Hi,
Youness I apologise if you understood my comments to mean that you are
racist, that is not what they were meant to mean.
Thank you for being a good participant.
You say that you have no idea about the situation but still insist
that it
is the Israelis that are oppressing.
Well, I have some insight on Israel I would like to share and discuss
if you don't mind.
Philippe sent a link showing stats, but those types of stats don't show
anything - for example how many of the Palestinian 'civilians' that
were
killed were carrying weapons or bombs at the time?
Indeed, let's make a small analysis then. According to the Shin Bet,
from September 2000 until August 2004, around 66% of those Palestinians
killed where combatants. If we assume that number stayed constant and
is accurate (even though it is obviously biased), that means around 1000
Palestinian civilians where killed vs 2000 combatants (I did not count
the 770 children). That is 1000 civilians + 770 children (don't tell me
they where armed) for a total of 1770. On the Israeli side, there are
761 civilians (children included) killed since 2000. Maybe it was
collateral damage (something very common in wars). You could take a
look at http://www.rememberthesechildren.org and try justifying each
case of child death (on both sides). They are all documented a bit on
that site.
If they are trying to fight a war, why aren't they fighting the army?
They aren't fighting the army because Israel controls every single
weapon that comes into the hands of the Palestinians. While the Israeli
army has the most advanced American/European weapons in the world.
The Palestinians are stuck with homemade bombs. They don't stand a
chance in hell against the army. Therefore, they attack what they can
attack. On the other hand, they could just sit and not do anything and
live in refugee camps forever. (Yes the Gaza strip is a big refugee
camp).
What did my sister do that she has to wear a bullet proof vest to leave
her village because people take pot shots at cars passing by? Why was
my
first cousin almost killed when a
suicide bomber blew themselves up about 50 meters from where she was
shopping. What did my family friend do to deserve to die while eating
pizza
in a pizza store?
They probably did not do anything. But their ancestors did successfully
take over most of Palestine (with support from most world powers). Let
me give some Israel-Palestine history.
No one can deny that the Zionist movement's goal was to reunite and
have all of the worlds Jews go establish a state somewhere. First they
tried to get some spots in South America and somewhere else (don't
remember). But that failed. Eventually they got a green light for
Palestine. Then immigration increased, and when there was enough Jews,
land bought (I won't get into how they purchased the land), and when a
strong enough army was available (around 90 000 high tech European
trained soldiers), the UN gave them 55% of the land (1947 UN Partition
Plan). At the time, Palestine was 67% Arab and 33% Jewish (most of them
very fresh off the boats, you can read the "Report of UNSCOP - 1947"
yourself). (Please please correct me if any of this is wrong, I would
love to get my facts straight). Then, obviously, the Arabs refused such
a partition and all hell broke lose, and the Arabs lost the war pretty
fast due to the much stronger army of the Jewish settlers.
[ Please, I beg you, point out any inconsistencies with this, tell me if
any of it is bullshit and lies. I REALLY want to know how Israelis
justify living there, and what their side of the story is. And since
your own sister lives there, she might have some very interesting
insight ].
And we have the situation we have today. People who are currently
living in Israel are basically living in land that was taken. The
whole operation was extremely well planned, and perfectly executed. In
some way, I respect the power Jews hold in the world, and how they
where able to accomplish such a grandiose project (I am not being
ironic, I mean it). Yes the world has now officially acknowledged
Israel. But there are still many illegal settlements (these are illegal
by International Law as well as Israeli Law [see Sasson report]). It's
good a lot of those settlements are being evacuated now. Anyways that
is mostly history, and I don't believe this really makes a difference
But that doesn't mean the Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip or West
Bank, or any of the 1,226,213 refugees living in camps (no right of
return for them yet) are just going to sit and shut up about it. They
still remember pre-Israel Palestine and are fighting for it. Therefore
they are doing what they can. And people who are born in Israel, or
recently moved there are the ones suffering the most now (they probably
didn't have anything to do with the whole Zionist movement either,
other than by heritage).
I hope this explains to you why Palestinians are pissed with Israelis,
and why Israelis have to deal with Palestinian violence
(through violence to civilians). I am not justifying killing civilians,
I am explaining WHY they do it.
I also hope this explains to you why most of the world doesn't
sympathize with the Israeli cause. Yes the Jews where oppressed for
centuries, and they probably deserve their own Jewish state, but the
end doesn't justify the means.
Please don't take this as an attack. I am simply engaging in dialog, as
I love to try to understand the world around me, as well as the people
that live in it. If you are interested, I would love to hear your side
of the story. If there isn't any other side to it, then I would like to
hear that as well.
Thank you for reading,
Philippe
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