Those Who Were Already Here
Somewhere -- it may have been in the very interesting documentary "Ford Taxi" -- a Palestinian says that before the establishment of Israel, the Zionists urging Jews elsewhere to migrate to the Holy Land gave the strong impression that the area was totally unpopulated, with no present-day occupants ready to resist.
Suddenly in that remark I thought I saw why such a strong affinity with Israel exists on the part of so many U.S. citizens, over and above the admiration for Jews and their many great achievements, and over and above the huge and natural sympathy for them because of the numerous debased German actions in the 1930's and '40's.
Prior to this I had been thinking that the support of the Israelis accompanied by the contrasting strong disdain for the Palestinians was best expressed by the epithet "sand niggers," as often applied to Arabs. I theorized that the Palestinians are analogous in many American minds with the frequently disdained descendants (I am one) of the slaves brought over from Africa. But I now think that the analogy is much better made between the Palestinians and the original inhabitants of the Americas.
After World War 2 Jewish immigrants from many places arrived in Palestine, only to discover that they had been misled, and there were in fact many thousands of Arabs already occupying the former British protectorate in and around Jerusalem. These Arabs inconveniently held titles to the lands that supposedly were just waiting to be claimed and exploited by the immigrants.
Similarly, a few centuries ago, numerous tribes were were found living all over the vast lands that the newly arrived European "settlers" in the Americas saw as really belonging to themselves. Never mind that, while, save for a wandering Viking or two, none of the rude ancestors of these colonists had imagined that such lands even existed, the ancestors of those who were already present had been roving over the two continents for thousands of years. And while those European ancestors had been busy despoiling their part of one hemisphere, the Chippewa and so forth had been the best kind of stewards of the other hemisphere, by avoiding overpopulation and by living on the land with the lightest of touches.
Just as there can be no thought in the U.S. of returning much of that land to the tribes, so there is little if any acceptance in Israel of the "right of return" for Palestinians. The strong arm creates the moral imperative.
With the European nations having shed their colonies in Asia and Africa by the boatload following World War 2, this situation of the continuing indigenees seems to be still alive only in the Americas and Israel, and in spite of everything the ghosts of those original inhabitants still strongly inhabit the American mind, despite the payoff of more than 200 gambling casinos. That may best explain why the U.S. stands virtually alone as Israel's supporter and protector, seeing as how the moral capital that had been afforded to the Israelis because of the Nazis seems to have largely evaporated elsewhere.
Suddenly in that remark I thought I saw why such a strong affinity with Israel exists on the part of so many U.S. citizens, over and above the admiration for Jews and their many great achievements, and over and above the huge and natural sympathy for them because of the numerous debased German actions in the 1930's and '40's.
Prior to this I had been thinking that the support of the Israelis accompanied by the contrasting strong disdain for the Palestinians was best expressed by the epithet "sand niggers," as often applied to Arabs. I theorized that the Palestinians are analogous in many American minds with the frequently disdained descendants (I am one) of the slaves brought over from Africa. But I now think that the analogy is much better made between the Palestinians and the original inhabitants of the Americas.
After World War 2 Jewish immigrants from many places arrived in Palestine, only to discover that they had been misled, and there were in fact many thousands of Arabs already occupying the former British protectorate in and around Jerusalem. These Arabs inconveniently held titles to the lands that supposedly were just waiting to be claimed and exploited by the immigrants.
Similarly, a few centuries ago, numerous tribes were were found living all over the vast lands that the newly arrived European "settlers" in the Americas saw as really belonging to themselves. Never mind that, while, save for a wandering Viking or two, none of the rude ancestors of these colonists had imagined that such lands even existed, the ancestors of those who were already present had been roving over the two continents for thousands of years. And while those European ancestors had been busy despoiling their part of one hemisphere, the Chippewa and so forth had been the best kind of stewards of the other hemisphere, by avoiding overpopulation and by living on the land with the lightest of touches.
Just as there can be no thought in the U.S. of returning much of that land to the tribes, so there is little if any acceptance in Israel of the "right of return" for Palestinians. The strong arm creates the moral imperative.
With the European nations having shed their colonies in Asia and Africa by the boatload following World War 2, this situation of the continuing indigenees seems to be still alive only in the Americas and Israel, and in spite of everything the ghosts of those original inhabitants still strongly inhabit the American mind, despite the payoff of more than 200 gambling casinos. That may best explain why the U.S. stands virtually alone as Israel's supporter and protector, seeing as how the moral capital that had been afforded to the Israelis because of the Nazis seems to have largely evaporated elsewhere.
posted by Carl (aka Sofarsogoo) | 7:23 AM
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