Thursday, March 24, 2005
Here's something that needs a thorough fisking by someone qualified to do so (and with the time to do so). The PCUSA has a collection of resource sheets to advise people of some of the background behind the Israeli-Palestinian issues.
Israel and Palestine Resource Sheets
My emailer writes:
Take a deep breath, or maybe a Valium before reading them. You will notice, for example, that the Christians maintain an "unbroked presence" while after Bar Cochba there was a "widespread expulsion" and "few Jews continued to live in that geographical area." Meanwhile on the sheet "Who are the Palestinians" the lies get worse. The sheet called "Who are the Israelis" begins with the year 1000 BCE. The Sheet "Who are the Palestinians" begins "the earliest human remains date to 600,000 BC. Between 1300 and 931 BC.... the Hebrew tribes migrated into Canaan." That's the end of Jewish history on this sheet, except that after "the population became predominantly Arab and Islamic by the end of the seventh century (no Arab conquest, the population simply "became" Islamic) "some assert that this population may also have included Jews remining in the land, as well as Jews who converted to Christianity, or, at a later time, to Islam."
It's not a surprise that Jewish/Presbyterian relations are strained. While these sheets hide behind an impartially sourced veneer, from the quick flip-through I've taken, what they really contain is a clear agenda to delegitimize the State of Israel. This is propaganda to justify the PCUSA Board's politics. Little more.
So, have you seen we're headed for another round of Somerville divestment squabbling -- this time over a proposed ballot measure?
The crazy thing is that there are literally only 10-20 people pushing this whole process (I get the impression that the Islamic Center doesn't want any part of it) but it's going to be a permanent feature of our lives, apparently. And it's only a matter of time before every other group decides that the city government is a useful PR vehicle for their ethnic conflict of choice.
It's too bad -- I really do like living here. Go Highlanders!
I am no expert on house demolitions. Yet reading the sheet I learn that it deals with houses built without permits.
When the civil regulations requires licensing building, the eventual means of enforcement is to demolish the unlawful structure. This is applied to illegal building by Jews within Israel too
JSinger, Yeah, I saw that on the front of the Jewish Advocate. Made it sound pretty lame this time around. They're out there. Never be getting rid of 'em completely, unfortunately.