Post by xShadowLordx on Dec 11, 2011 20:00:25 GMT
So here's the lowdown. I'm a writer and editor for my high school newspaper, and one of things I love to do, being a very opinionated person, is write for the opinion section. So a month or so ago, I decided to write about some controversial political topic, and Israel seemed like the perfect choice.
Being completely and totally ignorant about the history of the state of Israel, I sat on my computer for the next two days from dawn to dusk, researching everything I could find about this country and the controversy surrounding it. But in the course of my research, I discovered that the conflict around Israel isn't a "controversy" at all. I discovered that this is not a contention between the opposing personal opinions of pro-Israelis and pro-Palestinians. Instead, it turns out that this is merely a contention between the enlightened and the ignorant, for if one understands the history of Israel, there is no possible way in which they can take the side of Israel without looking like a total moron.
Most people, however, are totally ignorant of Israel's history, and this really bothers me. It really bothers me when people are ignorant and stupid. So, I decided it would be a good idea to post this to help enlighten the general population,
Enjoy my article. Oh and please point out any typos so I can fix them, thanks.
For decades, the tiny country of Israel on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean has been at the center of major tension in the Arab world. Unrepentant US support stands behind it, yet the contention over Israel is one that the American people are generally ignorant of. In times like these, America needs to reevaluate its blind and unwavering support for Israel, which not only is morally wrong, but also alienates us from the majority of the world.
The roots of this conflict began in the late 1800s, with the rise of the Zionist movement in Europe, which sought to create a Jewish state in the Jewish homeland of Palestine, then controlled by the Ottoman Empire. To this end, Zionist leaders began buying land there in the name of the Jewish people and encouraged Jewish settlers to immigrate.
In the late 1800s, Jews only constituted 3 percent of the population in what is now known as Israel/Palestine, and they coexisted peacefully with the indigenous Palestinians. However, as more and more Jewish immigrants arrived, evicted non-Jews off the newly-purchased land, and expressed desires to take over Palestine for a Jewish state, the Palestinian and Arab communities became increasingly alarmed, and fighting frequently broke out.
The end of World War I saw the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the redistribution of its various Arab holdings as British and French territories, known as Mandates. Palestine became a British Mandate in the 1920s. The end of the Holocaust and World War II intensified Zionist desires to immigrate to Palestine, but Britain limited Jewish immigration to try to curb the growing unrest. By 1946, Jews made up 31% of Palestine’s population, and ethnic tensions grew stronger.
Britain, wanting to wash its hands of the problem, turned the issue over to the General Assembly of the newly-formed United Nations, which in 1947 formulated a partition plan calling for one Jewish and one Arab state. The terribly skewed plan proposed giving 55% of Palestinian land to a Jewish state, even though the Jews made up only 31 percent of the population and owned less than 7 percent of the land at the time. The plan greatly pleased the Jews and outraged the Palestinians and Arabs. A civil war ensued in Palestine, and almost 175,000 Palestinians fled in the following months due to violence and persecution.
After the British Mandate of Palestine expired on May 14, 1948, the Jews promptly declared the independence of the Jewish state of Israel. Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq immediately attacked Israel in what came to be known as the Arab-Israeli War. By the armistice in 1949, Israel had crushed its opponents, conquered 78 percent of Palestine, destroyed over 500 Palestinian towns and villages, and made refugees of over 700,000 Palestinians who had fled or been expelled from their homes. The other 22 percent of Palestine—the Gaza Strip and the West Bank—was controlled by Egypt and Jordan, respectively. Israel later seized the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the Syrian Golan Heights in the Six-Day War of 1967.
In the following decades, intermittent fighting occurred between Israel and the surrounding Arab states. For over 50 years, Israeli has occupied the Palestinian territories continuously and broken numerous international laws in the process. Since 1967, Israel has been transferring its population into settlements in the occupied territories—effectively colonizing the areas, in direct violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Today, over 500,000 Jewish Israeli citizens have settled in the occupied territories, and 40 percent of the original West Bank is now off-limits to native Palestinians.
Additionally, Israel’s continued occupation and settlement of the Palestinian territories and its 1980 annexation of East Jerusalem violate the principle of the “inadmissibility of acquisition of territory by war” laid out in UN Security Council Resolution 242. Israel has also violated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in restricting the movement of Palestinians within the occupied territories, as well as prohibiting displaced Palestinians from returning to their homeland in the state of Israel.
At the root of Israel’s belligerence lies the Zionist desire to evict the Palestinians from their land in order to create a Jewish demographic majority; in simple terms, an ethnic cleansing. The Israelis maintain an indefensible position. The notion that the Jews have the right to force the Palestinians out simply because the ancestors of the Jews lived there makes about as much sense as claiming that Native Americans have the right to evict or wipe out everyone else in America. Nevertheless, persecution of the Palestinians persists. The UN Human Rights Commission has noted “the deliberate and systematic killing of civilians and children by the Israeli occupying authorities” as well as “closures, collective punishments… arbitrary detentions, the besieging of Palestinian towns and villages, [and] the shelling of Palestinian residential districts from warplanes, tanks and Israeli battleships.”
Many Palestinians in the occupied territories live in deplorable conditions, largely due to illegal Israeli blockades on the Gaza Strip and West Bank, even though Israeli forces and settlers withdrew from Gaza in 2005. Israel’s blockade of Gaza came under criticism from the international community in 2010 after its forces illegally boarded and attacked—in international waters—a flotilla of humanitarian aid bound for Gaza. Israel claims the blockade is necessary to prevent arms from reaching Hamas, the terrorist group which currently governs Gaza and which has been firing rockets over the border, killing Israeli civilians. But ironically, Israel has only shot itself in the foot; if it hadn’t persecuted the Palestinians in the first place, it wouldn’t be having these problems. Persecution often brews violent sentiment, and when a country does what Israel has done, it should expect some kind of retaliation, dignified or otherwise.
The facts and history make irrefutably clear that Israel is on the wrong side of this so-called “controversy.” The vast majority of the world acknowledges Israel’s obvious wrongs, yet the US government and the majority of Americans do not. Israel has been cited in dozens of UN resolutions for its violations of human rights and international law, yet due to the unfair nature of the UN’s deliberative bodies, the US has been able to single-handedly veto almost every resolution criticizing Israel since the 1970s. Instead, the US government hands Israel an average of $7 million a day in blank checks, more than it gives to any other nation. Israel, with the US wrapped around its finger, perpetuates great evils that are shoved under the rug, while Palestinians live as impoverished, displaced refugees. It’s time we put an end to this.
Being completely and totally ignorant about the history of the state of Israel, I sat on my computer for the next two days from dawn to dusk, researching everything I could find about this country and the controversy surrounding it. But in the course of my research, I discovered that the conflict around Israel isn't a "controversy" at all. I discovered that this is not a contention between the opposing personal opinions of pro-Israelis and pro-Palestinians. Instead, it turns out that this is merely a contention between the enlightened and the ignorant, for if one understands the history of Israel, there is no possible way in which they can take the side of Israel without looking like a total moron.
Most people, however, are totally ignorant of Israel's history, and this really bothers me. It really bothers me when people are ignorant and stupid. So, I decided it would be a good idea to post this to help enlighten the general population,
Enjoy my article. Oh and please point out any typos so I can fix them, thanks.
For decades, the tiny country of Israel on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean has been at the center of major tension in the Arab world. Unrepentant US support stands behind it, yet the contention over Israel is one that the American people are generally ignorant of. In times like these, America needs to reevaluate its blind and unwavering support for Israel, which not only is morally wrong, but also alienates us from the majority of the world.
The roots of this conflict began in the late 1800s, with the rise of the Zionist movement in Europe, which sought to create a Jewish state in the Jewish homeland of Palestine, then controlled by the Ottoman Empire. To this end, Zionist leaders began buying land there in the name of the Jewish people and encouraged Jewish settlers to immigrate.
In the late 1800s, Jews only constituted 3 percent of the population in what is now known as Israel/Palestine, and they coexisted peacefully with the indigenous Palestinians. However, as more and more Jewish immigrants arrived, evicted non-Jews off the newly-purchased land, and expressed desires to take over Palestine for a Jewish state, the Palestinian and Arab communities became increasingly alarmed, and fighting frequently broke out.
The end of World War I saw the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the redistribution of its various Arab holdings as British and French territories, known as Mandates. Palestine became a British Mandate in the 1920s. The end of the Holocaust and World War II intensified Zionist desires to immigrate to Palestine, but Britain limited Jewish immigration to try to curb the growing unrest. By 1946, Jews made up 31% of Palestine’s population, and ethnic tensions grew stronger.
Britain, wanting to wash its hands of the problem, turned the issue over to the General Assembly of the newly-formed United Nations, which in 1947 formulated a partition plan calling for one Jewish and one Arab state. The terribly skewed plan proposed giving 55% of Palestinian land to a Jewish state, even though the Jews made up only 31 percent of the population and owned less than 7 percent of the land at the time. The plan greatly pleased the Jews and outraged the Palestinians and Arabs. A civil war ensued in Palestine, and almost 175,000 Palestinians fled in the following months due to violence and persecution.
After the British Mandate of Palestine expired on May 14, 1948, the Jews promptly declared the independence of the Jewish state of Israel. Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq immediately attacked Israel in what came to be known as the Arab-Israeli War. By the armistice in 1949, Israel had crushed its opponents, conquered 78 percent of Palestine, destroyed over 500 Palestinian towns and villages, and made refugees of over 700,000 Palestinians who had fled or been expelled from their homes. The other 22 percent of Palestine—the Gaza Strip and the West Bank—was controlled by Egypt and Jordan, respectively. Israel later seized the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the Syrian Golan Heights in the Six-Day War of 1967.
In the following decades, intermittent fighting occurred between Israel and the surrounding Arab states. For over 50 years, Israeli has occupied the Palestinian territories continuously and broken numerous international laws in the process. Since 1967, Israel has been transferring its population into settlements in the occupied territories—effectively colonizing the areas, in direct violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Today, over 500,000 Jewish Israeli citizens have settled in the occupied territories, and 40 percent of the original West Bank is now off-limits to native Palestinians.
Additionally, Israel’s continued occupation and settlement of the Palestinian territories and its 1980 annexation of East Jerusalem violate the principle of the “inadmissibility of acquisition of territory by war” laid out in UN Security Council Resolution 242. Israel has also violated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in restricting the movement of Palestinians within the occupied territories, as well as prohibiting displaced Palestinians from returning to their homeland in the state of Israel.
At the root of Israel’s belligerence lies the Zionist desire to evict the Palestinians from their land in order to create a Jewish demographic majority; in simple terms, an ethnic cleansing. The Israelis maintain an indefensible position. The notion that the Jews have the right to force the Palestinians out simply because the ancestors of the Jews lived there makes about as much sense as claiming that Native Americans have the right to evict or wipe out everyone else in America. Nevertheless, persecution of the Palestinians persists. The UN Human Rights Commission has noted “the deliberate and systematic killing of civilians and children by the Israeli occupying authorities” as well as “closures, collective punishments… arbitrary detentions, the besieging of Palestinian towns and villages, [and] the shelling of Palestinian residential districts from warplanes, tanks and Israeli battleships.”
Many Palestinians in the occupied territories live in deplorable conditions, largely due to illegal Israeli blockades on the Gaza Strip and West Bank, even though Israeli forces and settlers withdrew from Gaza in 2005. Israel’s blockade of Gaza came under criticism from the international community in 2010 after its forces illegally boarded and attacked—in international waters—a flotilla of humanitarian aid bound for Gaza. Israel claims the blockade is necessary to prevent arms from reaching Hamas, the terrorist group which currently governs Gaza and which has been firing rockets over the border, killing Israeli civilians. But ironically, Israel has only shot itself in the foot; if it hadn’t persecuted the Palestinians in the first place, it wouldn’t be having these problems. Persecution often brews violent sentiment, and when a country does what Israel has done, it should expect some kind of retaliation, dignified or otherwise.
The facts and history make irrefutably clear that Israel is on the wrong side of this so-called “controversy.” The vast majority of the world acknowledges Israel’s obvious wrongs, yet the US government and the majority of Americans do not. Israel has been cited in dozens of UN resolutions for its violations of human rights and international law, yet due to the unfair nature of the UN’s deliberative bodies, the US has been able to single-handedly veto almost every resolution criticizing Israel since the 1970s. Instead, the US government hands Israel an average of $7 million a day in blank checks, more than it gives to any other nation. Israel, with the US wrapped around its finger, perpetuates great evils that are shoved under the rug, while Palestinians live as impoverished, displaced refugees. It’s time we put an end to this.
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[img src="http://i.imgur.com/BKhxo.png[/img
