Yes, there was a lot of ethnic cleansing in the aftermath of World War II. I dont dispute that in the formation of Israel, the Israelis displaced (and I mean no euphemism there) hundreds of thousands of Arabs. The issue here is how many of these expulsions there were, and how they took place in a time of many population exchanges that matched a redrawing of borders all over the world. Each individual expulsion is a tragedy; and to examine one, we have to look at the context in which it happened to see what the best solution is. Here are countries that also expelled minority populations at the time in order to create a sovereign state with a nationalist majority: Poland (Jews, Germans) Czechoslovakia (Germans, Hungarians) Iraq (Jews) Algeria (Jews, French) Jordan-occupied Palestine (Jews) Soviet Union (Poles, Chechens, Tatars, Germans) India (Muslims) Pakistan (Hindus) Dominican Republic (Haitians) Each of these involved hundreds of thousands of people, and in some cases, millions. Many lost their lives. Refugees were forced to settle in new countries they didnt know. Many people suffered, including the Jews expelled from Europe and Arab countries and taken into Israel without a penny to their name. And there have been more recent cases: Cyprus (Greeks) Croatia (Serbs) Bosnia (Muslims) Kosovo (Serbs, after lots of persecution of Kosovars) Quebec (Anglophones) Indonesia (Chinese) Latvia (Russians) Does this mean that expulsions are just? Does this mean that Israel is a good country for doing this? No, and no. But it does mean that proving that Israel has done was so many other countries have done through recent history, and done without attracting the notice of people at the time (much less 60 years later), simply proves what Jews have struggled to prove for centuries. We are no better or worse than anyone else at defending ourselves and seeking a land where we can live as our own nation, according to the types of nationalism and citizenship that exist in nearly every country and which previously left no place for us in the Arab- and European-Christian-majority countries where Jews lived. So congratulations, youve proven an historical event happened. The question is: what is exceptional?
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 04:19:24 +0000
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