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Israel and Palestinians: architects of their own destruction : Comments
By Alon Ben-Meir, published 22/5/2020As Israel celebrates the 72nd anniversary of its independence, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to simmer as neither side seems to have learned anything from their seven decades-old conflict.
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Posted by david f, Tuesday, 9 June 2020 8:10:46 PM
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Dear David,
You provided nice examples of two outstanding individuals who went against the tide and formed the budding movement for human rights. But how many of their contemporaries actually heard of them and of those, how many took them seriously? Perhaps they only heard about them in the context of jokes, like "heard about this weirdo lunatic who claims that we should not have slaves, like the mutant lion who tries to make his family eat grass"... These two were not the decision makers. On the other hand you have the leaders of Herut, which transformed into today's ruling Likud party headed by Netanyahu. They were not ignorant. While they believed that the whole of Israel belongs to the Jewish people, they also believed that the local Arabs should have full rights there. From Beitar's anthem, http://www.hebrewsongs.com/song-shirbetar.htm : "With blood and sweat Shall arise a race Proud generous and cruel" They actually believed in generosity towards the local Arabs, but only pride and cruelty remained - Where is this generosity today? Even the militant revisionist hymn "Shtei Gadot Layarden" ("the Jordan river has two banks, this is ours, the other as well") has as its third verse: "There will saturate with prosperity and delight, The son of Arab, the son of Nazareth (=Christian) and my son, for my flag being a flag of purity and honesty, shall purify both banks of my Jordan." My point is, they knew very well of morals, they professed to have them, but they lost them, especially following the 1967 war. Menachem Begin still held these morals, but Netanyahu is a lost cause. Animals are subject to animal-kingdom laws, but those who have human intelligence yet CHOOSE to behave LIKE animals are of a different category and animal-kingdom laws shall not absolve them. Wars between animals are not decided by the morality of the combatants, but different laws apply for humans who know better. Posted by Yuyutsu, Tuesday, 9 June 2020 10:42:13 PM
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Dear Yuyutsu,
I note your comments. Posted by david f, Tuesday, 9 June 2020 10:47:06 PM
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“The colonial Europeans did not know any better.”
That is nonsense. Morality didn’t originate recently. Sumer existed between 4500 and 1900 BCE. They had an extensive morality.
https://hubpages.com/education/Sumerian-Values-and-Morals-in-Ancient-times
During European imperialism there were Europeans quite conscious of the arrogance and evil of going into a place where other people are living and oppressing them.
Some Europeans recognised the humanity of the native peoples and knew their treatment was wrong. However, other Europeans motivated by greed and intolerant Christianity ignored those Europeans who recognised the evil.
Two Europeans who opposed the evils are:
The Spaniard Bartolomé_de_las_Casas (c. 1484 – 18 July 1566)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolomé_de_las_Casas
“Bartolomé de las Casas spent 50 years of his life actively fighting slavery and the colonial abuse of indigenous peoples, especially by trying to convince the Spanish court to adopt a more humane policy of colonization. Unlike some other priests who sought to destroy the indigenous peoples' native books and writings, he strictly opposed this action. Although he failed to save the indigenous peoples of the Western Indies, his efforts did result in improvement of the legal status of the natives, and in an increased colonial focus on the ethics of colonialism. Las Casas is often considered to be one of the first advocates for a universal conception of human dignity (later human rights).”
The Englishman Roger Williams (c. 21 December 1603 – between 27 January and 15 March 1683)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams
“He was a staunch advocate for religious freedom, separation of church and state, and fair dealings with American Indians, and he was one of the first abolitionists.”
Williams was expelled by the Puritan leaders from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for spreading "new and dangerous ideas", and he established the Providence Plantations in 1636 as a refuge offering what he called "liberty of conscience". … He studied the Indian languages and wrote the first book on the Narragansett language, and he organized the first attempt to prohibit slavery in any of England's North American colonies.”
Wars are not decided by the morality of the combatants. Christians may rise above the intolerance of their religion.