----- Original Message -----
From: Andrew Crystall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2001 8:55 AM
Subject: Re: BRIN-L digest 1823 Free the Netherlands!
> On 30 May 2001, at 8:22, Dan Minette wrote:
> Only Israeli citizens vote in Israel. What this have to do with
> race?
> >A Jew from Queens can quickly become an Israelie citizen. A
> >Palastinian in East Jerusalem is not a citizen, even if his family
> ?had lived in East Jerusalem for 10 generations. That is race
> based.
>
> Actually, Dan, that's not true.
>
> East Jerusalem was formally annexed and the residents there thus
> obtained Isralie citizenship.
>
OK, I stand corrected about the status after annexation. That does make
sense. But, this goes back then to the problem with the West Bank. Israel
can never annex the West Bank because the Palastinians will comprise a
majority of the voters in the country them.
> Also, it depends on the definition of Judaism as a race, and not a
> religion. Remember that in the UN resolution which created the
> state of Israel, it said that Israel is the home of the *Jewish* people.
>
Well, ethnic group may be a better term than race. But, I would argue that
it is not religion based. Why? First of all, a person can be an athiest
and have right of return. IIRC a Reformed Jewish convert does not have
right of return.
In the US, this is an issue because there are a large number of
Gentile-Jewish marriages. For example, the family who sat next to me at the
sedar service had a Jewish father and a Southern Baptist mother. If she
converted to Judiasm, she would not have had the right of return.
(You may ask "what were you doing at a sedar service?" Well, it was my
third, the first two were with good friends. This one was at our church
fellowship hall because the local Jewish synagog did not have enough room.
So, as hosts, our church members were invited. I did get into one arguement
with that family though. I said the Passover wine we were drinking had a
March vintage. He argued that it was newer than that. :-) )
As long as the denomination of most religious Jews is not recognized as true
Judism, and as long as athiest have right of return, then one cannot argue
that right of return is relgion based.
> The non-Jewish citizens of Israel, except some of the Isralie arabs
> like Israel just fine, being that it's a reprisentative democracy in the
> middle of a bunch of kingdoms and dictatorships. Ask the Druze in
> the Golan what they think of Israel sometime, for example ;)
>
I'm not really dissing Israel on this, they have real problems. But, the
West Bank is a tremendous problem for them becasue Israel must be an
occupying power, not granting rights to the residents, as long as its there.
Otherwise Israel will become an Arab country.
Dan M.
