Catholics have a pope. If he tells them all to wear blue shirts you will hear about it. You will probably even see a few people wearing blue shirts. Jews have not had any central leader since the temple was destroyed. There are community leaders all over the place and influential organisations. Israel's Chief Rabbinate is generally regarded as the highest governing body, though many people in other countries disagree. If they tell everybody to wear blue shirts you might hear about it. I'm not sure how many people would actually do it. Muslims have different leaders in different countries. Iran has their ayatollah but he is mostly a political leader. He does not hold much sway outside of Iran. If he told everybody to wear blue shirts you would probably never hear about it and it is even less likely you would see anybody do it.
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Letters To Friends
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5 comments:
"The situation in Palestine today is about land, not religion. Their argument is that we stole their land, even though Israelis were here thousands of years ago."
The question is: Which Israelis? Do people have the right and/or responsibility to correct every historical injustice, and is there ever a statute of limitations?
Suppose all the Tibetans were finally driven out of Tibet. Would their descendants still have the right to go back 1000 years later and declare the state null and void, even though the contemporary Chinese won't have done anything to the contemporary Tibetans?
It's a slippery slope to try to right the wrongs of history - and there are many. Australia can never give back what was taken from the Aborigines because the perpetrators are dead and so are the victims. The US can never pay back the slaves because the slaves are dead and so are the slave owners. The suggestion that the descendants (biological and economic) of slave owners should pay reparations to the descendants of slaves may sound like a nice Hollywood ending but it's an argument of convenience that amounts to present-day people who did nothing wrong compensating present-day people who were never wronged.
You're right that it's about land, but it seems to me that it's also about correcting history, and THAT has caused far more wars than religion and politics put together. So many conflicts come down to "Your ancestor kicked my ancestor's dog 1500 years ago and we're going to keep picking at that scab every generation." Sometimes the best thing to do is to forgive the sins of the past and start fresh - but perhaps that's the Christian in me speaking.
In any case, the time for that conversation with regard to Israel and Palestine was 1948. We have new grievances now, and the cycle continues.
"I've lived peacefully amongst Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, Druze, Communists, Arabs, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaner, Han, Hispanics, Mojave and other American Indians, Dena'ina, Eskimos and other Alaskan Natives, Africans, Asians, Americans, Europeans, intellectuals, illiterates, liberals, conservatives, young, old, rich, poor, homosexuals, heterosexuals, snobs, rednecks, men, women. Me too. The one thing I have learned is that, the more differences we have, the more we are the same. Most people just want to quietly live their lives, wherever in the world they happen to be located, and whichever religion, philosophy or political idealogy they happen to subscribe to. I do believe that one day the differences will all fall away, and people will be able to live peacefully. Until then, the grievances will continue.
You say Israel is a beacon of liberalism surrounded by Arab bullies, but how many female prime ministers has it had? Only one.
You say gays have all the same rights in Israel, but they can't get married.
You say Israel offers Palestine its freedom, but Israel has never agreed to all of Palestine's demands.
You say Palestinians are a threat to Israel, but what about Israelis who are a threat to Palestine?
You say Islam does not support terrorists anymore than christians support child abuse, but christians do support child abuse.
I don't think it's possible to correct every historical injustice. Is there a statute of limitations? That's a good question. I suppose it depends on the crime.
The Tibet example doesn't really work unless the British controlled Tibet and then gave it back to the people and the Chinese then called for the complete destruction of Tibet.
I don't think there's much anybody can do about the British settlers killing indigenous Australians a few hundred years ago, but there are still people alive who were taken away from their families by the state. The Aborigines still have a good claim on that.
American slavery ended a long time ago, but the after effects of slavery affected black Americans for many generations. It's still a very racist country. Throwing money at people won't change that.
Israel and Palestine could have settled so many issues in '48 but they didn't. Because of '48 there was '67. Because of '67 there was '73. Because of '73 there was '82. Because the 2000 summit failed there was more violence. All these invasions of Israel are more about avenging history than correcting it. It's also a lot easier to blame all your problems on people who are different than looking at yourself.
And I'm sure you know where your "Christian ethic" of forgiving came from.
Jo, in that sense I agree that most people are the same. We're very different in many other ways. And what you say sounds far more Jewish than atheist.
Alex, I doubt I ever called Israel a beacon of anything. But it's had 1 female PM out of 13. That's not a bad ratio. Britain has had something like 1 in 54. How many of your country's 43 presidents have been women? How many female Arab PMs have there been?
Homosexuals cannot marry in Israel. Nor can anybody of mixed religions. Israel has very strict marriage laws. But it also recognises any legal marriage performed abroad, homosexual or otherwise. A homosexual couple married in South Afrika have the same rights as a heterosexual couple married in Cyprus.
Israel has never agreed to all of Palestine's demands because one demand has usually been the complete destruction of Israel.
I've never heard of a single Israeli strapping on a bomb and blowing up Palestinian children.
I said that Christianity doesn't support child abuse. Obviously a small minority of Christians do. But that shouldn't condemn the entire religion or all religions.
I say nuke the whole region and let God clean up the mess.
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