The Middle East Problem: The Palestinians?

This post is in response to the following video:

I have made some points which address some of the points that the person made in the video made.


*NOTE: According to Islam, there are some good Jews and some bad Jews, just like any other group of people be they Arab, Muslim, Christian, Sikh etc, so I would like to clarify this post is about the points made against the Palestinians in regards to the Israel-Palestine conflict, and it does not reflect my thoughts on Jews in general. Also I would just like to point out one of the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) wives was also a Jew.






Israel recognises the right of Palestine to exist?


If Israel is willing to accept the Palestinian state (which is meant to be West Bank and Gaza) why is Israel building settlements all over the proposed state (please see a map of those settlements and you will realise no feasible Palestinian state could exist there), does that have any logic?





Israel has no peace partner?

The leaked documents completely discredit the claim that there is "no peace partner" made by the leader of the newly formed Atzmaut faction, Ehud Barak, and his boss, Benjamin Netanyahu. The documents are testimony that the Palestinians are willing to go the distance for peace: They will relinquish their claims on the Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas, the Etzion settlement bloc and the settlements along the Green Line. This would all be in return for territories on the western side of this line, including the region of Gilboa and Mount Hebron... The documents in Al-Jazeera’s hands also confirm that the Palestinian leadership would be willing to abdicate sole autonomy in the Old City of Jerusalem and keep it under special rule.

This is according to http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/the-palestine-papers-al-jazeera-trumps-wikileaks-1.338875






Greater Israel

There was no mention of Greater Israel.


There is a minority of people who want a Greater Israel (I would like to stress this is not the view of all Israelis but rather a small amount but never the less they exist) who want Israel to expand its borders from the Nile (in Egypt) to the Eurphrates (in Iraq). Many of the settlers do have this vision of a Greater Israel which is why they are settling in the West Bank (the proposed Palestinian state). 


Many such as Netanyahu even held that belief even though they may have abandoned it (for now). "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has admitted that he has to adjust his dream for building a Greater Israel because of the Oslo accords." 


This is according to http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-18069725.html





One side (the Palestinians) want the other (Israelis) dead?

This gives the impression that all the Palestinians are blood thirsty extremists and want all the Israeli Jews dead yet every Israeli wants to have peace.


Yes while some on the Palestinian side may want the Israeli's dead but most just want to get on with their lives and do want peace (please see next heading). However the author makes no mention of the other minority of extremists who want the other side (Palestinians) dead.


For example please read articles about the book called "The King's Torah" where the book by a Rabbi (which was then recommended by other Rabbis) which sold like "hotcakes" justifies the killing of Gentiles and even killing the enemies babies, why were these minority of extremists not mentioned and only the Palestinians white washed as extremists based on some people?



This according to the following links:
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/news/west-bank-rabbi-jews-can-kill-gentiles-who-threaten-israel-1.4496
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/news/the-king-s-torah-a-rabbinic-text-or-a-call-to-terror-1.261930





Palestinians don't want peace?

Most Palestinians do want peace with Israel:

The majority of Palestinians support a peace agreement with Israel and believe that the Palestinian Authority should use non-violent means to achieve their political goals, a new Fafo poll revealed Fafo, a Norwegian based international multidisciplinary research foundation, found that 73 percent of Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza were in favour of peace negotiations with Israel, but stressed that a settlement freeze should be a precondition to talks. The poll also revealed a rise in Palestinian support for halting rocket attacks from Gaza against Israel, rising from 53 percent in favour of a halt in 2009 to 61 percent in 2010. 

This is according to http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/poll-most-palestinians-want-peace-with-israel-1.297196





The Jews accepted UN partition plan and the Arabs rejected it?


This gives the impression that all the Jews accepted this plan because they wanted peace, and all the Arabs rejected it because they don't want peace. However things are not as black and white as the person suggests:


Yes, many Jews did accept the UN partition plan, but many did reject it... such as the militant organisations such Irgun and Lehi. 


Yes, many Arabs did reject the UN partition plan, but many did accept it including Fakhri Nashashibi and Ragheb Bey Nashashibi (the latter being the mayor of Jerusalem). 

Ian Bickerton says that few Palestinians joined the Arab Liberation Army because they suspected that the other Arab States did not plan on an independent Palestinian state. Bickerton says for that reason many Palestinians favoured partition and indicated a willingness to live alongside a Jewish state

Why did many of the Arabs reject the UN plan?

John Wolffe says that while Zionists tend to attributed Palestinian rejection of the plan to a mere intransigence, Arabs have always reiterated that it was rejected because it was unfair: it gave the majority of the land (56 percent) to the Jews, who at that stage legally owned only 7 percent of it

This is according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Partition_Plan_for_Palestine


Summary: Yes there are some extremists on the Palestinian Muslim side but there are also extremists on the Israeli Jewish side too, however most people on both sides just want to get on with their lives. In order for their to be peace, neither side (Palestinian nor Israeli) should white wash the other side by focusing on the extremists on the other side otherwise both populations will judge the other side based on these extremists... which will only result in more hatred and violence. And for those people who think all Israelis are bad people please look up Israeli Jewish human rights groups who are helping Palestinians such as B'Tselem and those Israeli Jews speaking up for Palestinian rights. And for those who think all Palestinians are bad those polls which have been cited by an Israeli news site speak for themselves that most Palestinians do want peace.

Muslim on Church bombing: “We either live together, or we die together”

We often here that Muslims don't stand up against terrorism and protecting minorities when innocent non-Muslims are about to be hurt within Muslim countries.

On new years day 2011 in the Western calendar, a Coptic Church was bombed by terrorists in Alexandria, Egypt in which many Christians died. However in the wake of these attacks the Muslims had promised to go to the Coptic Eve mass (6 January 2011) to act as "human shields" according to http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/3216.aspx.



Protest against attack


The following image is of Christians and Muslims in Cairo protesting against the attack of the Church.

The above image is taken from: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/Muslims+protect+churches/4078614/story.html#ixzz1AYkJ5kbw





Christmas Eve Mass

The following image is of Christians and Muslims standing side by side forming a human shield around a Church:

Above image taken from: http://www.shoah.org.uk/2011/01/16/muslim-human-shield-to-protect-egyptian-christians

Above image taken from http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/3365.aspx

Above 2 images taken from http://www.hibeesbounce.com/forum/showthread.php?103245-Egyptian-muslims-form-human-shield-around-Coptic-Christmas-masses

The government has increased tightened security measures around all churches but nothing alleviated the sense of impending danger the Christians felt except the ingenious idea of an Egyptian Muslim artist – Mohamed El Sawy- who called for Egyptian Muslims to form human shields – by standing close to each other joined hand in hand in large circles -that would encircle and practically shield every church in a clear message to the world that solidarity between Egyptian Christians and Muslims is hard to be interrupted or sabotaged.

 The above quote is taken from: http://www.shoah.org.uk/2011/01/16/muslim-human-shield-to-protect-egyptian-christians

“We either live together, or we die together,” was the sloganeering genius of Mohamed El-Sawy, a Muslim arts tycoon whose cultural centre distributed flyers at churches in Cairo Thursday night, and who has been credited with first floating the “human shield” idea.Among those shields were movie stars Adel Imam and Yousra, popular Muslim televangelist and preacher Amr Khaled, the two sons of President Hosni Mubarak, and thousands of citizens who have said they consider the attack one on Egypt as a whole.

The above quote is taken from  http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/95/3365/Egypt/Attack-on-Egypt-Copts/Egypts-Muslims-attend-Coptic-Christmas-mass,-servi.aspx



To sum up: All Muslims are not terrorists (and neither are all terrorists Muslims) and many Muslims do stand up against injustice and unjust killing which is proved by these Muslims who were willing to sacrifice their own lives in order to save the lives their fellow Christian brothers in humanity, in a land where Muslims are the majority (90%). This reminds me of this verse of the Quran:




Quran 5:32:  


On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our apostles with clear signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land.

Introduction

I intend to create this blog to share my thoughts about Islam and general stuff which is related to it and God willing remove any misconceptions.

Anything that I say please try to confirm for youself, as I am still learning myself.


I liked this quote, so I thought I'd quote it (taken from Khalid Zaheer's website):

I am convinced about the veracity of my opinions, but I do consider it likely that they may turn out to be incorrect. Likewise, I am convinced about the incorrectness of the views different from mine, but I do concede the possibility that they may turn out to be correct.” — Imam Shafa’i