Dear EJ,

Thanks for the reference to the article on self-determination. Self-determination is a group right – the right of a people to form a political unit based on their identity as a people. I don’t give a snail’s fart for group rights. The only right I care for is the right of an individual to be free – free to get an education, free to express any opinion, free to pursue whatever employment he or she is capable of, free to believe or not to believe in any religion, free to marry who he or she chooses etc. As far as nations go I favour those nations which put a fewer restrictions on the freedom of an individual than those which put more. If people who live in Australia have more individual freedom with Australia as an English colony I support Australia as an English colony. If people who live in Australia have more individual freedom with Australia as an independent country I support Australia as an independent country. That is the important issue with me. Group rights depend on the definition of the group. Individuals need no definition. Quite often a group right is merely the right to oppress others. That was the issue in the US Civil War. The south wanted self-determination and seceded because the slave owners wanted the right to keep others as slaves. Self-determination for the South meant the preservation of slavery. Individual freedom and self-determination are often at odds.

Dear David,

«I don’t give a snail’s fart for group rights. The only right I care for is the right of an individual to be free»

So do I - and for an individual to be free, they should (among other things) be able to choose the people they want to be and associate with and the laws (if any) by which they are bound.

If it so happens that their individual preference is to live with like-minded people of similar spiritual values and goals, then who are you to tell them otherwise?

The "right" of groups is nothing but the sum of rights of the individuals that comprise this group as they work in harmony together towards common goals, especially such goals that are not shared outside this group.

It seems that all you want is to force your own secular ideals on others who do not share your views and brainwash/indoctrinate their children in your own type of schools.

Anyone should be free from the fear of some stranger-policeman knocking at their door at night and accusing them of breaking laws and regulations that are based on conflicting values and goals, in the name of people which they never consented to associate with.

Yuyutsu writes "... laws and regulations that are based on conflicting values and goals, in the name of people which they never consented to associate with"

This is precisely why the Palestinians must not go on having to put up with the racist state of Israel plonked in the middle of their homeland.

Dear Julian,

The so-called "Palestinians" should and could have everything they deserve and openly ask for, provided just one thing: that they stop harassing their neighbours.

Israel's ONLY legitimate justification for denying them the freedom to live as they want, is self-defence against "Palestinian" violence. While the rest of Israel's claims are rubbish, I'm dismayed that this one holds true.

BTW, the vast majority of Israeli Arabs say that they prefer to live in Israel as it is, racist as it may be, over living under Palestinian rule. Their greatest fear is that they would be forced to become "Palestinian" under peace-deal land-swaps. I strongly oppose land-swaps and believe that Israel should withdraw EXACTLY to its pre-1967 borders.

I really doubt that individual "Palestinians" are different from their brothers within Israel and do truly want to have their own state: I suspect that they only say so outwardly but want nothing of it - but if they do want a state, then they should have it RIGHT NOW, then if they ever again use their state to launch attacks against Israel, then Israel will have every right to kill them all.

EJ,

Why do the Israelis have to put up with the racist Palestinian states in the middle of their homeland?

Palestine was there. It wasn't terra nullius and its residents were not cockroaches. Israel was gouged out of it by foreign terrorists. Settlers have homelands to return to - ie where they were born and from whence they arrived, Palestinians are in their own homeland and exiles are forcibly locked out of it by the invading overlords.

The map sequence at http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/mapstellstory.html
(scroll down to Palestinian Loss of land 1946-2000) tells the stark truth.