| Topic: | Re:We have met the enemy and he is us | |
| Posted by: | Steven Rose | |
| Date/Time: | 25/02/26 22:44:00 |
| This thread is actually about left wing parties which feign commitment to high ideals (such as equality, fighting poverty etc) but in practice undermine them through ill-considered policies. The cynical attempt by the Greens to gather the Muslim votes by supporting the right of Palestinians to statehood while denying the right of Jews to a homeland is perhaps the worst example. A history lesson about the Balfour Declaration in 1917 is both tendentious and irrelevant. It is tendentious because it omits the obvious fact that Jews have lived in what is now Israel and the West Bank for over two thousand years, since long before the area was conquered by the Arabs. It is irrelevant because it ignores the practicalities of the current situation. In the twentieth century many peoples were displaced or compelled to live under foreign rulers. Poles were expelled from Ukraine. Sudeten Germans found themselves living in Czechoslovakia, Italians were expelled from Istria, 800 000 Jews were forced to leave their homes in North Africa and the Middle East. It is pointless to try to turn the clock back. The greatest obstacle to Palestinian statehood is the Palestinian people. A gruesome band of fanatics has taken over Gaza with the stated aim of exterminating the Jewish population of Israel. The Palestinian Authority on the West Bank, having twice refused a deal with Israel, now say that they accept Israek's right to exist (which is more than you do!) but most Israelis don't believe them. Their scepticism is not hard to understand given the popularity of Hamas on the West Bank. |