
I said, “Here is what one of the greatest thinkers of the 19th century—some feel he is the greatest thinker of the 19th century—said in describing Jerusalem at that time.” After reading the passage from the Daily Tribune about the “4,000 Mussulmans, 8,000 Jews” of Jerusalem I added: “I am sure that our Soviet colleagues will immediately recognize that I am quoting Karl Marx.” The Soviet delegate—plainly a crude apparatchik—jumped up and shouted, “Forgery! This is a forgery! Karl Marx never wrote this!” In response, I took up the volume from which I was quoting and asked that it be noted that I was using the official Moscow Foreign Languages Publishing House edition of Marx’s writings on colonialism, adding: “I am sure that our Soviet colleague is not suggesting that the official Soviet publishing house is falsifying the texts of Karl Marx.” The room exploded with laughter, although several attendees were less than amused. |
Gaza needs to be recognized for what it is a Ghetto. Specifically designed to isolate the Muslim Palestinians from the Christians. The reason being that prior to resettlement of Jews after WWII the largest land owner in Jerusalem was the Christian churches. Can’t justify killing the Christians so separate then from the Muslims and solve that problem. As for who was there first, well go back to the census prior to resettlement. Anyone who was resettled there from Europe and the years that have since followed should not have more rights than families that were there prior to that time regardless of religious beliefs. We don’t have to have a ridiculous argument over who was there first all the way back to Moses. |
Nice stream of bs but that’s not what you said. You said “Jews are recognized as the sole native population of the region. “ And that’s a lie. |
There are weapons in chocolate bars , hypertension medication, wheelchairs and insulin? The weapon or anti weapon defense system is the tunnels. That’s Hamas Iron Dome. Israel should’ve blown up the tunnels and allowed general items in to to Gaza via land and sea import. By cutting Gaza off, the Israelis unintentionally created their own dilemma with the booby trapped tunnels. Sinwars brother was even driving inside one of these tunnels . Hostages have said they had TV’s , full bathroom plumbing, and even saw air conditioning in the tunnels . This isn’t some fly by night project . Israel had to have known all this was going on |
What’s that saying? Necessity is the mother of invention.
The tunnels however are the biggest problem . They ensure that Israel won’t be able to successfully annex Gaza ever again because they can’t be sure every underground Hamas bunker , booby trap, or tunnel can be blown up . Israel takes one step forward and seven steps back. Much like the settlements in the West Bank, the full import and export blockade of Gaza led to the creation of an underground tunnel system that harms Israel more than it helps |
An expert in the IdF said they didn’t think Hamas would be “smart enough” to create such a vast, extensive tunnel system. Well, no shit. It’s 5 miles wide at its widest point.
Building tunnels throughout the strip ala Manhattan subways is not difficult to any halfway decent engineer. Smuggling concrete, steel, drywall, electrical wiring and other items from Egypt is not difficult . All they need to do is make one Egyptian police /army friend sympathetic to Palestine and that isn’t hard. |
You still don’t get it . |
A lot of things are "in the bible." Do you think Adam and Eve were real people? Or that God created the Earth in seven days? Or that you can't wear a garment made of two different types of material? One can follow a biblical religion while accepting that the Bible is not historically or scientifically accurate. |
Nobody is disputing that Jews lived in the area in ancient times. However, to claim this somehow entitles Jewish people of today to return and evict others who have lived there for 2,000 years longer doesn't pass the credibility test. It's like claiming a naked king is dressed in the finest robes, which works until someone points out the obvious and announces that "the king has no clothes." Many kingdoms have risen and fallen over the centuries, but nobody in their right mind should try to reclaim land some of their ancestors may have lived on many centuries ago. Note that Canaan had been inhabited for thousands of years before Judaism was even invented. Some claim Judaism began in about 1800 BCE with God's covenant with Abraham. There is no evidence that Abraham ever existed, and this story is almost certainly mythological. Others believe that Judaism began somewhere between the 12th and 11th centuries BCE as an offshoot of the polytheistic Caananite religion, which had El as its supreme god but worshipped other deities, such as Astarte and Baal. Judaism began as Yahwaism around this time and its followers worshipped Yahweh, the god of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. There is little agreement as to whether Yahwah was El, a son of El, or something else entirely, but Yahwaism began as monolatristic and only really evolved into monotheism toward the end of the Babylonian captivity in around 538 BCE. At that time, some Jews returned to Judah but most remained in Babylon. Later still, others traveled to Judah with Ezra. Throughout all this, tribes of different religions assimilated one another through conquest. Many Jews than left the region during and shortly after the Jewish-Roman wars, which took place between 66 and 135 CE. If we date the start of Judaism to the 12th century BCE, Jews lived in Canaan/Palestine/Israel from as early as 1200 BCE to, say, 135 CE, a period of 1335 years. Jews were not a homogenous unit throughout this time. Their religion evolved, they mingled with people of other religions (often by conquest), some moved to other areas voluntarily before the Jewish-Roman wars, and they descended from the same stock as other groups in the region. After they left the region, they mingled with people in North Africa and Europe. Now, in 2024, this land has been occupied for at least 10,000 years. No slight intended to Jews, but evicting Palestinians whose families have lived continuously in the area for 10,000 years and giving their land to people who may have had some ancestors that lived there, albeit for a shorter time, is ... obviously very unfair to the Palestinians. |
And if you're really all about ancestral lands, then guess what, Armenians lived in Artsakh for centuries, but that didn't keep Israel from supplying Azeris with top notch weapons to help them expel the natives. |
DP. I agree that claims to ancestral lands are unworkable. Which is why Palestinians have no claim to Israel, since they last inhabited it > 80 years ago. |
You can hear the hand-rubbing through the internet. |
the Bible? the book I read as part of my English lit course in 9th grade (at Catholic school run by nuns mind you) wtf authority does that have? do we also have to listen to the vedas, the creation myths of the Shawnee know? anansi the offing spider? Zues & Kronos? this isn't a rick riordan book its real life and noone should care about what was written in a book 1000s of years ago. I say this a s areligious person who prayed everyday but that has nothing to do with geopolitical realities and what's happening today. Should we also be marrying widows off to their brothers in law? Stoning adulterers? Stoning Anderson Cooper- that is what the Bible says to do. you cant pick and choose-it's either the word of god or its not. |
Actually, under UN Resolution 194, they do. They can either return to their homes or receive compensation. And in the case of Palestinians, we're not talking only about "ancestral lands," as in the lands of their ancestors. We're talking about their OWN lands, where they lived as young children and from which their parents and grandparents were evicted (or murdered) by Zionist terrorists (like the Irgun and Alexandroni Brigade) and the IDF. Also, it's under 80 years for many of those evicted during the Nakba. 80 years is very different from 2,000 years. |