Shame Shame Shame on the National Catholic Weekly

A good twitter pal @lisagraas, although she is a devout Catholic and is completely closed to the idea of Reiki, achem (lol), sent me this article today. She'll be responding to it as well. But I just couldn't resist the urge to do so after reading about two paragraphs in.

My responses will be in red. All words in black are the actual printed article. (if you can even call it an article)
Two Peoples, One State
Commentary
RAYMOND A. SCHROTH | NOVEMBER 15, 2010
National Catholic Weekly

W hat began in September WHAT BEGAN AS SOON AS ALL THE ARAB STATES ATTACKED THE NEWLY REBIRTHED STATE OF ISRAEL IN 1948 as hope for a two-state solution AS THE ARABS OFFERED THEIR FAMOUS THREE NO'S AND TURNED DOWN THE UN'S OFFER OF TWO SOVEREIGN STATES, ONE FOR THE JEWS AND ONE FOR THE MUSLIMS between Israel and Palestine has fizzled. Palestinians will not negotiate while Israel builds settlements on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, which in international law are occupied territoryTOTALLY FALSE STATEMENT. NOWHERE IN INTERNATIONAL LAW DOES IT STATE THIS. THESE LANDS WERE TAKEN IN A DEFENSIVE WAR AND AS SUCH ARE NOT CONSIDERED OCCUPIED NOR ILLEGAL; Israel will not extend the “moratorium” on construction, during which Israel continued to build settlements and segregated highways and to demolish Palestinian homes.

The United States offered Israel concessions to renew the moratorium, but Mr. Netanyahu proposed a law demanding that all would-be Israeli citizens, including Israeli Arabs (20 percent of Israel’s population), swear allegiance to Israel specifically as a Jewish state—in effect, a forced commitment to beliefs they do not hold.IF THEY DO NOT HOLD A COMMITMENT TO ISRAEL WHERE THEY WILL LIVE WHY SHOULD THEY BE GIVEN CITIZENSHIP ESPECIALLY IN THE FACE OF VIOLENTLY DEMANDING THEIR OWN STATE WHERE THEY ARE ALSO REQUIRING IT BE JUDENREIN? Now NOW? AS IF IT HASN'T BEEN SINCE 1948, WELL ACTUALLY IT'S BEEN BEFORE WHEN THE MUSLIMS MURDERED ISRAELIS IN THEIR HOME TOWNS IN PALESTINE SIMPLY FOR BEING JEWS.Palestinians should consider alternatives. Should they unilaterally declare themselves a state and ask for U.S./U.N. recognition? Merge with Jordan? WHO HELD THE WEST BANK 1948-1967? HOW DID THEY GET THAT LAND? WHO HELD THE GAZA STRIP 1948-1967? HOW DID THEY GET THAT LAND?As the situation deteriorates, it is time for new ideas.

Hostility throughout the Arab world and within Israel mounts. Even if the West Bank and Gaza were to become a state, settlers already in place would refuse to budge. As Hanan Ashrawi ASHRAWI IS A TERRORIST WHO WORKED CLOSELY WITH ARAFAT TO MURDER JEWS- GUESS WHO ARAFAT IS RELATED TO?, a representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said to The Washington Post, “How can you have a two-state solution if you are eating up the land of the other state?”LAUGHABLE! BECAUSE IT REALLY NEEDS TO BE DIRECTED AT "HER PEOPLE"

Many Israelis, particularly in Tel Aviv, distracted by prosperity, seem not to realize that within a few years an Arab majority will emerge and “Greater Israel” (Israel, West Bank and Gaza) will not be Jewish. If Arabs are not given full citizenship rights, Israel will not be a democracy either.THIS AUTHOR HASN'T A CLUE WHAT THE DEFINITION OF DEMOCRACY IS. LET'S PLAY HIS GAME FOR 1 SECOND. HE'S SAYING SIMPLY BY NUMBERS THERE'LL BE MORE ARABS AND SOMEHOW THIS NEGATES DEMOCRACY. WELL I GUESS THAT WOULD BE CORRECT CONSIDERING THAT NONE OF THE MUSLIM STATES ARE DEMOCRACIES AND THEY ARE FILLED BY MAJORITY  BY ARABS/MUSLIMS. 


LET'S DISSECT THAT STATEMENT OF THE AUTHOR'S FURTHER. IF THERE WILL BE MORE MUSLIMS IN ISRAEL THAN JEWS AND SINCE EVERY CITIZEN HAS THE RIGHT TO VOTE IN ISRAEL AND RUN FOR THE KNESSET, AND YES THERE ARE MUSLIMS IN THE KNESSET (SAME AS US'S CONGRESS) THEN JUST HOW WOULD THERE NO LONGER BE A DEMOCRATIC ISRAELI STATE? 


OH I KNOW, BECAUSE NOW MUSLIMS WOULD TAKE OVER AND BECOME AN AUTHORITARIAN STATE, JUST LIKE THEY ALWAYS DO, EVIDENCED IN JORDAN, IRAN, EGYPT, SAUDI ARABIA ETC. ETC..

In this context, Israel must choose. It must either: (a) dismantle the settlements and return to the 1967 borders WHERE JORDAN BY FORCE ENSLAVED THE "PALESTINIANS" IN THE WEST BANK, EGYPT STOLE THE GAZA STRIP AND TOOK CONTROL OF THE "PALESTINIANS" THERE AND BOTH COUNTRIES RULED UNTIL 1967 WITH NOT ONE OUTCRY BY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AS OCCUPIED TERRITORIES. EVEN IN THE FACE OF MASS MURDERS COMMITTED BY THE KING OF JORDAN WHEN THE PEOPLE TRIED TO UPRISE. ; (b) try to remain in the occupied territory as a ruling minority, which is in effect apartheid CLEARLY THE AUTHOR DOESN'T KNOW WHAT APARTHEID IS, SINCE IN APARTEID THE BLACKS IN S. AFRICA HAD NO RIGHTS AND WERE FORCED TO LIVE SEPARATELY WHEREAS IN ISRAEL THEY ARE FULL CITIZENS AND CAN BE IN THE KNESSET; or (c) drive out the Arab population, which would be ethnic cleansing. OH MR. AUTHOR, YOU MEAN LIKE WHAT THE "PALESTINIANS" ARE DOING TO THE JEWS IN THE WEST BANK AND GAZA, DEMANDING NO JEWS BE ALLOWED TO LIVE THERE EVER!

But Israelis might also consider an alternative, one with roots in history and recently developed by Jewish, American and Palestinian intellectuals: a one-state solution.MR. AUTHOR, PICK ONE: IS IT HISTORY OR RECENT DEVELOPMENTS. AND IF YOU CHOOSE HISTORY CLEARLY YOU'RE SCREWED BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE AN OUNCE OF KNOWLEDGE IN THIS AREA.


A nation state built around one religion might have worked in the unique, post-Holocaust context of the years after World War II; but today Israelis must ask, Has the idea of an ethnic state become an anachronism? THIS AUTHOR CLEARLY DOESN'T KNOW WORLD HISTORY. SO I ASK HIM TO PLEASE TELL US ALL JUST WHEN IRAN BECAME IRAN? WHAT DOES THE WORD IRAN MEAN? WHEN DID JORDAN BECOME JORDAN? PLEASE NAME ALL THE ISLAMIC STATES 0 YOU KNOW THE ONES THAT ARE BUILT AROUND ONE RELIGION POST HOLOCAUST. YES MR. AUTHOR I TOO ASK DOES THE IDEA OF AN "ETHNIC STATE BECOME AN ANACHRONISM?"Furthermore, a pre-historical HOW IS ANYTHING PRE-HISTORICAL. THERE IS NO SUCH THING. PRE HISTORY? promise to Abraham of a land for his descendants does not give any 21st-century ethnic or religious group a legal right in modern international law MR. AUTHOR, PLEASE DO TELL US WHAT THE INTERNATIONAL LAW SAYS. I DARE YOU. to a particular territory.

Once there was a “Christian Europe.” But today’s great Western cities—London, New York, Paris, Geneva—teem with Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus: people of every land and color. Israel’s self-definition as a one-religion state sealed off by a 28-foot-high wall, a network of settlements and segregated highways, projects an image that is disturbing to many, including younger generations of American Jews alienated by Israel’s policies. Palestine has always had a multi-ethnic identity; and early Zionists, including Hannah Arendt and Martin Buber, saw Palestine as a spiritual center promoting Jewish culture, not as a nation state. AND GEORGE SOROS COLLABORATED WITH THE NAZI'S. THIS IS PROOF OF WHAT DEAR AUTHOR???

A plan for a single-state solution might include the following: (1) With Belgium and Switzerland as models, a new constitution would set up either a binational state or one unified with a one-person-one-vote structure. (2) With its combined army and police forces, the more secure state of Israel-Palestine would join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. (3) A law of return would apply in some way to both Jews and Arabs. WHERE IS THE LAW OF RETURN FOR THE THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF JEWS FORCED FROM THEIR LAND IN ARABIA WHERE THEY LIVED FOR CENTURIES?(4) A new school curriculum would teach accurate history to both peoples.AGREED, BECAUSE I HAVE IN MY HAND THE TEXTBOOK VERBIAGE FROM "PALESTINIAN TERRORITORIES" DEGRADING THE LIVES OF JEWS AND WE ALSO HAVE THE BOOKS FROM ISRAELI'S SHOWING MULTICULTURALISM AND ACCEPTANCE. SO YES LET'S DO THIS MR. AUTHOR. (5) A truth and reconciliation commission would be set up.

Look at the map. Erase the lines setting off the West Bank and Gaza; imagine highways connecting the whole territory with Jerusalem ACTUALLY MR. AUTHOR UNTIL 2000 WHEN THE MUSLIMS STARTED A SECOND INTEFADA THERE WAS NO WALL AND ALL AREAS WERE EASILY ACCESSIBLE AT ALL TIMES, the shared capital NEVER!. Every citizen has the same right to voteALREADY DO, the same access to water, land, education, marriage, health care, employment, property, and freedom of speech and religionTHIS ALREADY EXISTS IN ISRAEL, THE WEST BANK AND IT DID IN GAZA UNTIL IT WAS MADE JUDENREIN BY THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT AND HANDED OVER IN PEACE NEGOTIATIONS TO THE "PALESTINIANS" WHERE ONLY ISLAMIC WORSHIP IS ALLOWED, WHERE CHRISTIANS CANNOT PEACEFULLY EXIST LET ALONE JEWS. ISRAEL GIVES WATER AND EDUCATION, FREE HEALTHCARE TO EVERY ARAB/MUSLIM. UNDER JORDANIAN AND EGYPTIAN RULE PLEASE NAME ME ONE UNIVERSITY THAT EXISTED. THEN PLEASE NAME THE UNIVERSITIES THAT CAME AFTER 1967 AND WITH ISRAELI MONEY MR. AUTHOR. ISRAEL BUILT THE SEWER SYSTEM IN THE "TERRITORIES" AND GAVE ALL PEOPLE THE RIGHT TO WORSHIP. UNDER JORDANIAN RULE, EAST JERUSALEM WAS OFF LIMITS TO JEWS. THE JORDANIANS USES OUR HOLY SITES AS SEWERS AND GARBAGE DUMPS. THE JORDANIANS TOOK JEWISH HEADSTONES AND USED THEM TO PAVE THE STREETS. . Walls disappear. Settlements may remain, but Palestinians will build beside them. An emerging leadership class will shepherd Israel-Palestine into a peaceful future. The Jews are a gifted, energetic people. Even if in the future they become a numerical minority in Israel-Palestine, they will still demonstrate leadership in the new Promised Land.

About 25 years ago, when I was swimming in the Dead Sea, two young men who saw my camera asked me to take their picture. As I wrote down their address to send them the shot, I couldn’t help asking, “Are you Israelis or Arabs?”

They replied: “What difference does it make? We are all brothers.” Where are they now?

Raymond A. Schroth, S.J., is an associate editor of America.


video Hat Tip @wisdomforwomen on twitter