"Things You Wouldn't Know If We Didn't Blog Intermittently."
28 March 2010
A history of Palestine
I've entitled this "a" history rather than "the" history, because there are many possible histories (of everything) depending on who collates and presents the information. The person presenting in this video is John Rees, a leftist anti-war political activist, a former member of the Socialist Workers Party, and an occasional presenter on the Islam channel. If those credentials offend you, you might as well skip the video, because you won't enjoy it.
According to the CIA, Israel's GDP is over $200 billion, so the $2.2 billion we give them isn't exactly the thing that's helping them hang in there. Also, as they have nuclear weapons in sufficient quantities to render the Arabs a minority in the Middle East, I doubt their existence is substantially threatened.
If you look at a map of the Middle East, it's pretty clear that the West carved out Lebanon, Kuwait and Israel for the express purpose of keeping the Arabs from ever amounting to anything. We're aided in that quest by the tribal/feudal nature of Arab political organization. The Arabs are faced with the reality of a western-organized entity in their midst and they're completely helpless. Their elites would have to give up their feudal monopoly on power to develop a nation capable of competing with Israel and they're not likely to do that.
I sympathize with the Palestinians, but they have the government they deserve.
Bub how can you honestly say the Palestinians have the government they deserve. Prior to the end of apartheid, did the blacks in South Africa have the government they deserved. The Palestinians were abandoned by their allies. They were shoved into ghettos by the Israelis. How is all that deserved. Should they have fought more viciously. Should they now raise arms against their oppressors. What do they need to do, in your view, to deserve a better government and place to live.
Anonymous, the link you have attached is extremely inaccurate. It also plays off of emotions rather than a healthy slate of facts. No mention of the Jewish terrorists who bombed buses and attacked civilians in the area in the early half of the century. No mention of the eviction of Arabs from their ancestral homes. The razing of entire towns. The "opposing view" is already something we get from Fox and the New York Times. This link is an extreme example of that.
Rees brings up a lot of things I think the general public is wholly unaware of. Good video.
ReplyDeleteIt's always good to see opposing views: http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2007/12/what-really-happened.html
ReplyDeleteAccording to the CIA, Israel's GDP is over $200 billion, so the $2.2 billion we give them isn't exactly the thing that's helping them hang in there. Also, as they have nuclear weapons in sufficient quantities to render the Arabs a minority in the Middle East, I doubt their existence is substantially threatened.
ReplyDeleteIf you look at a map of the Middle East, it's pretty clear that the West carved out Lebanon, Kuwait and Israel for the express purpose of keeping the Arabs from ever amounting to anything. We're aided in that quest by the tribal/feudal nature of Arab political organization. The Arabs are faced with the reality of a western-organized entity in their midst and they're completely helpless. Their elites would have to give up their feudal monopoly on power to develop a nation capable of competing with Israel and they're not likely to do that.
I sympathize with the Palestinians, but they have the government they deserve.
Bub how can you honestly say the Palestinians have the government they deserve. Prior to the end of apartheid, did the blacks in South Africa have the government they deserved. The Palestinians were abandoned by their allies. They were shoved into ghettos by the Israelis. How is all that deserved. Should they have fought more viciously. Should they now raise arms against their oppressors. What do they need to do, in your view, to deserve a better government and place to live.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, the link you have attached is extremely inaccurate. It also plays off of emotions rather than a healthy slate of facts. No mention of the Jewish terrorists who bombed buses and attacked civilians in the area in the early half of the century. No mention of the eviction of Arabs from their ancestral homes. The razing of entire towns. The "opposing view" is already something we get from Fox and the New York Times. This link is an extreme example of that.
ReplyDelete