Jessica Alter

Sara is a friend and a fellow Iraqi-Lebanese. Thanks for your comment, Sara. My response: 1- No amount of injustice that has befallen Palestinians and the Arabs, whether since 1948, 1936, or 1882, can ever justify killing 1,400 Israelis in cold blood or keeping 244 of them hostages (both acts are war crimes). 2- If we're discussing history, why stop at 1948? Jewish migration and establishment of communities started in 1882 to Turkish provinces in the south Levant. Until today, there is real estate owned by the Jewish agency in Lebanese Kfarkila (and other Lebanese territory) on the border with Israel. Before the British took a few Turkish provinces and created Palestine, Arabs in that land were engaged in a debate with the Zionists (correspondence and such), urging them not to migrate. One of the Khalidis wondered in his book why European Jews would migrate to an arid and God forsaken. What did the Zionists think? They thought if they gave those Arabs a modern economy (infrastructure, capital, colleges), the Arabs will like them and live with them in the same country. What did the Arabs do? They refused Jewish migration, and in 1936 started their first wave of violence against them (notice, they called it the Great Arab, not Palestinian, Revolt -- you'd have to wait until 1964 for these Arabs to call themselves Palestinian). When Arabs and Jews went to 1939 London Conference (Arabs refused to talk to Zionists face-to-face), the Zionists said let's share a binational state with some Jewish self governance or autonomy. The Arabs said no, Palestine will be Arab ONLY, and you Jews will be treated nicely like the Jewish minority in Iraq. (i.e. no equal rights). The Jews refused, and when the mandate ended in 1948, they declared Israel. The UN said share the land. What did the Arabs do? Share? No. Violence. I can go on discussing "the context," but will conclude by saying that, in the Mideast, there are 400 million Arabs (majority Muslims) and only 7 million Jews. We have 21 states, they have 1. Our language, heritage, religion are all practiced and passed on to our off springs. Without a Jewish state, their culture and language will shrink to pre-Zionist levels, near extinction. Also, notice that as Arabs, we never demonstrated the will or ability to treat non-Arabs or non-Muslims as equals in our states. Look at the Kurds in Iraq and Syria. Look at the Copts in Egypt. The Druze and Alawites of Lebanon and Syria hide their faith and pretend to be Muslim. The Druze and Alawites of Israel are more open about their beliefs. Bahaiis are persecuted in Iran and thrive in Israel. Until we can present states built on liberty, equality and freedom for Muslims and non-Muslims alike, we MUST let non-Muslims and non-Arabs have their own states in which they practice their own culture, pass it on to their children. Real estate? Who cares about those arid hills of the West Bank? I know I don't. Give me knowledge, give me opportunity, my heritage is not under threat, so why fight for one more sovereign (most likely failing) state? All my best.