An Invented People Despite Some Doubters

An Invented People Despite Some Doubters



Some conservatives, most notably Elliot Abrams, have criticized Newt Gingrich’s observation that the Palestinians are an invented people by saying that even if they are — (and there is no real question but that they are) — they’ve been around long enough (50 years, or since the creation of the PLO in 1964) so that we need to deal with that fact — not. What makes anyone think this is a people even today? Last spring I spoke at Brooklyn College. My speech was attended and then obstructed by a sizeable contingent from the Brooklyn College “Palestinian Club” — at least fifty people, all ethnic Arabs claiming to be Palestinians. During my talk I referred to the Palestinian death cult, its admiration for Hitler, its determination to wipe the Jewish state from the face of the earth, its eagerness to kill any Jew and to blow up its own children in the process. I said it was a “sick, sick culture.” But when the members of the so-called Palestinian Club erupted at me, what they said was “Why do you want to lynch all Muslims?” (This is on video available on YouTube or on our site — under “Videos” — for anyone who wants to check. It comes in the Q&A period.) This does not sound like a nationalist movement.

But the evidence is that Palestinians are a political fiction for a movement whose organizing desire is the destruction of the Jewish state and expulsion of the Jews is far stronger than this small incident. In 1948, 80% of the so-called “Palestine Mandate” had been given to the Hashemite minority in control of Jordan. The Jews were given half of the remaining 20% and the Arabs the other half. A nationalist movement would surely have accepted the partition and then laid claim to the 80% controlled by the Hashemites in Jordan. No such thing happened. Instead the Arab states including Jordan attacked the Jewish state with the intention of destroying it.

[PsyOps (Premo)]

This whole thing is pretty troubling to me. Aren’t Americans an invented people? They didn’t exist before – say – 1776. I’m sure there was a time when the British didn’t exist, or Germans… Don’t a ‘people’ get to establish themselves at some point? And some cultures or ‘people’ die out. Mesopotamians don’t exist anymore. I’m certain some native-American (Indian if you prefer) have died out because of the European theft of this land.

Maybe I’m over-simplifying this but, do we really live in a world where “I’ve got mine, you’re not allowed to have yours”?

[UNA]

Wirelessly posted

Originally Posted by PsyOps

This whole thing is pretty troubling to me. Aren’t Americans an invented people? They didn’t exist before – say – 1776. I’m sure there was a time when the British didn’t exist, or Germans… Don’t a ‘people’ get to establish themselves at some point? And some cultures or ‘people’ die out. Mesopotamians don’t exist anymore. I’m certain some native-American (Indian if you prefer) have died out because of the European theft of this land.

Maybe I’m over-simplifying this but, do we really live in a world where “I’ve got mine, you’re not allowed to have yours”?

Well said

My husband and I were discussing this the other day, if they aren't 'a people' then neither are Americans. Or is it because we've been around longer?

Originally Posted by PsyOps

Maybe I’m over-simplifying this but, do we really live in a world where “I’ve got mine, you’re not allowed to have yours”?

I think you missed the point

the Palestinian problem was invented by Arabs after the mandate post WWI

no one really wanted to live there EXCEPT the Jews ..... sure some Arabs were living in tents, but the land was largely unpopulated ..... the Jews came back tuned the desert into something livable


as it was pointed out in a post in the Monday Morning Thread ... Jordan was where the Arabs were supposed to live, if they did not want live in Israel w/Jews

I also posted a video in the last couple of weeks

[PsyOps (Premo)]

Originally Posted by EmptyTimCup

I think you missed the point

the Palestinian problem was invented by Arabs after the mandate post WWI

no one really wanted to live there EXCEPT the Jews ..... sure some Arabs were living in tents, but the land was largely unpopulated ..... the Jews came back tuned the desert into something livable


as it was pointed out in a post in the Monday Morning Thread ... Jordan was where the Arabs were supposed to live, if they did not want live in Israel w/Jews

I also posted a video in the last couple of weeks

My understanding of the Israeli/Palestinian problem goes back thousands of years. They were formerly known as the Philitines, who occupied the cities of Gaza, Askelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath in the land of Canaan. The two factions go back to when the people split into two kingdoms: The Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah. Judah being the people we now refer to as the Palestinians.

[SamSpade]

Originally Posted by PsyOps

Judah being the people we now refer to as the Palestinians.

Actually, Judah would more properly be the people we call "Jews" - the name itself is derived from it. The kingdom of Israel pretty much abandoned God and intermarried with the locals and were the ancestors of the hated people later called Samaritans.

I thought it all went back to


Abraham - one son Founder if Israelite's the others Decedents the Philistines


whom Saul should have wiped out in latter years

[Gilligan (Premo)]

Originally Posted by PsyOps

This whole thing is pretty troubling to me. Aren’t Americans an invented people? They didn’t exist before – say – 1776. I’m sure there was a time when the British didn’t exist, or Germans… Don’t a ‘people’ get to establish themselves at some point? And some cultures or ‘people’ die out. Mesopotamians don’t exist anymore. I’m certain some native-American (Indian if you prefer) have died out because of the European theft of this land.

Maybe I’m over-simplifying this but, do we really live in a world where “I’ve got mine, you’re not allowed to have yours”?

The problem with your attempt to create an analogy above is that those who established this country had vast nearly-empty space within which to to attempt it, pushing out of the way very much smaller numbers of less developed peoples in the process. By comparison, the Palestinians, Israelis and to some extent other Arab countries are all squabbling over the same postage-stamp-sized bit of dirt that simply isn't big enough to accomodate all of them in the manner they wish.