Israel expands its land grab

[Micah Schuurman]

Here is an article from the Washington Post.

This time, Israel is claiming that they cannot give up the Jordan Valley. Once again, the Israeli government is claiming that it is for security purposes.
Benjamin Netanyahu said that the 1967 borders are "indefensible." I'm not sure what he is talking about. Israel defended herself pretty well in the 1967 war. Furthermore, from then to now, Israel has become much more powerful militarily. Its own generals claim that they have the 4th most powerful military in the world. With 3 billion in US military aid each year, who can possibly disagree? Furthermore, Israel is at PEACE with Egypt and Jordan. How on earth will Israeli control of the Jordan valley protect them? I just don't see it.

I'll give you my overarching theory regarding Israeli actions. I think that Israel acts irresponsibly because it can. The US is acting as Israel's enabler. We protect them from resolutions from the UN Security Council. We give them more aid than we give any other nation and we don't hold them accountable. This has given Israeli leaders a feeling of impunity. The Israeli government thinks that it can act as it pleases because the US will always be there to rescue it.

Obama needs to call Netanyahu out on this. He needs to say, "Shape up your act or else I WILL pull the plug on your aid package."

As one friend of mine put it, the US is Israel's ally, but Israel is not the US's ally. In fact, they are a liability. We give them weapons and we give them no guidance as to the use of those weapons. Instead, we allow them to engage in the collective punishment of the Palestinian people. If you add up the numbers from the most recent war in Gaza, 100 Palestinians died for every Israeli. 100 to 1!!! If you think that this doesn't damage the image of the US in the Middle East, you are wrong. The Arabs know about US foreign policy much better than most Americans. They know that those bombs were made in the USA.

There is a lot of potential in the relationship between the US and Israel, but things need to change. Accountability MUST be central to the relationship. Otherwise, it becomes a case of the tail wagging the dog.

[Micah Schuurman]

he word Palestinian came into use around the time of the first World War.
Regardless, I'm not sure why it is so significant that the Palestinian identity did not exist until WWI. Whether they had a distinctive name or not, there were people on the land. You should read "Blood Brothers" by Elias Chacour. He is the Archbishop of the Melchite Catholic church in Israel. His branch of catholicism has been in the land since the 1st century. They did not have the name "Palestinian" until recently, but that in no way diminishes the fact that that demographic group has powerfully deep roots in the land. In fact, the Melchites have lived in the land longer than the Jews. I you count up the length of the time that the Melchites lived in the Holy Land, you come to roughly 2000 years of life. If you add up the time that Jews have spent there, you can add 1500 from the time of Moses to the diaspora under Hadrian and then the 100 years (I'm being generous) of time that the Israelis have been living there in this century. 2000 years compared to 1600. Who has deeper ties to the land?

Finally, I find it interesting that you go to such great lengths to reinforce the fact that the Palestinians have never had a state and yet you never conclude that this would be a good reason to let them have one. It is worth noting that this very argument was used by people who wished to support the creation of a homeland for Jews.

PS. Please send me an email. That is all I'm asking. I would like to communicate with you in private in addition to the posts here on Justice Seekers.

[Marc Peterson]

Micah, Israel has been attacked 5 times (by external forces) and sometimes having Judea and Samaria as a buffer was beneficial to their survival. Maybe people would appreciate a short history lesson. Many have no idea there never, ever was an independent Arab state on the territory. The only independent indigenous state on that territory was Israel. At all other times in history, it was ruled by various outside powers Persia, Rome, Byzantium, the Arabs rules it from Syria as an undifferentiated part of their empire. The Crusaders established their Kingdoms, the Arabs reestablished their empire, the Ottomans came and ruled, then the British were given the Mandate following WWI. The Ottoman empire divided that territory up between 2 provinces and 3 administrative districts: they did not conceive of it as a distinct entity. The leaders of the WWI era Arab Revolt joined the British to fight the Ottomans, but they never proclaimed an independent Arab Palestine. Some wanted part of it for Hejaz, some wanted it to be ruled from Amman, some saw it as part of Syria. Egyptians wanted their share too. But nobody wanted a Palestinian state, because nobody thought of themselves as "Palestinians". The Arabs never used the words, "Palestine" or "Palestinian" until after modern Israel was formed.