Windbender

1/15/2005 2:06:08 PM

Iraqis will vote here in Nashville, Tennessee, while Iraqis in almost half of Iraq may not be safe enough to vote at all. Add to that the fact that the slate of candidates being proposed are not identified out of fear of being killed and that any identification of platform is wholly absent, along with any real campaigning, and what all this adds up to is a sham election intended to simply meet a deadline on which the Administration has hung its hat.

We may all see peace in Palestine before we see peace in Iraq, thanks to U.S. Foreign Policy as implemented by our President.

barrashee

1/14/2005 11:36:07 PM

Does the free and fair election of a new Palestinian leader mean that Iraq will NOT be the first Arab contry to enjoy a democratic nation wide election? Is so, Arafat's death has trumped Bush's plans.

LivingEZ123

1/14/2005 6:37:27 PM

Before WWI the Ottoman Empire (Muslim) invited Jews to settle in its Palestinian province (which had its capital in Syria). After Turkeys defeat in WWI the empire was broken up and Britain ruled the territory called Palestine. All people living in the territory, Jews, Muslims and Christians were called Palestinians. The term Palestinian was applied to Jews until Israel won independence. Today Muslim’s, Christians, Jews, Druze, Bahai, etc. who are citizen of Israel are called Israelis. Israeli is a nationality, Jewish is a religion. The distinction holds true in Israel as it does in the United States.
Most of the territory formally called Palestine is now called Jordan. Most Jordanians are “Palestinians”. The Monarchy did not originate in “Palestine” and was imposed by the British. Although Islam is dominant Christianity is legal in Jordan. Most Christian have been driven out of the West Bank as a result of Muslim terrorism.

windbender

1/13/2005 8:35:17 PM

idbc - The answers to your question about whether or not there are any Jewish Palestinians depends on what you consider Palestine. If you mean Israel, sure. If you are asking if there are Jews who live in the areas where the Palestinian refugees live (the West Bank and Gaza), yes and no.

There are Jews who live in settlements in the West Bank, for example, who do not consider themselves to be Zionist Occupiers. Bay and large, the larger non-Jewish Palestinian population in this area would disagree. It's why they send guys with machine guns in the middle of the night and shoot women and children in the head when they drive by. Sort of the local twist on the welcome wagon, you might say.

Abu Mazen may well help put an end to this kind of crazy business so that Sharon may turn these settlements over to the Palestinians in the area and a real peace between Israel and this particular enemy be achieved.

Of course that will still leave Hizbulah, the Syrians, ...the list is quite long.

idbc

1/13/2005 1:08:38 PM

Does anyone know the demographics of Palestine ?

Are there any Palesintians who are Jewish and not considered to be Zionist Occupiers ?

Are the any Palesitnians who are christian and not considered to be Crusaders ?

Was there any of them running for office ?

If as some Muslims claim that the struggle for Palestine is a national issue and not a Muslim or religious issue, how many non-Muslims are in the PLO ?

windbender

1/11/2005 6:51:26 PM

Every step is a step closer. This brings us several.

Merlock

1/8/2005 9:56:44 AM

While I agree with Mr. LeVine's main thesis, I disagree somewhat with his opinion of tomorrow (Sunday's) election; I think it does have the possibility to yield a free Palestinian state sooner than he anticipates. I don't know for sure, but I pray it does.