Mike,
No hate posts, you are right. The Nazi concentration camps seems to have absolved the Israelis from all criticism (though these camps were also full of Gypsies etc as well). The Israelis did terrible things to the Palastinians (who had lived in Palestine for a 1000 years - how could the Israelis and the world tell Palasinians that it was not their country?) and seem to have learnt well the 'lessons' the Nazis taught them.
We owe the Palastinians a lot for this blight we forced upon them.
Its a funny thing though, as it has happened before; the Romans were very tollerant of other religions but did not know how to deal with religions that were themselves intolerant, viz, the Christians and the Jews, and so eventually turned on them. However, Rome is remembered as the 'bad guy'. Similarly,the Pilgrims (Puritans) are portrayed as peace-loving worshippers excaping persecution to America; whereas they were treated in England as just another sect until the intolerant Puritans started to disrupt normal church services and were violent against people of any other Christian belief. People (and the government) then naturaly turned upon them and the Puritans were forced to flee to Holland and America (the Pilgrim Fathers). They were not particularly pleasant people but how does the world remember them? As good people!
Regards
David
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cbjslp
14 years ago
Well, I guess the two of you are examples of how different peoples' takes on history can be. I think this quote says it all:
"The truth is that if Israel were to put down its arms there would be no more Israel. If the Arabs were to put down their arms there would be no more war." -Benjamin Netanyahu
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mike-848
13 years ago
I hope your not using that hate monger Netanyahu's quote as an example of some great statesmanship a la Churchill or Kennedy.
Anyone with some common sense knows that if the Palestinians ever put down their arms there would be no more Palestinians.
Yes, there is an Arab faction that would like to see the total destruction of Israel. Israel for better or worse has built up a first class society I'll give them that.
But, they don't have the right to destroy the lives and property of others because God told them to do it just as the Germans didn't have that right because Hitler told them to do it.
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AtheistRevolution
10 years ago
"The truth is that if Israel were to put down its arms there would be no more Israel. If the Arabs were to put down their arms there would be no more war." -Benjamin Netanyahu
If they went back to the 1967 borders they probably would have more peace.The reason its such a mess started from the breakup of the Ottoman empire and the allies redrawing the borders also from Britain giving that land to the Jews and forcing the others out. Also idiots like Lawrence of Arabia pushing for Arab nationalism to fight the Turks.
External powers getting involved in internal affairs has caused most of the problems. If Jews went directly to the Arabs and negotiated with possibly sharing the land or getting a peace then it could have turned out better.But going behind someone's back and then having it forced upon you creates anger.Which lead to the Arab nationalism similar to what lead to Japanese nationalism when they were forced to open up by the US. Or German nationalism when they were embarrassed by the Versailles treaty.Ultimately people go to extremes when they feel like someone treated them like crap,ignored them and made them look like fools. What should have happened after the break up of Ottoman empire is the Middle East sorting out its own issues like what should have happened after breakup of Soviet Union. Instead other outside forces start trying to manipulate for their own gain and you end up with a mess.
- Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.
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