Occupation schmoccupation
Occupation schmoccupation
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Posted: July 17, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Michelle Moshelian
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© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
Abraham Lincoln once said, ''You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.'' He might not have known it at the time, but what he was talking about was occupation.
How many times have you heard that ''X's terror is due to occupation'' (replace ''X'' with a wide variety of Islamic groups ...) or ''end the occupation and there will be no terror,'' etc.?
Somehow, the world has been fooled for far too long into believing the root cause of the Israeli-Arab conflict is occupation. As the events of this month unfold, one has to question whether you really can fool all the people all the time.
Israel withdrew from Lebanon six years ago. It withdrew from Gaza last year. The Palestinians in Gaza began launching rockets at Israel the moment it left. They methodically built a tunnel that they used last week to launch an attack inside Israel. Even more unbelievably, they didn't bother to take the opportunity of the end of occupation to better the lives of the Palestinian people in Gaza. So much for the often-heard claim that the Palestinians had voted in Hamas to avoid the corruption of other potential leaders and not due to their desire to destroy Israel. Clearly, the end of the occupation there wasn't seen as ''the end'' of the conflict by Palestinians – more as a ''means to an end.''
Just months after Israel ended the occupation of Lebanon, Hezbollah launched an attack. They kidnapped and executed three Israeli soldiers. The murdering of eight Israeli soldiers, and the kidnapping of two others, mirrors the previous attack and once again highlights that their attacks have nothing to do with occupation.
But it's not just recent history that proves the root of the conflict isn't occupation. The conflict was around before occupation. The conflict was around even before Israel was established! Arabs massacring Jews in Israel/Palestine/whatever-you-wish-to-call-it in the 1920s cannot possibly be attributed to occupation.
In fact, the occupation of 1967 began as a direct result of the conflict. Just as Gaza, and probably Lebanon soon, is being occupied as a result of murderous attacks against Israel, so too in 1967 did Israel respond to yet another war about to be launched against it by the Arabs.
To attribute the root cause of the conflict to occupation alone is to ignore the real causes of the conflict, and will only serve to prolong the situation rather than solve it. The time is long overdue to address the real reason for the conflict: the basic refusal of Arabs to recognize Israel's right to exist.
Anyone who still claims that occupation is the root cause should be dismissed by those who cannot be fooled all the time, or were never fooled in the first place, with a resounding response of ''occupation schmoccupation.'' [''Schmock'' is Yiddish for fool.]
To quote another historical leader: ''um shmum.''
''Um'' represents the acronym in Hebrew for United Nations and ''shmum'' is a dismissive retort. Israel's founder, David Ben-Gurion, replied ''um shmum'' after being informed that the United Nations would guarantee Israeli security after 1956 (yes, the year another war was launched by Arab countries against Israel despite the fact that there was no occupation). He was of course proved right – in the 50 years since, the United Nations has never guaranteed Israel's security.
The United Nations does have the opportunity to act today though. It could force the Palestinians to free the soldier they kidnapped and stop launching rockets into Israeli towns, and force Hezbollah to free the soldiers they kidnapped and disarm, thus allowing Israel to withdraw from Gaza and stop its assault on Lebanon. If the United Nations refuses to put the blame on the aggressors, as usual unfortunately, then it is just continuing the status quo of the conflict, and confirming its own status as ''um shmum.''
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Michelle Moshelian is a Londoner living in Israel
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: July 17, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Michelle Moshelian
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
Abraham Lincoln once said, ''You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.'' He might not have known it at the time, but what he was talking about was occupation.
How many times have you heard that ''X's terror is due to occupation'' (replace ''X'' with a wide variety of Islamic groups ...) or ''end the occupation and there will be no terror,'' etc.?
Somehow, the world has been fooled for far too long into believing the root cause of the Israeli-Arab conflict is occupation. As the events of this month unfold, one has to question whether you really can fool all the people all the time.
Israel withdrew from Lebanon six years ago. It withdrew from Gaza last year. The Palestinians in Gaza began launching rockets at Israel the moment it left. They methodically built a tunnel that they used last week to launch an attack inside Israel. Even more unbelievably, they didn't bother to take the opportunity of the end of occupation to better the lives of the Palestinian people in Gaza. So much for the often-heard claim that the Palestinians had voted in Hamas to avoid the corruption of other potential leaders and not due to their desire to destroy Israel. Clearly, the end of the occupation there wasn't seen as ''the end'' of the conflict by Palestinians – more as a ''means to an end.''
Just months after Israel ended the occupation of Lebanon, Hezbollah launched an attack. They kidnapped and executed three Israeli soldiers. The murdering of eight Israeli soldiers, and the kidnapping of two others, mirrors the previous attack and once again highlights that their attacks have nothing to do with occupation.
But it's not just recent history that proves the root of the conflict isn't occupation. The conflict was around before occupation. The conflict was around even before Israel was established! Arabs massacring Jews in Israel/Palestine/whatever-you-wish-to-call-it in the 1920s cannot possibly be attributed to occupation.
In fact, the occupation of 1967 began as a direct result of the conflict. Just as Gaza, and probably Lebanon soon, is being occupied as a result of murderous attacks against Israel, so too in 1967 did Israel respond to yet another war about to be launched against it by the Arabs.
To attribute the root cause of the conflict to occupation alone is to ignore the real causes of the conflict, and will only serve to prolong the situation rather than solve it. The time is long overdue to address the real reason for the conflict: the basic refusal of Arabs to recognize Israel's right to exist.
Anyone who still claims that occupation is the root cause should be dismissed by those who cannot be fooled all the time, or were never fooled in the first place, with a resounding response of ''occupation schmoccupation.'' [''Schmock'' is Yiddish for fool.]
To quote another historical leader: ''um shmum.''
''Um'' represents the acronym in Hebrew for United Nations and ''shmum'' is a dismissive retort. Israel's founder, David Ben-Gurion, replied ''um shmum'' after being informed that the United Nations would guarantee Israeli security after 1956 (yes, the year another war was launched by Arab countries against Israel despite the fact that there was no occupation). He was of course proved right – in the 50 years since, the United Nations has never guaranteed Israel's security.
The United Nations does have the opportunity to act today though. It could force the Palestinians to free the soldier they kidnapped and stop launching rockets into Israeli towns, and force Hezbollah to free the soldiers they kidnapped and disarm, thus allowing Israel to withdraw from Gaza and stop its assault on Lebanon. If the United Nations refuses to put the blame on the aggressors, as usual unfortunately, then it is just continuing the status quo of the conflict, and confirming its own status as ''um shmum.''
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Michelle Moshelian is a Londoner living in Israel
posted by shummer60 at Tuesday, July 18, 2006
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