventually and there won't be anymore on the Jew side.

[El Blanco]

Just give the homeless Syrians( Palestinians) the shittiest land possible and let them build really lame casinos on it.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

With that logic, why not give the shittiest land to all of the Russians, French, Polish, Brooklynites, etc. (Israelis)?

[AChimp]

Because they don't hate us.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Who's "we," canuck face?

[AChimp]

Oops. I forgot that y'all had a target painted on your ass.

[El Blanco]

Hey, if you want to get rid of all the Brooklyn people, I'm all the way behind you.

[Abcdxxxx]

I think there's a lot of confusion as to what constitutes a moderate view within the zionist community. Lord knows I'm confused how the Palestinians can pawn off a Holocaust revitionist who ran the Fatah party as a moderate......

It's a poorly worded article in general. Start with the title...I'm guessing this is reprinted without changes as it originally appeared ... but the "Israeli Arabs" aren't really the subject matter of this article are they? Calling them"Israeli Arabs" suggests they would be Arabic citizens of Israel....and while we know there are over a million of those.... these aren't the Arabs who would be effected by relocation plans. The Knesset is full of half baked ideas to solve the conflict in various ways.... some are fairly radical, and some aren't... all it really says is that there is a desire to alleviate the tensions to arrive at a coexistance for peace. Some of the methods people are suggesting are extremist ideas...but they must pass through Israel's constitution and a parliment that includes several Arab representatives. Hardly apartheid. I'll caution anyone reading this that the concept of Jews, or Israelis putting a lesser value on Arabic blood with secret desires to rid the world, or at least the Middle East of them, is false.....it's a blood libel, centuries old.

Oh and yeah there were two British citizens who disguised themselves as ISM members to carry out a suicide mission...
other then that they still fit into the typical "Arabic Muslim bomber" mold.

Jihad is over (if you want it)

[AChimp]

I'm reading an interesting book called The Lexus and the Olive Tree for my international marketing course, and there's a quote in it from an Arab guy that I thought was kind of interesting:

"It's not fair that we're hundreds of years behind the Israelis and they just got here."

[KevinTheOmnivore]

ABC-- I agree with you especially on one thing, that this only shows that there is a vast diversity of feelings and opinions on the problem, on both sides, and some are more viable than others.

AChimp-- I read Friedman's book as well, and although it is full of cute analogies and quotes, I think he is full of shit a lot of the time. He doesn't justify what he believes about globalization with enough of an economic perspective, such as DeSoto (who I disagree with yet respect), and/or Joseph Stiglitz.

Chimp, if I were you, I'd read "Globalization and its Discontents" by Joseph Stiglitz, as opposed to Friedman. Friedman is an intelligent man, and he writes wonderfully. But most of the time he's just shooting from the hip....

[Abcdxxxx]

Chimp - the other problem with that quote is it's not accurate. "hundreds" of years? if i had to be poverty stricken somewhere in the third world i think palestinian territory might be my first choice. literacy rate's pretty high, people speak decent english, billions of dollars in aid, lots of cell phones, washer and dryers....your plight on front page news, and the forefront of most everywestern liberal activist rally... sure it's a rough life, but it's enough to make some african's envious.


the palestinian wage along with quality of life was increasing at a rapid rate in tandom with israel's economic growth - before the intifada started.