From: "Strong, Lee" <StrongL at MTMC.ARMY.MIL> To: "'WSFA members'" <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net> Subject: [WSFA] Re: Political Inventions Date: Mon, 8 Apr 2002 11:22:18 -0400 Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net> Ted, Salaam and shalom. I must respectively disagree with most of your comments for the simple reason that the facts do not support them. I will agree with you about "Pollyanna." I've never been called that before but there's a first time for everything. Since I am an optimist, I suppose I am a Pollyanna of sorts. Better than being out of sorts all the time. Cathy, Ron, Elspeth and Steve have pretty well covered the facts of Israeli hisotry and policy and Arab-Israeli fighting so I shall try to be brief. Zionist Jews began returning to what is now Israel in the very late 19th Century. They bought the land from the locals who were then controlled by the Ottoman Empire. The Jews and Arabs lived together relatively peacefully. During the 1930s, the Muslim Grand Mufti of Jersusalem was an open Nazi sympathizer and preached a violent jihad against the Jews. The British prevented open hostilities but not all hostilities. A lot of the conflict stems from the differences in Jewish and Arabic culture. Basically, Jews work for success and Arabs fight for it with the result that Israel's domestic economy is more productive than Saudi Arabia's despite the latter's oil wealth. There is, IMHO, no problem that can not be resolved by Arab-Israeli cooperation. However, SOME Arabs do not want to cooperate. They routinely ignore facts and expect that the Israelis can be forced out, leaving the possessions built by the Israelis for the taking. The Israelis have indeed done some harsh things out of necessity but what's the alternative? To allow themselves to be driven out of the land that God gave them (reference _Book of Genesis_ revered by Jews, Muslims and Christians) and move to what refuge? Will you move to provide displaced Israelis a new home? And how long will it be before Muslims discover a "right" to your home? Answer: The Black Muslims already think that they have a right to your home. Concerning the famous settlements, they were originally part of a ring of defensive outposts to protect Israel proper from a serious military threat. In most cases the Israelis purchased the land from the Arab owners. The Palestineans frequently murder Arabs who sell land to Israelis -- proof of their intentions. The Israelis offered to either dismantle them or compensate the Palestinean nation for land occupied by them. That's at least a fair offer that the Palestinean Authority rejected out of hand. The Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai is proof that Israel keeps its word. Concerning the recent Saudi Arabian offer, the details added at the Arab League conference in Lebandon show that the Arabs are not really offering peace, merely the destruction of Israel on the installment plan. The repeated, massive failure of the Palestinean Authority to abide by the Oslo and Wye River Plantation agreements is proof that SOME Arabs do not keep their word. Therefore, Israel is logical and right in being deeply suspicious of an offer for them to give up so much in return for so little. My personal proposal for peace in the Middle East is that Europe and the United States should stop having one policy for themselves and one policy for Israel. The terrorist organization known as the Palestinean Authority has had 8 years to meet the legitimate needs of the Palestinean people and it has clearly failed to do so. Abolish it and create a real Palestinean government that will build a real nation of Palestine rather than the present policy of destroying both Palestine and Israel. Yasser Arafat and his cronies can have Napoleon's old rooms on St. Helena for their crimes against the Palestinean people. Your friend, Lee -----Original Message----- From: Ted White [mailto:tedwhite at compusnet.com] Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2002 4:24 PM To: WSFA members Subject: [WSFA] Re: Political Inventions "Strong, Lee" wrote: > Candy, > I must respectively disagree with you on this one at least in part. > Israel, while certainly not always perfect, is a moral nation that is > fighting for its life against a bloodthirsty, hateful and immoral enemy. > The Israelis have made many specific, sincere attempts to make peace with > all their neighbors and lived up to its commitments when made. Specific > examples include Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. However, many Arabs, including > the Palestinean Authority, want bloody spoils of victory rather than peace > and prefer to continue fighting. As a constitutional republic, Israel has a > right to live in peace and a right to defend itself from hostile neighbors. > I'm only sorry that other nations including the United States have been as > accomodating to unjust Arab demands for as long as we have been. But it's > always easy to be free with other people's lives. What a Pollyannish view. It ignores the Nazi-like invasion of surrounding territories by the (right wing, fundamentalist) "settlers." These "settlements" are naked land-grabs and have caused great misery. They are also the main sticking point in any peace efforts. They *should* be razed to the ground and wholly abandoned, but since it was Sharon who initially established them, that appears unlikely. In the meantime, the leaders of the Arab states have offered normal relations to Israel if it returns the lands it seized in 1967. This is a Major Breakthrough -- and one Israel has turned its back on. --Ted White