Take your money back

[IndianaGreen]

Take your money back

Avi Trengo tells Tom Friedman American aid to Israel insignificant, we can do without it

Avi Trengo Published: 03.31.10, 12:01 / Israel Opinion

Senior New York Times commentator Tom Friedman is not an anti-Semite and will never be one. He wholeheartedly believes that he is objective and genuinely wishes to help Israel. Yet even a real friend like him is inspired by the “commander-in-chief’s spirit” these days.

In February 2002 I reviewed his peace initiative with astonishment: Full Arab world recognition of Israel’s right to exist in exchange for a full withdrawal to the 1967 borders. As an Israeli leftist, I lauded the fact that a senior commentator realized the problem is not merely Israeli-Palestinian, but rather, has to do with the Arab world’s unwillingness to accept any sovereign Jewish state in the Middle East.

February 17th, 2002 is a day I will never forget: It was during the Intifada, with the worse still ahead of us. I participated in an intimate Peace Now demonstration as an active member. For more than 30 years, I shared Friedman’s view that a return to the 1967 borders is a magical solution. Yet during the rally, we were informed that a suicide bomber killed two children at a pizza parlor. The protestors observed a moment of silence, before the next speaker, a Palestinian “moderate,” took the stage. His speech focused solely on accusing Israel while going back to the Nakba and early days of Zionism. The terror attack at the pizza parlor in Karnei Shomron was not mentioned at all. I left the rally with a sense of disgust.

The next day, I read in the New York Times that the Saudi ruler, who was preoccupied at the time with a PR effort after “fine Saudi boys” carried out the September 11 attacks, adopted the Friedman initiative and turned into the “Saudi peace plan.” Friedman must have noticed that the Saudis added a condition that no Israeli could accept: The immigration of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians (“1948 refugees”) to Israel, thereby amending its demographic character. Did Friedman fail to understand back then already that this is a symptom of the problem: The Muslim world’s unwillingness to accept Jewish sovereignty in the Middle East?

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3869920,00.html

[kayecy]

1. We seem to hear the phrase '....that no Israeli could accept' rather more than.........

1. We seem to hear the phrase '....that no Israeli could accept' rather more than we hear the phrase '....that no Palestinian could accept'......Are we expecting the Israelis to negotiate with the Palestinians as equals or something else?


2. What is meant by '.....to accept any sovereign Jewish state in the Middle East.'?......Does it mean that the rest of the world should not under any circumstances accept the sovereign will of the majority in Israel unless that majority is Jewish??
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[oberliner]

2. We hear the phrase "No Palestinian would accept" as well

For instance:

No Palestinian would accept a state without its capital located in East Jerusalem.

As for #2:

This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State

(From the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel)

[kayecy]

3. You are right...We do hear that 'No Palestinian would accept a state without ........

1. You are right...We do hear that 'No Palestinian would accept a state without its capital in East Jerusalem'.....

We don't hear that 'No Israeli would accept a state without its capital in West Jerusalem' or that 'Israel must be contiguous'....or that 'Israel must be sovereign' etc.....Why do you think that is?


2.

This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State

I'm trying to think of a single western democratic state which demands the world accept that a particular ethnic group should rule the state irrespective of what the majority (be it white, black, atheist, christian, Indian, Jewish etc) may want in the furure.....You seem to think democracy is something to be treated lightly.
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