At the end of the Annapolis peace conference, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made some comments to a private meeting in which she equated Israel's treatment of Palestinians to the days of racial segregation in the American south. She said that she "understands the feeling of humiliation and powerlessness [when stopped at a checkpoint]".
The Jerusalem Post's Michael Freund is outraged, and in an editorial entitled "Condi Hangs a 'No Jews Allowed' Sign" accuses her of being "intellectually dishonest and morally obscene", and her comments as an "archaic form of bigotry". He also complains that she opposes letting Jews build freely in the city of Jerusalem.
Although I understand that Israel needs many of the extreme security measures it has in place to prevent total annihilation, their pugnacious attitude has only harmed matters. There is no question that Palestinians living in Israel, especially near Jerusalem, are treated poorly and unfairly by law enforcement authorities.
One might characterize Israel and Palestine as two kids playing in a sandbox, fighting over a toy. Both want it, but one of them has it and refuses to share on the grounds that he got there first. The toy, though, is important to both kids. Do they start throwing sand at each other or do they compromise and share?
Welcome to First Grade.
Israel demands recognition when Israelis are killed in a car bombing, yet they blast Lebanon to pieces. Both parties, indeed, have a right to be in Jerusalem. The city is holy to both traditions, and anyone should have the right to peacefully live there. But until the two recognize this basic truth, the fighting will continue. And that's the first grade mentality.
The Jerusalem Post's Michael Freund is outraged, and in an editorial entitled "Condi Hangs a 'No Jews Allowed' Sign" accuses her of being "intellectually dishonest and morally obscene", and her comments as an "archaic form of bigotry". He also complains that she opposes letting Jews build freely in the city of Jerusalem.
Although I understand that Israel needs many of the extreme security measures it has in place to prevent total annihilation, their pugnacious attitude has only harmed matters. There is no question that Palestinians living in Israel, especially near Jerusalem, are treated poorly and unfairly by law enforcement authorities.
One might characterize Israel and Palestine as two kids playing in a sandbox, fighting over a toy. Both want it, but one of them has it and refuses to share on the grounds that he got there first. The toy, though, is important to both kids. Do they start throwing sand at each other or do they compromise and share?
Welcome to First Grade.
Israel demands recognition when Israelis are killed in a car bombing, yet they blast Lebanon to pieces. Both parties, indeed, have a right to be in Jerusalem. The city is holy to both traditions, and anyone should have the right to peacefully live there. But until the two recognize this basic truth, the fighting will continue. And that's the first grade mentality.
1 comment:
Hello Eyke.You draw a moral equivalence between what Israel did in Lebanon and the terror attacks on Israel. The IDF trains their soldiers to not target civilians. You state that Arabs in Jerusalem are mistreated by Israel. Israel bends over backwards to not discriminate against Arabs or Palestinians. Plus, plenty of Arabs in east Jerusalem stated that they prefer to be under Israeli rule and that they don't want to be handed over to the Palestinian Authority [PA]. I even wrote an article on that. By the way, Socialism is not "fair capitalism" as you told me.
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