----- Original Message ----- From: "J. van Baardwijk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Brin-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, March 29, 2002 8:30 AM Subject: Re: Child Soldiers RE: This week in the Middle East
> At 08:09 29-3-02 -0600, Dan Minette wrote: > > > > I think Israel has to accept the right of Palestinians to live in Israel. > >I > > > now Israel finds that unacceptable, but if that is what it takes to obtain > > > peace, the decision should be easy. Unless of course Israel would rather > > > have war than allow Palestinians to live in Israel. > > > > > > >Sorry, I just posted this question again, I'm glad you answered it. So, it > >appears that you do say that Israel has to accept being an Arab state. Is > >that true? > > That would depend on your definition of "Arab state". I would not consider > Israel to be an Arab state simply because part of the population is Arab. Ah, 20% of the population of Israel is now Arab. If the Palestinians were to all return, it would be about 60^ Palestinian. The question is what would happen when the majority is Arab. You honestly don't think that the Arabs would not, once they gain control of the government, work to achieve their stated end: the elimination of Israel? > > >If it is, then do you honestly expect that the Arabs, once they get control > >of the government, will actually worry about the civil rights of the Jews? > > Arabs and Jews have their roots in the same area of the world and therefore > have equal rights to live there. That's true. Look at a map and look at the amount of land in Israel and in Arab controlled lands. Is the amount of land controlled by Israel that unreasonable? >If the Arab population of Israel becomes a majority and gets some control of the government, well, that >is democracy at work. However, in a multi-party system, the Arabs would have to be a > *vast* majority of the population before they can get full control of the > government. Like, 51%? What fraction of the Arabs would vote for Jewish candidates, especially when an Arab candidate would run on the platform of "a true Palestinian state." Once there is a working Arab government, I would expect that there will not be a second election. I would expect them to follow the path that Hitler took after he was elected. Why? 1) There is no tradition at all of democracies in the Arab world 2) The goal of the Palestinians is still the elimination of Israel and the establishment of a Palestinian state. If your proposal went through, the Palestinians would flood Israel. They would have a majority of voters for the first election. After that, the Jews would leave....if they were lucky. If they were unlucky, they would just die. > >Basically, what you are saying is that Israel _must_ cease to exist in order > >to be moral. > > I reread my message over and over to see how you would get that idea. I failed. Because no reasonable person can expect the Palestinians to protect the civil rights of the Jews when they become a minority. Remember, even Egypt still broadcasts "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" as history. Given the teaching of the "Big Lie" for the last 50 years, can you actually expect the Jews to live in security in an Arab state? Dan M.
