Do you believe colonialism is right?
I believe it is the ultimate terrorism and colonialists are terrorists. Israel is the colonial outpost of the dominant West -- created by force of guns masquerading under UN legitimacy.
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Developereo : I will admit that I am torn regarding this part. Yes, the jewish population from across the world came in and displaced muslims to form present day Israel. And no, I don't think that was right. But note the following:
1) Did they have any choice at the time? You know what was happening to them across Europe. If those persecuted people were given a chance to form a state of their own in the lands their forefathers were thrown out of, wouldn't they grab the offer with both hands?
2) Weren't Jewish people thrown out of the very same region millenia ago? Now I know that what happened so long ago shou;d not generally matter; however, it does in this case, given the unique history of the jewish people. Let me clarify. There have been plenty of migrations (forced or otherwise) in human history, in Europe and the Indian subcontinent and everywhere else. But all those migrants assimilated into the new lands. But the Jewish people were always outcasts, living on the peripheries of cities, in ghettoes, never allowed to become one with the mainstream. So for these two millenia or more, they always retained their identity, which was tied to their expulsion from Israel. From their POV, they were simply going back to where they were thrown out of.
3) However, there were non Jewish people living in that region in the 20th century, and that is where I am torn. Yes, the muslims in those regions should not have been displaced. But help me out here - from the POV of the Jews fleeing persecution in the 1940s, what was the alternative?
4) Now the existence of Israel is a reality. Is there any point in continuing to think of them as colonialists? Do you think that they would simply disband their state and scatter across the globe again? Since that's not going to happen, isn't the next best option for the jews and muslims to live in peace, either as one or as two states, with equal rights for all? Do you think everybody in the USA would go back to where they came from and give the land back to the native Americans? That was colonialism as well, and an entire continent was displaced or wiped out to form USA and Canada. Why are you not so passionate in advocating the cause of the natives in that case? Could it be because they are not muslims?
Note that in all these points, I am not trying to justify the fact that Palestinians have been made homeless. It should not have happened. My point is that it is a reality now, and that instead of continuing to view Israelis as colonialists (by which token, Americans, Canadians, Australians would all be colonialists who do not deserve to be there), you ought to think of how to live peacefully in future. As of now, Hamas and several muslim countries do not accept Israel's right to exist. With that attitude, there is not going to be peace in that region - because whether they want to accept it or not, Israel exists. I don't really know what the best solution is, and I am fully aware of the injusties suffered by the Palestinians due to the creation of Israel. But what I do know is that both will have to learn to live with each other, and as of today, only one side is denying the other's right to exist.
