I pity the innocent civilians on both sides. You can only repress an entire population for so long before it erupts back violently into the oppressor’s camp ….thank you Ruth for the insightful article !
I pity the innocent civilians on both sides. You can only repress an entire population for so long before it erupts back violently into the oppressor’s camp ….thank you Ruth for the insightful article !
I've always wondered why Arab nations have never extended any help to Palestinians, such as immigration, or re-settlement. I've presumed that it is to their advantage to have a volatile population as part of the Israeli landscape. Thoughts?
Diane: You asked, “… why Arab nations have never extended any help to Palestinians, such as immigration, or resettlement.” When one’s home is occupied by strangers who want us to leave, abuse us, steal, kill and wound our family, damage our property, how likely will our neighbors see as a solution us moving in with them or suggest we ‘resettle’ elsewhere? Would our good neighbors see ‘immigration’ & ‘resettlement’ (neocolonialist solutions) as merely adding insult over injury on the victims for the benefit of the perpetrators? While Arab nations are corrupt, they are cognizant that offending Palestinians is likely to trigger disturbance at home. Hence they choose to merely appear to be in solidarity with the victims as we do here in the U.S. These Arab nations are often co-opted by the same nations that created & co-opted Israel, a state Arabs consider illegitimate.
I take your point, but I don't think that offering the option after all these years, without coercion, would be offensive. Also, is there economic help? Saudi Arabia gives money extensively throughout the middle-east and beyond. I'm receptive to your remarks, but not persuaded.
Diane, offering indigenous people the option to leave their homeland so that White settlers can steal their patrimony, where several generations of their ancestors lived—the very concept is not only offensive, but also traumatic and a nonstarter. This is why many Palestinians would rather die, than leave, even while White supremacist try to force them to out. These are values, loving the land where one was born, having roots in one’s birthplace, are difficult for some in our peripatetic Western culture—that sees land as a commodity to invest in and extract wealth from— to empathize with. Hence, a deadly confrontation occurs in which we willingly eradicate the obstacle to “Progress” to make room for our kind of people; the only kind we treat as human beings. Yet we act surprise when they fight back. We usually have more weapons, but as they say, might is not right. In the Americas some estimate Europeans settlers or invaders, depending on your point of view, eradicated up to 100m people with a thriving 12k year civilization/culture that was in sync in nature.
Our civilization, ephemeral compared that of Indigenous people, has been remarkable for willingly risking extinction of Life on Earth due to hubris, greed and inability to learn from rather than conquer other cultures. Hence, our penchant for war, directly or by proxy.
I don’t expect expect to persuade, especially nowadays. These are times when people are less open to different point of views, regardless of facts. Frankly, I’m grateful that we have been able to share our respective point of views with civility. Thank you.
It seems to be the only answer, that keeping the Palestinians in dire circumstances benefits the desire for maintaining and increasing the power of the Arab nations. It's easy to have made the Israelis the enemy. I've always wondered about this. Where have the Arab nations been? It's obviously stirring the pot of depravation and hate. This is tragic.
I pity the innocent civilians on both sides. You can only repress an entire population for so long before it erupts back violently into the oppressor’s camp ….thank you Ruth for the insightful article !
I've always wondered why Arab nations have never extended any help to Palestinians, such as immigration, or re-settlement. I've presumed that it is to their advantage to have a volatile population as part of the Israeli landscape. Thoughts?
Read The Haj by Leon Uris. I found it eye opening. The tribalism in the Middle East is ancient, potent and ongoing.
Thank you. I love his work, and I have to be pretty much be spoonfed complicated history.
In the Arab world, tribal identity is more important than national identity.
Diane: You asked, “… why Arab nations have never extended any help to Palestinians, such as immigration, or resettlement.” When one’s home is occupied by strangers who want us to leave, abuse us, steal, kill and wound our family, damage our property, how likely will our neighbors see as a solution us moving in with them or suggest we ‘resettle’ elsewhere? Would our good neighbors see ‘immigration’ & ‘resettlement’ (neocolonialist solutions) as merely adding insult over injury on the victims for the benefit of the perpetrators? While Arab nations are corrupt, they are cognizant that offending Palestinians is likely to trigger disturbance at home. Hence they choose to merely appear to be in solidarity with the victims as we do here in the U.S. These Arab nations are often co-opted by the same nations that created & co-opted Israel, a state Arabs consider illegitimate.
I take your point, but I don't think that offering the option after all these years, without coercion, would be offensive. Also, is there economic help? Saudi Arabia gives money extensively throughout the middle-east and beyond. I'm receptive to your remarks, but not persuaded.
Diane, offering indigenous people the option to leave their homeland so that White settlers can steal their patrimony, where several generations of their ancestors lived—the very concept is not only offensive, but also traumatic and a nonstarter. This is why many Palestinians would rather die, than leave, even while White supremacist try to force them to out. These are values, loving the land where one was born, having roots in one’s birthplace, are difficult for some in our peripatetic Western culture—that sees land as a commodity to invest in and extract wealth from— to empathize with. Hence, a deadly confrontation occurs in which we willingly eradicate the obstacle to “Progress” to make room for our kind of people; the only kind we treat as human beings. Yet we act surprise when they fight back. We usually have more weapons, but as they say, might is not right. In the Americas some estimate Europeans settlers or invaders, depending on your point of view, eradicated up to 100m people with a thriving 12k year civilization/culture that was in sync in nature.
Our civilization, ephemeral compared that of Indigenous people, has been remarkable for willingly risking extinction of Life on Earth due to hubris, greed and inability to learn from rather than conquer other cultures. Hence, our penchant for war, directly or by proxy.
I don’t expect expect to persuade, especially nowadays. These are times when people are less open to different point of views, regardless of facts. Frankly, I’m grateful that we have been able to share our respective point of views with civility. Thank you.
It seems to be the only answer, that keeping the Palestinians in dire circumstances benefits the desire for maintaining and increasing the power of the Arab nations. It's easy to have made the Israelis the enemy. I've always wondered about this. Where have the Arab nations been? It's obviously stirring the pot of depravation and hate. This is tragic.