dave (05/06/83)
I beg to differ with Martin Taylor over the Arab-Jewish question. The problem was NOT caused by Jews coming in and throwing the Arabs out of their land, as you seem to suggest. Given the population of Palestine in the 1920's or 1940's, or 1880's, or whenever you want to start, there was plenty of room for everybody. The Arabs weren't ruling themselves at the time - Palestine was under Turkish, then British, control. It was proposed to set up two (yes, TWO) states, one Arab, one Jewish. An Arab state was set up - it is called Jordan. The problem was caused because certain Arabs did not like the idea of an independent Jewish state. Jews may have gotten along in Arab countries before that time, but it was always as second-class citizens. And there was much co-operation between Arabs and Nazis, both before and after World War II. (The case of the Grand Mufti or Jerusalem, a good friend of Hitler, is one example.) We hear talk today of setting up a "Palestinian state" on the West Bank. If that is what they wanted, they could have had it in 1948. They could even have had it in May 1966. But it's too late now. Of the Arabs who were displaced in the 1948 war, and became refugees, a very large number left their homes because they were told to - BY THE ARAB LEADERS! You see, it made much more sense to have them out of the way while the joint Arab armies rolled across and got rid of all the Jews. Unfortunately for them, it didn't quite turn out that way. Israel has absorbed hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees, from Arab countries and elsewhere. Look at India and Pakistan. If the Arabs who are in refugee camps, or who are on Israeli territory, don't like it, let them go to one of the 22 Arab countries. We only have one. Still Jewish and still Zionist, Dave Sherman Toronto