From: David Lubkin (extropy@unreasonable.com)
Date: Thu Apr 18 2002 - 11:11:38 MDT
At 06:37 AM 4/16/2002 -0700, Brian D Williams wrote:
>The real fact of the matter is that the other Arab countries ordered them
>to leave so they could attack Israel. They were told any Arabs found
>living there would be considered traitors. They also promised that they
>could keep the Israelis property after they were destroyed. Didn't work
>out that way...
In high school in Israel, I was taught this version of history as well.
This may have occurred to some extent, but there are now revisionist
histories that argue that there is credible evidence that Jewish
Palestinians in the Haganah and later, Zahal, did violently "encourage"
Arabs to leave their homes during the 1948 establishment of Israel.
If this is true, I don't have a problem with it.
First, one could argue that it was a pre-emptive strike to increase the
likelihood of Israel surviving an imminent massive attack that, in
hindsight, might have made the difference, considering how under-armed
Israel was and how close it was to losing at various points in the war.
Second, war is always ugly and no state I know of has ever been peaceably
established. I'm fine if you want to rage against all states. But in a
scale of state offenses, Israel's rank fairly low, even compared with
events in America's history (like the near-genocide of American Indians,
which included deliberate biological warfare).
For eighty years Israel (and the predecessor Jewish community) has been
regularly pilloried for alleged misdeeds that are dwarfed by Arab behavior
against Israel, Jews, other Arab states, or their own people. Every one of
the states that has attacked Israel have outrageous barbarities in their
recent past. Why is there a double standard?
Lastly, I am a fervent libertarian (and wannabe but unconvinced Friedman
anarchist). But I do live in the real world, where states exist, decisions
must be made, and honorable people can reach different conclusions than I do.
-- David.
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