I have seldom been as outraged by the half-truths and untruths as in the guest column by William Slavick (Sept. 25). Slavick blames Israel for every complaint that the Palestinians can conjure up.
His first issue is that the "Zionist enterprise" is racist in its determination to establish a Jewish state. The fact that there are more than 20 Arab states in existence, most of which will not tolerate any Jews, is not racist, in his mindset.
Jewish families who lived in many Arab countries for centuries have been forcibly expelled. To the contrary, Israeli Arabs have full rights of citizenship. They not only are elected to the Knesset (the Parliament), but even have a justice on the Israeli Supreme Court.
When polled, most Arabs say that if East Jerusalem were turned over to the Palestinians, those Arabs would move to Israeli-controlled areas where they could continue to have the freedoms they now enjoy.
Israel offered the Palestinians statehood three times in recent years, tendering even more land than was anticipated. The offers were refused by Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas each time. Even the original U.N. declaration for two states in 1947-48 was refused by the Arabs and they immediately tried to obliterate Israel.
Slavick complains about settlements beyond the West Bank "Green Line," which is not a border but simply the cease-fire line of the 1967 war. U.N. resolutions pertaining to this line state that final borders must be negotiated. The land referred to as the West Bank was never "Palestinian," anyway. It belonged to Jordan.
Israel ceased building in the West Bank for 10 months under an agreement with the U.S., during which time the Palestinians refused to negotiate. As soon as the 10-month period was over the Palestinians complained they couldn't negotiate when construction was under way.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his speech to the U.N. last week, urged Abbas to sit down with him in New York and begin negotiations immediately. Again, refusal.
Israel returned Gaza in 2005. Instead of becoming a peaceful neighbor, the Palestinians immediately, and to this day, lobbed missiles into Israel. Within months, Gaza was taken over by Hamas, a recognized terrorist group. Prior to that, Israel turned over the Golan to Lebanon, only to have Hezbollah take over and lob bombs into northern Israel. Can anyone blame Netanyahu for being leery of the Palestinians?
The Palestinian Charter refuses to recognize Israel as a nation. How can Netanyahu negotiate with a "partner" that doesn't recognize Israel and even shows it on maps as "Palestine?" His only "pre-negotiation" demand is recognition of his country.
Joel Goodman, Auburn
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It is slated to jump to $3
It is slated to jump to $3 billion in 2011. What's that projected 2011 deficit again? Something like 1,500 billion. Aid to Israel is 0.2%, even smaller over the entire budget.
39.3% live in the U.S. Most polls suggest that a huge majority of them are liberals who pay only lip-service to their love for Israel, while planting their real lips firmly on the posterior of Israel's great, new pal there in the White House.
That's a lot of influence. It sure is, on top of total control of the media and the financial system. For a group trying to save Israel, they have done, on average, a lousy job over the past 63 years.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Mike's Oversimplification
While smoke-screening with 'polls' you ignored the obvious fact that the very recent "Neo-Conservative" Movement - though comprised and led by a small sliver of American Jewish population, was indeed a driving force with our American expansionist movements in the middle east during the Bush Administration, and an outspoken vehicle for the Zionist Movement.
PNAC (Project for a New American Century) was founded by Neoconservatives Robert Kagan and William Kristol, both Jewish; with aims of projecting American military might for the preservation of Israeli interests in the Middle East.
This influential organization also included Norman Podhoritz; Aaron Friedberg - who served from 2003 to 2005 in the office of Vice President Cheney as deputy assistant for national-security affairs and director of policy planning; I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby* - Assistant to President Bush, and Chief of Staff to Vice President Cheney; Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense in the Bush Administration; Richard Perle, Pentagon Policy Advisor (resigned February 2004 - FBI suspected Perle of spying for Israel in 1970 - not prosecuted); Paul Wolfowitz, - Deputy Secretary of Defense, and Assistant to Vice President Cheney.
That's only a tip of the iceberg there, Mike.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.If there ever is a "peace"
If there ever is a "peace" between Israel and the Palestinians it will be only because Israel will have given up too much.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.No.
Peace will only come in that region when humans realize organized religion is bunk. And they never will, so peace will never come. (See: the last couple thousand years.)
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Peace will never come to that region unless Arabs make their love for their children stronger than their hatred of Jews. So, you think abolishing organized religion will bring peace throughout the world?
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How about close on to $3 Billion a year in Military Aid to Israel
"U.S. military aid to Israel reached a high of $2.78 billion in 2010, up from $2.55 billion in 2009. It is slated to jump to $3 billion in 2011. The Obama administration has also requested an additional $205 million to fund a short-range rocket defense shield known as Iron Dome."
Any idea??? Where do the worlds' Jews live??? According to the Jewish Virtual Library, 42.5% of the world's Jews live in Israel, 39.3% live in the U.S - with the remaining 18.2% scattered mainly through France, Canada, the U.K, Russia, Argentina, Germany, Australia, Brazil, Ukraine, South Africa, Hungary, Mexico, and Belgium.
So essentially, the U.S. is the home to almost as many Jews as Israel. That's a lot of influence. And we're arming Israel to the hilt. "Arms of Krupp," anyone???
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The money we give Israel is the best bang for the buck the American taxpayers get out of the entire pot of so called foreign aid. They're one of the very few who take our money, but don't hate us in return.
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Good 'Intel' - but they're a lousy source of oil.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.True. We've got plenty of our
True. We've got plenty of our own if they'd let us go after it.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Don't forget, Ron, according
Don't forget, Ron, according to some republican candidates, President Obama is abandoning Israel.
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Kudos AwardedDisagree (2)
Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.I Agree
It's good to see someone that has a very good perspective on the ongoings in Israel.
Very good Joel!
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Peace Out People
The Palestinians have to realize that peace can only come to them if they live with and near the Israelis in peace. Israel is the land given to the Jewish people by God. They are God’s chosen people. All the answers are written in the Bible. AKA The Basic Instruction Book for Leaving Earth.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Hogwash, Edward.
Mark Twain on the Bible: "It is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies."
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He was a good story teller,but what a surprise he had when he found himself standing before Jesus on his judgment day. I have nothing to loose in my believing in the Word and what it says. If I'm wrong ,so what. If your wrong you will have eternity to cry about it.
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And I'll live my life here and now.
Eternity is a joke.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Israel's hands are NOT clean,
Israel's hands are NOT clean, notice increasing settlements into the occupied territories. However until all the neighbors AND the Palestinian authority recognize Israel's right to exist, there can be not peace.
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Kudos AwardedDisagree (2)
Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Well put...
...I agree.
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