Israel

Israel At War Watch: Richard Cohen – “Israel Itself is a MISTAKE”

July 18, 2006 /

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Washington Post: Richard Cohen – Hunker Down With History

The greatest mistake Israel could make at the moment is to forget that Israel itself is a mistake. It is an honest mistake, a well-intentioned mistake, a mistake for which no one is culpable, but the idea of creating a nation of European Jews in an area of Arab Muslims (and some Christians) has produced a century of warfare and terrorism of the sort we are seeing now. Israel fights Hezbollah in the north and Hamas in the south, but its most formidable enemy is history itself.

Liberally DEFICIENT neural thought from the LEFT.

Cohen does not know or UNDERSTAND history, does he? He does not answer the question,

Does Israel have the “RIGHT” to exist?

What say you, Richard Cohen?

Blogosphere:

Expose the Left

Stop The ACLU: Cohen: Israel Is A Mistake

So there you have you it, straight from American media’s mouth, it is the creation of Israel itself that has created terrorism. That is where the blame lies in the mind of Richard Cohen. He doesn’t blame the terrorists, he blames the creation of Israel. Sickening.

Hot Air

Iowa Voice

Kesher Talk

Atlass Shrugs

No doubt Mr. Cohen, and his editors need to hear from you, badly. You can them contact here as well.

Captain Ed has a historical perspective: You Are A Fluke Of The Universe …

Jews have lived in the area for thousands of years. The Romans, the Ottomans, and finally the British ruled them as their numbers waxed and waned, but the area has always been home to the Jews. In the late 19th century, the Zionists began buying land from Arab owners and resettling in the harsh environment of the Trans-Jordan. Arabs at that time were only too glad to sell them what looked like worthless land for far more than its market value. By the time World War I loomed at the Ottoman Empire breathed its last, the Jews had started to tame the land and expand their settlements. Britain recognized this during World War I — not World War II — and obtained a mandate from the League of Nations to administer a Jewish homeland in the Trans-Jordan.

The Holocaust did not create Israel. The Jewish homeland had existed for two decades prior to it, but Arabists in the British government did not make it easy for Jews to emigrate to the new homeland, fearing the wrath of the Arabs in the area. Only three years after the end of World War II did Israel win its independence from the British mandate by a United Nations that opposed such mandates in any case, seeing them (rightly) as a rationalization for colonialism.
The Balfour Declaration in 1917 declared the intent of the British government to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. We should remember that the British intended that two homelands be established in Palestine, one for the Jew and one for the Palestinians — and that the demarcation was supposed to be the Jordan River. The Hashemites stole a march on the British and declared an independent kingdom in what is now Jordan, leaving the British with a much-reduced spot of land for the two homelands.

One of the best histories of the region in the 20th century is A Peace To End All Peace by David Fromkin. It’s always on my sidebar, as it’s a must-read for anyone wishing to understand the politics of the Middle East.

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7 Comments

  • Michael Bindner

    July 18, 2006 at 12:07 pm

    Cohen was saying that any action which results in more occupation is likely a mistake, since Hezbollah is a movement, not just a group. Unless you are willing to go genocidal, hunkering down may be the best option. Implicit in his analysis is the acceptance of a two state solution, which the election Hamas has rendered impossible. (If Hamas were thinking, it would throw down its arms and demand annexation of the territories and full Israeli citizenship. It would be the Zionist’s worst nightmare).

    The answer is to encourage a stable single Arab state under the Hashemite’s (Jordan, N. Israel, West Bank, Syria, Lebanon and possibly Saudi). The other may be peace. Alot of ya’ll in the conservative movement seem to be seeking the reestablishment of the Temple. Do you really think God will do that, given what the Torah says about treating the alien with justice, as long as Muslims and Christians in Israel and the territories are mistreated? Especially given that the Coptic Church in Eritrea holds the Ark of the Covenant? They at least have to be a lot nicer to the Catholic and Orthodox Churches than they have been.

  • Shaun

    July 23, 2006 at 10:53 am

    Isreal has the right to exist. But at the same time the palestinians should not have had their land taken away without their consent.The blame lies on the countries who created isreal without the consent of people who lived their.
    Yes according to biblical history god promised them the promiseland. But palestinians have a faith also. And its islam. In the koran god says that the jews broke the covenent with god when they refused jesus’s techings and tried to kill him. Then god goes on to say that christians too broke a covenant when they began to worship idols. Which was forbbiden according the words of jesus. Jesus says in the bible that he is not god and that he looks to god for guidence. Then in the koran god goes on to address the “people of the Ketab”(bible) not to say trinity for god is 1 and is the “unique force”(ALLAH) which is all around us all and is responsible for the unexplainable. In the hadiths of the prophet muhhamed allah tells muhhamed that jews and christians will be forgiven as long as they believe in god not as a figure but as the unique and supreme being. And so long as they dont hold a grudge against god.

  • Flap

    July 23, 2006 at 12:13 pm

    Shaun,

    Go back and re-read the history of Israel. The United Nations established Israel and the Arab states would not agree on any plan.

    Either Israel has a right to exist or not.

    You hedge your bets but my guess is your real answer is NO.