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Date Posted: 07:20:20 10/27/03 Mon
Author: you sound like you support the palestinian position...mm
Subject: "To be part of an organization fighting colonial powers is no crime."...
In reply to: TruthMeister 's message, "The problem is not Israel. It is the rest of the neighbourhood" on 16:21:23 10/24/03 Fri

>
>Tuesday, September 09, 2003
>
>Analysis
>
>
>Lions of Zion
>
>The problem is not Israel. It is the rest of the
>neighbourhood
>
>Bibek Maitra
>
>Mani Shankar Aiyar’s rantings (‘‘BJP’s favourite West
>Asian’’, September 5) usually don’t deserve attention.
>But given the timing of his article — Prime Minister
>Ariel Sharon is currently in India — a rebuttal is
>necessary.
>To begin with, Israel was not a gift of western powers
>to Jews after World War II. Even after the Balfour
>Declaration of 1919 and the promise of a Jewish
>homeland, the British were in no mood to leave. It was
>only when their mandate expired and they were
>confronted by a war of attrition by Jewish freedom
>fighting units such as Hagannah, Irgun and Stern that
>they decided to quit Palestine.
>
>To be part of an organisation fighting colonial powers
>is no crime. Sharon has every reason to be proud of
>this past.
>
>The United Nations voted for the creation of Israel
>and Palestine to live side by side. The Jews accepted
>the verdict but the Arabs did not. As soon as the UN
>gave its decision, the neighbouring Arab countries
>came together to attack Israel. They failed , Israel
>survived. The remains of the Palestinian state were
>gobbled up by Jordan.
>
>Next we come to Deir Yassin. This was an Arab village
>located on an elevation overlooking the Jerusalem-Tel
>Aviv highway. During the Arab siege of the Jewish
>quarter of Jerusalem in 1948, Israeli relief convoys
>were regularly ambushed. (The remnants of these
>convoys can still be seen if you drive from Tel Aviv
>to Jerusalem).
>
>Israeli intelligence got reports that Arab irregulars
>had infiltrated Deir Yassin to attack the convoys. The
>Israelis entered the village, a fight ensued and
>Israeli forces won. To set the record straight, Sharon
>had no role to play in Deir Yassin.
>
>Then we come to the Quibya massacre. This was a time
>when Palestinian militants used to slip into Israeli
>territory at night and attack border villages. The
>village of Quibya was such a centre for Palestinian
>mujaheedin and under Jordanian control.
>
>One night, militants entered the Israeli border
>village of Yahud and killed a woman and her two
>children. The Israeli army was ordered to take
>punitive action. The 101 border unit, led by a young
>officer named Ariel Sharon, entered Quibya village and
>asked all inhabitants to leave. Nearly 2,700 did so.
>
>Fearing arrest, a few mujahideen and their families
>hid in cellars. The 101 unit blew up houses so Quibya
>could no longer be a base for attacks. The fatalities
>that occurred were of people hiding in the cellars.
>
>Next come Sabra and Shatilla. These massacres of
>Palestinians were caused by the Maronite Christian
>falangists militia. They felt Palestinians had upset
>the demographic equation in Lebanon.
>
>Israel’s fault was this massacre took place when it
>was in the midst of clearing operations in Lebanon.
>Sharon’s fault was he was then defence minister. To
>blame Sharon for this is like blaming Indira Gandhi
>for the Nellie massacre in Assam, 1983, because she
>was prime minister and had foisted an election on the
>state.
>
>We now come to the comparison of Jenin with Gujarat.
>Jenin was a factory of Hamas terrorists and suicide
>bombers. Does Aiyar wish to say Gujarat was similar? I
>can only sympathise when he compares Sharon and
>Narendra Modi. In his urge to condemn Modi, he has
>unwittingly given him a larger than life image.
>
>If the BJP-led government takes inspiration from
>Israel, what’s wrong? Israel has amalgamated people
>from different backgrounds into one classless,
>casteless society. Akshenazis (European Jews),
>Shepardis (Asian Jews), Baghdadis, Bene Israelis from
>India, Morroccan Jews, Iranian Jews have merged and
>devoted themselves to their national dream. Does it
>not offer inspiration? They have made the deserts of
>Palestine bloom. Their water conservation and
>ecological awareness is world class. Can this not
>inspire India?
>
>Aiyar concludes with a reference to the Oslo accord.
>Israel took a lead in Oslo. It resurrected Yaseer
>Arafat. It released hundreds of Palestinian
>terrorists. It allowed exiles to return to the West
>Bank and Gaza. What did Israel get in return?
>Intifada.
>
>Aiyar’s real motive is the destruction of Israel by
>demographic change. On the one hand, he talks of
>continuing massacres of Palestinians and, on the
>other, of the growth in Palestinian population and of
>his desire that it outgrows the Jews in Israel. This
>is a paradox only he can explain.
>
>The author is a former president of the Indo-Israeli
>Friendship Society
>
>
>
>URL:
>http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=
>31162

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