Comments on: Gershom Gorenberg and ‘The Mystery of 1948′

By: A Response to +972′s Joseph Dana and Noam Sheizaf

A Response to +972′s Joseph Dana and Noam Sheizaf — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:01:21 +0000

[...] post, “Gershom Gorenberg and ‘The Mystery of 1948,“ on Slate’s excerpt from my book, The Unmaking of Israel, begins by asking whether Slate’s [...]

By: Volodinjev the Great

Volodinjev the Great — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:43:35 +0000

@Lauren

“Why do they suffer the brunt of abuse by Europeans who have no genetic ancestral ties to the region?”

Genetics determines the right to the land? And you call Zionism racism?

By: Bosko

Bosko — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 16:01:49 +0000

Directrob
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I am glad you added the qualifier “up till now”. Now please read this:
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http://www.raceandhistory.com/selfnews/viewnews.cgi?newsid1073908656,44643,.shtml
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The heading is “Whites Could Be Killed”
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“Berlin – A high-ranking representative of the Herero tribe in Namibia said there could be a Zimbabwe-style backlash against ethnic German whites if Berlin refuses to pay reparations.

“Don’t forget, our young generation does not have the angelic patience of the elders,” Mburumba Kernina, an advisor to Herero Paramount Chief Kuaima Riruako, told Berlin daily, Der Tagesspiegel”
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doesn’t sound promising to me. But even if it turns out well, it would be an exception to the general rule.

By: directrob

directrob — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 14:59:26 +0000

Up to now for example the Republic of Namibia.

By: Bosko

Bosko — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 14:39:39 +0000

Directrob
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Show me one country in history, with a non uniform population, where the different groups have the type of hostile history with each other as the Jews and the Arabs, which did not end in massacres sooner or later.

By: Abu Nuwas

Abu Nuwas — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 12:52:47 +0000

“of 1948, which was basically a civil war” Are F”"”"”" kidding me? Do you also describe the Algerian war of independence as a civil war? Since Algeria had a lot of french colonists who where not natives to the region but arrived their and displaced the natives? Natives fighting colonists is a civil war?

By: directrob

directrob — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 11:53:39 +0000

Very few countries have uniform populations. It is no violation of human rights if Jews have to live with Palestinians in one country and it is no law of nature that Jews cannot live in peace with Palestinians.

By: Bosko

Bosko — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 11:10:58 +0000

“Two indigenous populations having their equally valid claims recognized and respected in their homeland is not a violation of anyone’s human rights. Neither is entitled to exclude the other”
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Nice theory. Now, how did that work out in Sudan, the Balkans, Rwanda, Lebanon, Cyprus again? And that is not an exhaustive list.
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People who advocate utopian solutions even if they have genuinely good intentions (which is not always the case), have the propensity to create calamities. History is full of sad tales that confirm that sad reality.

By: directrob

directrob — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 08:42:27 +0000

@AT
“Just as a reminder, the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights list national self-destination as one human right. As such, Jews have the right of national self detmination just as any other people. This is not racism.”
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“National self-destination”, This combination of words is not part of the declaration. Please cite the article you have in mind, I cannot find it. By the way Google finds 4 documents with “national self-destination”.
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“This is not racism”, If you say so …

By: Sinjim

Sinjim — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 07:42:27 +0000

@AT: Putting aside your ahistorical summary, ethnic nationalism is an outdated 19th century idea. The United States isn’t an ethnic nationalist state. Neither is Canada or Great Britain or even France.
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This insistence that Israel belong to the Jews alone, despite 1 out of 5 of its citizens not being Jewish (not to mention all the Palestinians who were ethnically cleansed), is the very definition of exclusion and discrimination. How can a state call itself a liberal democracy when it tells 20% of its people that it is not for them, when its most prominent politicians openly speak of population transfers?
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And I have no idea why Zionists insist on having an ethnically Palestinian state (on the territory that they don’t want, of course). You go on and on about how self-determination is so sacrosanct, yet you’re lecturing Palestinians on how theirs should look like and how it should be realized.
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Two indigenous populations having their equally valid claims recognized and respected in their homeland is not a violation of anyone’s human rights. Neither is entitled to exclude the other.