Saturday, 10 December 2011

All Peoples Had To Be Invented

Newt Gingrich's conversion to Catholicism does not seem to have made him any more aware of the Holy Land's Latins, Melkites, Maronites, Syrian Catholics or Armenian Catholics.

So what if no one identified specifically or explicitly as a Palestinian before 1948? By definition, no one identified as an Israeli, either. They are twin peoples, invented by one and the same event, so that neither of them can pull any antiquity-based rank on the other.
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4 comments:

  1. Anonymous10 December 2011 at 20:46

    The champions of Greater Israel want the Palestinians to move to Egypt or Jordan or wherever. This is why Gingrich said:

    "And I think that we've invented the Palestinian people, who are in fact Arabs and are historically part of the Arab community, and they had the chance to go many places."

    Would anybody tolerate this kind of thinking unless it pertained to Israeli interests? I doubt it.

    Imagine if an Italian politician said that the South Tyroleans were Germans and there are several German-speaking states and they should just pick one and leave Italy. I am sure we can come up with many other examples, but the point is, why is Israel so special?

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  2. David Lindsay10 December 2011 at 21:01

    There are several English-speaking white countries, with one of which America shares the longest land frontier on earth.

    There are many English-speaking black countries, including a good many only a short distance from America and with the same plantation culture where the African-descended inhabitants are concerned.

    And there are many Spanish-speaking countries with populations of mixed European, African and Amerindian ancestry, including America's other land neighbour.

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  3. Frederick Oakeley10 December 2011 at 23:30

    The truth is that we will not solve the Middle East's problems as long as all American politicians are in hock to the Israeli lobby. The two nation solution is universally agreed except by Israrl that has the most to gain by such a solution.

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  4. Anonymous11 December 2011 at 20:13

    stionioThis is actually a very good point. Has any nation ever been more obviously "invented" as the United States?
    Once again apologies for seeming Anonymous nature of this post. I am far too old to handle the technical demands.

    http://fitzjameshorselooksattheworld.wordpress.com/

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