At 07:49 AM 6/13/2003 -0400 Jon Gabriel wrote:
>> Yeah, but there have been Jews in that area since
>> before recorded history and they made up a very large
>> proportion of the population before the Israeli War of
>> Independence.
>
>You know, I do sympathize with this point of view, but by those
>standards, the United States belongs to Native Americans, doesn't it?
>
>(....or do you feel perhaps that because they lost the war(s), they lost
>their rights for the land? I'm curious about your opinion.)
Actually, I would argue that the Native Americans have lost "their rights
to the United States" because of a combination of the folllowing:
1) The statute of limitations has expired. There's simply no way to turn
back the clock to the injustice. Moreover, almost all people alive in the
US today were simply born here - and did not choose to be born here, and
indeed, have no record of having oppressed Native Americans.
2) The Native Americans did not really achieve sufficient organization,
with a few local exceptions, to claim "nationhood" in the modern sense, and
thus designate a representative to receive reparations. For example, the
largest Native American group currently existant in the US today is the
Navaho, but it doesn't really make much sense to give the Navajo North
Carolina - or even Texas.
3) The ration of currently living Native Americans to available land is
disproportionate. Thus, in sort of an extension of #1, it would make no
sense and resemble no sort of justice to give the Native Americans all of
the United States.
JDG
_______________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world,
it is God's gift to humanity." - George W. Bush 1/29/03
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