Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/09/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Alan, I have so far largely stayed out of the public debate, preferring to exchange off-line e-mails with some LUGgers. But your quote below puts me over the top. I simply cannot let this stand uncommented. I have the highest respect for the BBC and consider it the best TV in the world, and I cannot believe that Jim Muir really made such an apalling statement. Some facts: 1) The State of Israel was founded in 1948 based on a UN resolution which partitioned the then British mandate of Palestine into two states, a Jewish one and and an Arab one. The resolution was passed by a majority of the General Assembly which included all civilised countries, even the Soviet Union. So how can anyone say that Israel has occupied Palestinian land for 5 decades in defiance of UN resolutions????? 2) The surrounding Arab countries did not accept the resolution and immediately attacked the new state. As a result of that war many Palestinian Arabs fled to Jordan and Syria, partly egged on to do so by their fellow Arabs. Later on those Arab governments killed more Palestinians than Israel ever will. Arab governments do not give a damn about the suffering of the Palestinians; they simply use them to promote their long-term goal of pushing the Jews into the Mediterranean. 3) Israel acquired the currently occupied Palestinian territories as a result of the pre-emptive war in 1967. It later gave back the biggest chunk--the Sinai peninsula--to Egypt in exchange for peace. 4) UN resolutions 242 and 338 call on Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Under the previous Labour governments Israel demonstrated a willingness to do that--if the Palestinians would guarantee Israel's right to live in peace, not only through English-language speeches by Arafat tailored for western consumption but through deed. The current terrorist campaign by the PLO and the other Palestinian terrorist groups was Barak's reward for having been prepared to make the most wide-ranging concessions to the Palestinians by any Israeli prime minister. The Palestinian people are indeed suffering but they have only themselves and their leadership to blame. As a civilised human being I feel proud of what Israel has accomplished since its founding in 1948, and as a Jew I feel more secure in this world knowing that there is a strong Jewish state, armed to the teeth, which will ensure that Jews will never again be herded to their death like cattle. This is my first and last post on this topic here on the LUG. Nathan --- Alan Hull <hull@telia.com> wrote: > > Quote from the URL below from Jim Muir of the BBC. > The fact is that for more than five decades, in > defiance of countless UN > resolutions and of international law, the > Palestinians' land has been > occupied and their rights ignored by Israel, with > full diplomatic cover and > open-ended financial and military backing from > Washington > End of Quote > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1540000/1540364.st > m > ____________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.co.uk address at http://mail.yahoo.co.uk or your free @yahoo.ie address at http://mail.yahoo.ie