Main      Site Guide    
Message Forum
Re: Israel, Palestine, and a world of stuff I don't know
Posted By: Dave, on host 206.124.5.105
Date: Thursday, April 4, 2002, at 18:39:05
In Reply To: Re: Israel, Palestine, and a world of stuff I don't know posted by Nyperold on Wednesday, April 3, 2002, at 20:34:29:

> 3. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 B.C.E.,the
>Jews have had dominion over the land for one
>thousand years with a continuous presence in the
>land for the past 3,300 years.

The Romans, Ottoman, and British Empires don't count?


>
> 6. Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in
>Tanach, the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Jerusalem is
>not mentioned once in the Koran.
>
> 7. King David founded the city of Jerusalem.
>Mohammed never came to Jerusalem.

I find this hard to believe--isn't the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem? Isn't that the place where Muslims believe Mohammed ascended into heaven? It'd be hard for Jerusalem not to have been mentioned in the Koran and for Mohammed never to have visited Jerusalem if that were true. I could be wrong, though, since I'm not exactly a religious scholar.


>
> 8. Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Muslims pray
>with their backs toward Jerusalem.

Faux Pas already called this one. The only Muslims who pray with their back to Jerusalem are those who live between Jerusalem and Mecca directly on the line connecting the two. And it's completely incidental that even *these* Muslims pray with their "backs toward Jerusalem."

>
> 9. Arab and Jewish Refugees: In 1948 the Arab
>refugees were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab
>leaders promising to purge the land of Jews.
>Sixty-eight percent left without ever seeing an
>Israeli soldier.

So this would be the reason, then, for not granting the Palistinians right of return to the lands they left? Interesting.


> 13. The Arab - Israeli Conflict; The Arabs are
>represented by twenty separate nations, not
>including the Palestinians. There is only one
>Jewish nation. The Arab nations initiated all
>five wars and lost. Israel defended itself each
>time and won.

This is why I think the Arabs are the real world equivalent of the Klingons. They love to fight, but when it comes right down to it, they're not particularly good at it. And nothing anybody can say can change their minds about anything.

>
> 14. The P.L.O.'s Charter still calls for the
>destruction of the State of Israel. Israel has
>given the Palestinians most of the West Bank
>land, autonomy under the Palestinian Authority,
>and has supplied them with weapons.

I'm not certain on this either, but I think the PLO charter was actually ammended after the 1993 Oslo accords so that they are no longer calling for the destruction of Israel. I thought that's why the Oslo accords were so historic.

-- Dave

Replies To This Message

Post a Reply

RinkChat Username:
Password:
Email: (optional)
Subject:
Message:
Link URL: (optional)
Link Title: (optional)

Make sure you read our message forum policy before posting.