> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
> Van: Dan Minette [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Verzonden: donderdag 4 april 2002 3:28
> Aan: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Onderwerp: Re: Child Soldiers RE: This week in the Middle East

> > 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.
> 
> An Arab state is a state that is controlled by an Arab government.  The
> bottom line is that, if Israel allows the right of return as part of a
> peace deal, they must give up keeping Israel as a majority Jewish
> state.  Would you be willing to open the borders of the Netherlands to
> all comers?  No limits on immigration?

Irrelevant. The Netherlands is not keeping other countries' territories
occupied and oppressing the inhabitants of those territories. We have no
reason to fear that immigrants would take over the country and perhaps (or
perhaps not)
 commit genocide against the Dutch.


> > Arabs and Jews have their roots in the same area of the world and
> > therefore have equal rights to live there. 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.
> 
> That simply isn't true.  Parties, that between them, get 51% of the
> vote can form a government in a multi-party state.

Parties that form a coalition do so because it is beneficial to all of them
to do so. That does not mean however that those parties have to agree on
everything. It is anything but uncommon for coalition parties to disagree on
a range of topics. So, even if Hamas would get 40% of the votes, it would
not be able to get control of the government when it has to form a coalition
with moderate parties.

I also note that most of the support for extremist actions is almost
certainly caused by the fact that the Palestinians want to get rid of their
oppressor. Once peace has been reached, most of that support will disappear
because there is no longer an oppressor to fight.


> Here's a group of people who were slaughtered by the millions in Europe
> last century.  Zionism was formed out of the prophetic realization, in
> the 19th century, that Europe was not safe for Jews.  Now, you are
> proposing a settlement that would allow Israel to have an Arab majority
> of voters.  Israels only hope would be for enough Arabs to _always_
> vote for Jewish candidates.

It is more likely that a number of Arabs will vote for Israeli candidates
and vice versa, than that all Arabs would always vote for Arab candidates.
With several Arab candidates to choose from, it is also extremely unlikely
that all Arabs will always vote for the most radical candidate.


Jeroen

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