Dead Israelis are invisible to Ian Jack
Ian Jack is fast becoming my least favourite columnist; a man who seems to deeply ignorant and utterly in thrall to prevailing liberal attitudes. A few Saturdays ago he wrote a piece which bemoaned the end of "the grammar school years" without considering that the cause might be, er...the end of grammar schools.
Today, he offers us 1200 words on how:
Israel's behaviour towards its captive Palestinian population is profoundly racist, oppressive and unjust.That's because, he writes:
According to United Nations figures, there are now 621 Israeli army checkpoints and barriers spread throughout the West Bank - this week Tony Blair was celebrating the good news that he had persuaded the Israelis to remove four of them (though "subject to Israeli security assessments") and at most of those we passed through we witnessed the same kind of caprice in action: Palestinians of all kinds - women, children, old men with hospital appointments - sent back for "security reasons" or because they had the wrong piece of paper, journeys abandoned or started again by circuitous routes.And not once - not once, anywhere in the entire piece - does he even mention the murder of 1059 Israelis by Palestinian terrorists since 2000, let alone consider its impact. Maybe, just maybe, that has led to the Israeli authorities being somewhat cautious at border controls. Or don't dead Israelis exist on your radar, Mr Jack?
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Ann
May 17th, 2008 10:36pmReally the only solution is to re-locate, by force if necessary, the 'Palestinians' to Arab countries outside of what rightfully and historically belongs to Israel.
Israel proper, Judea/Samaria (not the 'West Bank' as it is often clumsily referred to) and Gaza should be made free of these people and the land resettled by Jews.
This would merely correct a long-term error of history.
People - least of all the Palestinians - really could not complain as the Jews would then inhabit but a tiny part of what was historically Israel.
It is surely an act of goodwill on our part that we have not pursued return of all the lands which were historically ours.
Ray
May 18th, 2008 10:24amAnn - sound idea: yet a slight problem.
Israel's Arab neighbours don't want the Palestinians any more than Israel does (except, of course, as 'guest workers' on a tight rein and with few, if any real rights).
Had the Arab states accepted and integrated the Palestinian diaspora in the same manner that (for example) India successfully integrated refugees from East and West Pakistan, or France successfully integrated Pied Noir ejectees from Algeria then the course of history may well have been very different.
But then it has suited the Arab states to keep the Palestinians as a stateless huddle in Gaza and the West Bank, the better to wave their cause like a shroud in front of the Western media (or 'shirt of Uthman', as I believe the Arab term has it).
The original Ann
May 18th, 2008 1:44pmJust for the record, whether or not I agree with anything that 'Ann' (and Ray) posted (I simply don't want to go into this now): she is not me, the original long-standing blogger Ann on this board.
Levy
May 18th, 2008 7:43pmThe original Ann:
I like originals. So do you agree with the postings? Come on.
Ann
May 18th, 2008 7:48pmSome other people seem to be having this imposter problem on other boards. I'll treat it with a pinch of salt in my case.
Thanks Ray for your support.
The original Ann
May 18th, 2008 10:24pmLevy:
I have some, in fact much sympathy for the views expressed, yes. But I would rather not discuss now.