h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ormondroyd,

The corollary you make concerning Ireland and the Middle East is a comparison that has little if anything in common. As we are free to disagree here is a slightly different point of view.

PROMISES, PROMISES.

On the restoration of Israel, the Quran says;
"And after him (Moses), we said to the children of Israel,
dwell Ye in the promised land, and when the time of the
promise of the latter days comes, we shall bring you out of
various peoples".

One of the major principles of International Law, as reaffirmed at Nuremberg in 1945-46 “No crime without punishment” specifies that all states are obligated to seek out and prosecute persons responsible for terrorism. Only resolutions passed in the UN Security Council are enforceable at Law (resolutions passed by the General Assembly are not). Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel have all failed, at various times, to arrest Arafat. This is a breach of International Law.

Arafat is and was instrumental in the leadership decisions of Al-Fatah, the PFLP and the Black September Movement (now defunct), his insurgency in Jordan was directly responsible for the deaths of 3,000 Palestinians in Jordan, and who can ever forget the Munich Olympics killings. His terrorist “ think tank” spawned the first airplane hi-jackings. But his end-user certificate, stamped with a Nobel Peace prize, legitimized an international criminal as an acceptable leader. Under those conditions an arrest is not possible. Whatever your opinion may be concerning Sharon, he has never been responsible for the killing of his own people to further his political ambitions.

On the web site for Jordan (kinghussein.gov.jo) is a letter which is worthy of scrutiny.
Abdullah bin al-Hussein
(translated from Arabic)

Amman on: 11 Thul Hijja 1364
Corresponding to: 16 November 1945
Presidency of the Arab League - Cairo

The best way to save Palestine and maintain it as an Arab country or to save the remaining part of Palestine is through concentration of efforts on the following:

First: Strengthening of the Palestine Nation’s Fund and making it capable of maintaining the lands of the Arabs in the hands of Arabs through buying the land put for sale for urgent conditions and through restoration of lands in need for so.

Second: Taking the necessary arrangements for the entry of Arab immigrants into Palestine on a monthly basis and in numbers equal to the Jewish immigrants, and not to rely on the possibility of persuading the Western democracies; particularly after the recent resolutions.

This is an urgent action. The Arab nation is wailing the urgent magnanimity of the Arab States and there is no time to waste, otherwise the Jews will be able to buy new lands and push new immigrants to Palestine.

This, in my point of view, is the effective step, and after that there is no harm in having the publicity offices and political expectations.

CC: Transjordan’s representative in Cairo.
Endedit

The British Administration imposed a quota for Jewish immigration. No such quota was applicable to the Arab immigration which was encouraged as a buffer against the emerging recreation of a Jewish Homeland. This was a deliberate, and cynical plan of demographic infiltration, especially after the failure of the Armies of the Arab League to obliterate the fledgling Jewish State.

The Israeli government agreed to the term “occupied” to be used in reference to the PLO insurgency, but to date no Arab country has put forward any resolution or offer that will permit Israelis to live as anything but second class citizens under Arab jurisdiction. No recognition has ever been made, no apology proffered, concerning the “occupation” of Mesopotamian countries, which came about as a result of “The Arab Conquest”. The Berber people of North Africa have been requesting that their uninvited Arab “guests” quit the Berber homeland for quite some time now, and leave them in peace. No resolution there either.

Not every Middle Eastern person is an Arab. There are nations of peoples in the Middle East and Africa who would prefer to live in self governing autonomy in their ancestral homelands, devoid of the Arab umbrella.

Peace is always preferable, but peace at any price – NO.

EtherZev: I was sufficiently intrigued by your posting to visit your (somewhat minimalist) Personal Space. I must commend your honesty in admitting ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F63410?thread=151140&latest=1 ) that you're setting out to post propaganda here on h2g2. That certainly explains the nature of the one-sided rants you've posted here and elsewhere on the site. Unfortunately, that intention on your part probably also precludes the possibility of having any sort of worthwhile dialogue with you. Clearly you're here to talk AT us unbelievers, not WITH us. So I'll just confine myself to saying this: I think it's desperately sad that Israel is severing all dialogue with Arafat. At the end of yet another week of appalling attacks and needless deaths on both sides, that's the very last thing that's needed. There can't be any progress towards peace in the Middle East until both sides move on from that self-pitying, self-righteous mindset that says "It's all THEIR fault. When they kill people, it's an atrocity. When we kill people, it's self-defence." Unfortunately, Mr Sharon doesn't seem seriously interested in moving on from that barren, hopeless attitude. And neither do you, from what I've seen of your postings here.