I'm not missing that fact. But Israelis too are animated by recent history – including multiple attempts to eradicate their nation, countless terror attacks within Israel, and barrages of rocket attacks from Gaza after Israel pulled out. Arab Muslims can live and prosper in Israel. But there are no Jews in Gaza.
I'm not missing that fact. But Israelis too are animated by recent history – including multiple attempts to eradicate their nation, countless terror attacks within Israel, and barrages of rocket attacks from Gaza after Israel pulled out. Arab Muslims can live and prosper in Israel. But there are no Jews in Gaza.
There had never been a Palestinian nation before 1948, or a "Palestinian people" for that matter. There were “Arabs” in a region that had been controlled by various empires for millennia -- since the Hebrew kingdoms were first conquered. There had also been a continuous Jewish presence for thousands of years. When diaspora Jews saw a need for a nation of their own, it was natural to think of the ancestral Jewish homeland -- which was sparsely populated when the Zionist movement began.
Zionists bought land and famously “made the desert bloom,” and that attracted more Arabs back into the area – certainly including ancestors of today’s “Palestinians.” The Zionists obviously expected they could live in peace surrounded by much large numbers of Arabs. Why did that not happen? Was the friction wholly the fault of the Jews?
When the UN eventually established an Arab state and a Jewish state in the “British Mandate,” the Jews accepted it, but all the surrounding Arab states were violently opposed. They told Arab residents of Israel to leave ahead of their attack – expecting to finish off Israel in short order, and then the Arabs would go back to an Arab state.
It wasn’t Israel that forced those Arabs out. They chose the side of those who wanted to destroy Israel. But the Arab states that told them to leave didn’t seem to have much interest in their well-being afterward. Subsequent territorial enlargements by Israel were a consequence of further attacks with an intent to annihilate Israel.
I’m not endorsing every action taken by the Israeli government, or by radical West Bank settlers. But why is that bad things done by Palestinian Arabs must always be rationalized as an understandable response to something done by Israel – while anything wrong done by Israel can never by explained as a response to attacks on it from without and within?
And the long view of history actually is important to understanding today's events. The long view undercuts the "oppressor/victim" narrative in which Jews can only be considered oppressors and Arabs can only be considered their victims.
The long view is also important given that the likes of Hamas and Hezbollah believe they are following the example and instruction of the 7th-century warlord they call "the perfect man.'
I'm not missing that fact. But Israelis too are animated by recent history – including multiple attempts to eradicate their nation, countless terror attacks within Israel, and barrages of rocket attacks from Gaza after Israel pulled out. Arab Muslims can live and prosper in Israel. But there are no Jews in Gaza.
There had never been a Palestinian nation before 1948, or a "Palestinian people" for that matter. There were “Arabs” in a region that had been controlled by various empires for millennia -- since the Hebrew kingdoms were first conquered. There had also been a continuous Jewish presence for thousands of years. When diaspora Jews saw a need for a nation of their own, it was natural to think of the ancestral Jewish homeland -- which was sparsely populated when the Zionist movement began.
Zionists bought land and famously “made the desert bloom,” and that attracted more Arabs back into the area – certainly including ancestors of today’s “Palestinians.” The Zionists obviously expected they could live in peace surrounded by much large numbers of Arabs. Why did that not happen? Was the friction wholly the fault of the Jews?
When the UN eventually established an Arab state and a Jewish state in the “British Mandate,” the Jews accepted it, but all the surrounding Arab states were violently opposed. They told Arab residents of Israel to leave ahead of their attack – expecting to finish off Israel in short order, and then the Arabs would go back to an Arab state.
It wasn’t Israel that forced those Arabs out. They chose the side of those who wanted to destroy Israel. But the Arab states that told them to leave didn’t seem to have much interest in their well-being afterward. Subsequent territorial enlargements by Israel were a consequence of further attacks with an intent to annihilate Israel.
I’m not endorsing every action taken by the Israeli government, or by radical West Bank settlers. But why is that bad things done by Palestinian Arabs must always be rationalized as an understandable response to something done by Israel – while anything wrong done by Israel can never by explained as a response to attacks on it from without and within?
And the long view of history actually is important to understanding today's events. The long view undercuts the "oppressor/victim" narrative in which Jews can only be considered oppressors and Arabs can only be considered their victims.
The long view is also important given that the likes of Hamas and Hezbollah believe they are following the example and instruction of the 7th-century warlord they call "the perfect man.'
Funny, before the British decided to exile European Jews to a "homeland", the area was called Palestine.