From: bc744@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Mark Ira Kaufman)
Subject: WILL THIS CLEAR IT UP, BRENDAN?
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, (USA)
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 92 16:12:06 GMT


   Since my explanation of a statment made about Palestine has been
ignored by you, I put your name on this post, in the hope that you
might actually read it.
   I was in error when I claimed that Palestine did not include any
part of Israel.  It was not as big an error as the one you continue
to make when you claim that no part of Jordan was ever Palestine. It
is regarded by most non-Israel-hating historians that what we regard
today as Jordan contains land that was once Palestine.  This part of
Jordan that was Palestine covers an area that is larger than ALL of
Israel.
   Another manner in which you toss aside historical fact is that 
the Palestinians had an opportunity to have their own state in the
region.  And they turned it down!  The United Nations Partition Plan
of 1947, the plan that created the State of Israel, also partitioned
land that was to have been a Palestinian state.  The area that was 
to be under Arab sovereignty covered an area far more vast than the
territories that are currently in dispute.  In 1948, when the United
Nations voted on the plan that would have given the world two brand
new nations, the Arabs rejected the plan, and instead cose to attack 
the new Jewish State.  Now that the Jews have developed the region,
the Arab world has changed its mind!
   Those like you, who posture before the world as being 'concerned'
for the welfare of the Palestinians, do these people more harm than
good.  
   For one thing, you completely disregard the fact that Palestinians
are treated like dirt in most other Arab countries.  They are, more
often than not, treated far worse in the Arab countries than they are
in Israel.  Why do you think they cheered when Kuwait was attacked?
When the "haves" in the Arab world are more interested in purchasing
F-16's and Rolls Royces than helping their Arab brothers, how much
good do you think you do the Palestinians when you ignore this fact?
Perhaps if you were not so blinded by your hatred of the State of
Israel, you might be able to see more of the historical and cultural
realities that have turned these people into the political pawns
they are.  And then you might appear to be more pro-Palestinian, and
less anti-Israel.  The facts clearly show that they are NOT always 
the same.  And since the MAJORITY of those living in "Jordan" have
been calling themselves 'Palestinian' for years, your 'knowledge'
is again flawed by your hatred of Israel.
   You could do much more good for these people if you learned a
little bit more about the middle east, and if you allowed yourself
to be driven by a concern for the Palestinians more than you are
driven by a hatred of Israel.

P.S.  Before you waste everyone's time nitpicking again, the UN
vote took place on November 29, 1947, and not 1948.  1948 was the
year that Israel declared its Independence.
   Also, I recommend highly a book called "A Peace to End All Peace",
by David Fromkin.  It explains the fall of the Ottoman Empire and 
the creation of the modern Middle East.  It was a New York Times
Books Review 'Editor's Choice', and has received many rave reviews.
I am sure that because the book was written by a Jew that you might
have reservations about reading it, but it is factual, and very well
written.
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast