Dear csteele,

I agree completely with you. There are many variations on the theme of denying the existence of the Palestinians. That same sort of thing has been used on the Jews. Self-determination has been a shibboleth for some who would deny to the Jews because 'they are not a real people'. Mr. Singer either doesn't know, denies or obfuscates that.

Actually I would deny self-determination to anybody since I don't dig ethnic nationalism. Being a people does not require erecting the barrier of a political boundary. I prefer a multicultural society where we all live together.

However, denial of the peoplehood of the Palestinians - they don't have a history as a people - they are really south syrians - they only came into the area a couple of generations etc. ad nauseam - is a sickening exercise.

Sometimes I wish I didn't exist, but I do. So do they, and so do you.

Goodnight, friend.

# david f

You misread what Amayreh has written. He is postulating for less separation by calling for the Arab populations on both sides of the Jordan River to be reunited as existed between 1948-1967.

#Custard

The UN Plan did not grant anything to the Palestinian People. It recommended the Partition of Western Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. The Jews accepted the plan. The Arabs rejected it.

I believe you overestimate the level of hatred and distrust between the two segments of Jordan's population who have managed to live together in reasonable peace and harmony in a united state that has lasted for 64 years. Their fate has been inextricably woven together ever since present day Jordan was included in the Mandate for Palestine in 1920.

The difference between Hamas and Begin was that Begin was fighting for the establishment of the Jewish National Home sanctioned by the League of Nations in 1922 and endorsed by the UN in Article 80. In fighting the British army that was preventing this happening innocent civilians were unfortunately killed. Hamas is fighting to reverse the League of Nations and United Nations decision and is prepared to deliberately target civilians in order to achieve its aims.

I fear your faith in Hamas being the Palestinian Arabs' salvation is sorely misplaced.

#David G

The consequences - as you see them - would never have occurred had Jordan not joined the Six Day War and lost the West Bank. Jordan is part of the problem and will have to be part of the solution.

Transforming the lives of the West Bank Arab population as far as possible to that which existed prior to 1967 is indeed an urgent imperative. That is what Amayreh is saying - and I agree.

Do you?

#csteele

It is a pity you waste your time counting the words in my articles and to check out whether I use the term "Palestinian/s" - rather than commenting on the subject matter of my articles which surely would be more constructive.

Do you agree with Amayreh's view?

Dear David Singer,

I don't misread what Amaryeh has written. He is an antisemite who would like to unite all Arabs against the Jews. I would like to tear down the separation between Arabs and Jews.

To argue that Israeli Arabs have less connection with their fellow citizens than with Jordanian Arabs is possibly a self-fulfilling prophesy. That is what you seem to be arguing for.

I hope Israel/Palestine will become a genuine democratic state whichj makes no distinctions as to ethnicity and religion among its citizens.

I am sick of your trying to unite the Arabs by separating them from their Jewish cousins.

That is a unity that can destroy. Although you are not an antisemite you are playing into their bigotry.

Get rid of religious and educational exclusion. Let all the people of Israel merge to form a finer union.

You are selling your birthright for a pot of message.

Dear Mr Singer,

You said: “It is a pity you waste your time counting the words in my articles and to check out whether I use the term "Palestinian/s" - rather than commenting on the subject matter of my articles which surely would be more constructive.”

The wonders of Firefox enabled me to enter a search request on each of your pieces and if it showed pink then no Palestinians were to be found. I will confess to estimating your word count per article so the entire exercise took very little time at all. I believe the point made was a very salient one and while possibly not constructive it certainly was instructive. It bears repeating; around 6,000 words from you on the Palestinian/Israeli issue without mentioning the word Palestinian.

Even in replying to me you felt the need to place quotation marks around the word. Does it offend you so much?

I will not be commenting on your piece because I purposely have not read it. But I undertake to read and respond to the next one if you include the word Palestinian even just the once. Please note a quote from someone else does not count.

Dear Mr Singer,

The word should be Palestinians since to be fair you do use Palestinian when referring to the Palestinian Authority. That is an organisation rather than a people.

#csteele

I am sorry if you are offended by my non-use of the term "Palestinians".

Can I assume your careful monitoring of my articles has led you to find nothing else to disagree with?

Jumping to the conclusion that in failing to use that term I am one of "those intent on disappearing a people when they refuse even to use their name" is a load of nonsense.

I prefer to use the term "Palestinian Arabs" in my articles as another search by you on Firefox will no doubt establish. That term has a more clearly defined meaning in the PLO Covenant than the definition of "Palestinians" which I find confusing and ambiguous.

The use of loose language is too frequent in any discourse regarding the ongoing conflict between Jews and Arabs. I try to avoid that in my articles and warn against it whenever I can.

I hope that given the above explanation you might find the time to now read the article and comment on Amayreh's view that:

" … the Jordanian and Palestinian peoples are the two most homogeneous and closest Arab peoples, given their ethnic, cultural and religious commonality. We are actually one people, as Arab clans on both sides of the River Jordan have one common ancestry.

This indisputable fact should debunk all the myths about any proclaimed intrinsic distinctiveness, let alone contradictions, between Jordanians and Palestinians.

It should also demolish all parochial ideologies such as territorial nationalism, namely exaggerated Palestinian and Jordanian nationalisms, ideologies that grow out of fanatical tribalism which Islam condemns as acts of Jahilyya or ignorance."

You might also care to read my article
http://www.analyst-network.com/article.php?art_id=3464
dealing with the use of the term "ethnic cleansing".

Language regrettably can be misused or abused or simply misinterpreted.

Perhaps it is the lawyer in me that causes me to be very wary of using words whose meaning is undefined,imprecise or unclear.