Bret Stephens asks a salient question. Are the
Palestinians entitled to a state?
He answers:
Maybe.
But are they more entitled to one than the Assamese, Basques, Baloch,
Corsicans, Druze, Flemish, Kashmiris, Kurds, Moros, Native Hawaiians, Northern
Cypriots, Rohingya, Tibetans, Uyghurs or West Papuans—all of whom have distinct
national identities, legitimate historical grievances and plausible claims to
statehood?
If so,
what gives Palestinians the preferential claim? Have they waited longer than
the Kurds? No: Kurdish national claims stretch for centuries, not decades. Have
they experienced greater violations to their culture than Tibetans? No: Beijing
has conducted a systematic policy of repression for 67 years, whereas
Palestinians are nothing if not vocal in mosques, universities and the media.
Have they been persecuted more harshly than the Rohingya? Not even close.
Why have so many people in Western Europe flocked to the
Palestinian cause? Perhaps they simply have no sense of history. Perhaps they
do not know which side they are supporting. Or, perhaps they do.
Stephens concludes:
Meanwhile,
anyone genuinely concerned with the future of the Palestinians might urge them
to elect better leaders, improve their institutions, and stop giving out sweets
to celebrate the murder of their neighbors.
For a legal opinion this is a must watch video.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.torahcafe.com/jewishvideo.php?vid=33fb484b5
Stephens: ... But are they more entitled to one than the... urge them to elect better leaders, improve their institutions, and stop giving out sweets to celebrate the murder of their neighbors.
ReplyDeleteObviously framing any question on entitlement is a way saying no without having to give a good reason.
I mean there are endless such questions, like "Why do Americans deserve social security or healthcare?" when there are starving children in China and India, so get in line, and eat cat food and die already like the rest of humanity.
Calling out bad leadership is of course an excellent point, although maybe less excellent given the fact America just elected a buffoon, its not entirely clear that we've earned our own right to a republic and that we won't be keeping it much longer.
I wonder if The Palestinian leadership said things like this? Would we consider these quotes as sign of a leader with good character?
“Would I approve waterboarding? You bet your ass I would. In a heartbeat. I would approve more than that. It works. … and if it doesn’t work, they deserve it anyway for what they do to us”
“I like money. I’m very greedy. I’m a greedy person. I shouldn’t tell you that, I’m a greedy – I’ve always been greedy. I love money, right? But, you know what? I want to be greedy for our country. I want to be greedy. I want to be so greedy for our country. I want to take back money.”
"You've been hearing me say it is a rigged system, but its not true any more because I won. Now I don't care."
“I will build a great wall – and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me – and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.”
The inauguration isn't until Friday. There's still time to change our minds, but I confess I don't see the mechanism to deny President-elect Trump.
I suppose many Palestinians have the same problem. What do you do when you want to improve things and all your next door neighbors elect terrorist organizations like Hamas to power?
Even democracy loving Hillary Clinton expressed regret over Hamas in 2005
http://mondoweiss.net/2016/10/palestinian-elections-determine/
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According to the Observer, Clinton told the editors of the Jewish Press: “I do not think we should have pushed for an election in the Palestinian territories. I think that was a big mistake,” said Clinton, then a New York Senator running for re-election and shmoozing with the editors of the Press. “And if we were going to push for an election, then we should have made sure that we did something to determine who was going to win.”
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Of course if Clinton had won in November, who know what Trump and his followers would be calling for? If Trump won the most votes, and Clinton won the electoral college, surely Trump would be leading a call to override the constitution and install himself as President.
Trump went a little crazy in 2012, while Romney temporarily had more votes the Obama...
http://mashable.com/2012/11/06/trump-reacts-to-election
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Shortly after President Barack Obama was announced the winner of the 2012 election, Donald Trump had what some might call a melodramatic freak out on Twitter.
But Trump is still OK with the concept of freedom of speech and told the Twitterverse just how he felt:
"We can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!" 10:29 PM - 6 Nov 2012
a
"Lets fight like hell and stop this great and disgusting injustice! The world is laughing at us." 10:30 PM - 6 Nov 2012
----
So clearly "entitled" isn't the real issue. The real issue is simply power - no one is entitled, and rule rather than the exception is that the powerful simply take what they want, and times and places where the rule of law stand higher, that's something miraculous.
It's a matter of UN laws.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, Tibet is recognized as part of China.
West Bank is not seen as part of Israel.
These laws are not principled.
Sure. We should sympathize with and support a ragtag tribe of lying, dependent, murderous, barbarian religious fanatics who use children as self-propelled sandbags, and give them a country.
ReplyDeleteMakes sense, in a reality-detached Proglodyte Narrative invented in the salons of Paris and New York.
Ares,
ReplyDeleteAre you usually this incoherent? Are you seriously claiming that
"The inauguration isn't until Friday. There's still time to change our minds"
? And what does that have to do with the topic at hand, the claims of the Palestinians to the land of (if you prefer, "currently occupied by") Israel?
art, don't encourage him.
ReplyDeleteart.the.nerd said... Ares, Are you usually this incoherent? Are you seriously claiming that "The inauguration isn't until Friday. There's still time to change our minds" And what does that have to do with the topic at hand?
ReplyDeleteThe claim was the Palestinians ought to elect better leaders if they want to be taken seriously. I'm simply wishing America had the same wisdom.
We do surely have better institutions, and our yet standing institutions surely can partially protect us from the worst that 4 years of Trump can do, but that doesn't mean we should enthusiatically run the experiment just because there's a chance he can't do as much harm in 4 years as GWB did in 8.
Ares, our institutions haven't prevented the harm of eight years of Obama.
ReplyDeleteart.the.nerd @January 16, 2017 at 12:11 PM
ReplyDelete"Ares... Are you usually this incoherent?"
Yes. Yes he is.
It's a fit of cutting-and-pasting, punctuated by fitful attempts at adequacy. Pitiful, but true.
We've been trying to help him for years now. It's no use. Give up now, for your own sanity.