The robbers lived happily in their land for several thousand years. The robbers had so many countries -- 23 countries, to be exact -- that any plot against them would fail, simply because they were so great in number.
The cops, on the other hand, had only a single country. It was a small country -- much smaller than the countries of robbers that surrounded them -- maybe 1/10th of the size of its robber neighbors. Unfortunately, if someone wanted to destroy this country of cops, it was no great feat, naturally speaking, since the country itself was quite small. Several times in history, in fact, the cop country was destroyed and the cops were carried off to some foreign nation as prisoners.
As you might have guessed, the countries comprised of robbers were often at odds with the country of cops. For thousands of years they would fight back and forth, a war here, a war there, it seemed that every day there was at least a small skirmish reported in the news.
One day, the leaders of several nations in the world figured it would be a good idea if the cops and the robbers could get along. "Imagine all the world, living life in peace!" was their utopian thought. They queried the robbers, asking what could be done to achieve this peace. The robbers told them,
"If the cops would give us some of their country for us to live in, we would stop the wars."
So the leaders of the world coaxed the cops into giving away some of their already-small country in the hopes that the warring will stop. To everyone's surprise, not a year after this treaty did the robbers resume their familiar relations, starting a war once again, killing as many cops as possible.
Again, the leader of the robbers told the world heads of state,
"If you give us some more of the cops' country, the war will most certainly stop."
The world leaders hesitantly agreed, and caused the cops to again divide their tiny country further in order that the robbers could live in peace amongst the cops. When the soldiers came to take them away, the 9000 cops living in that part of the country were hauled off in buses, their homes destroyed by bulldozers as the robbers around them rejoiced at their new land inheritance. Shortly after, as you might imagine, the treaty was broken once more, and war resumed yet again.
This time, the robbers told the nations of the world,
"If you give us a country inside the cops' land, and give us the cops' capital city to us, as our capital city, there will be peace undoubtedly!"
The leaders of the world sat down to ponder this notion. Meanwhile, as they danced in the street at the sight of yet another victory on the horizon, the robbers secretly said amongst themselves, "Soon, Zion will be ours, and Israel destroyed at last!"
Good story Judah. ;D
ReplyDeleteThat is a powerfull story, Judah. Good job.
ReplyDeleteOne way to look at it: by removing the innocent people from Gaza, Israel now has fewer precautions it has to take when future Palestinian aggression forces it to bomb Gaza installations again.
ReplyDeleteNo more worrying about hitting the innocent people when they have left and all of Gaza is a terrorist base.
Thats one way of looking at it... It is not the whole story.
ReplyDeleteI see that the story shows one (of several) views of this conflict, but you can switch the roles and end up with another view, also portraying the same situation.
Over time both parts in this conflict have been sent away from what were once their land.
How can you tell which is right? How do you kvow who are the cops and who are the robbers here?
We obviously take different sides in this conflict...
It's quite easy to see who are the cops and who are the robbers: The cops have only one permanent home for the last 4000 years. The robbers have lived in the land since 1929 when they were expelled from Jordan.
ReplyDeleteEven if one was to turn a blind eye to this fact, one has to realize Israel has been the only permanent home of Jews. Period. You can't get around this fact; Arabs have over 23 countries in the surrounding areas, many hundreds of times the land mass of Israel. So why are they fighting so desperately for such a tiny piece of land, especially when it's polluted with Jewish holy sites? I'll tell you why. It's not the land alone they want: they are not content until they ~destroy~ Israel and the Jews. That's what this is about, the destruction of Israel. Don't believe me? Go check the mission statements of any of the Palestinian forces fighting against Israel: PLO, Hamas, Hezbollah, Martyr's Brigade. Go find out what they're trying to accomplish. Or go read history, it was only about 30-40 years ago when all the surrounding robber nations -- Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, to name a few -- invaded Israel with an intent to destroy it! Has our memory lapsed that quickly?
The land has been divided over and over again, giving more and more land to Arabs; currently Israel is about the size of New Jersey! Yet the enemies of Israel will not be content until all the land is taken from them.
Yet people who mistakenly believe peace will be accomplished by giving land to a group of people smack dab inside the land of their cut-throat enemies continue to push this falsehood and further divide the land that belongs to Israel.
The land of Israel belongs to the Jews, it's their only home. Why give land to the robbers when their feigned goal of being a sovereign nation is, in reality, a goal to destroy the Jewish people?
Honestly, you think this could go both ways, you think this allegory of cops and robbers could be switched? Try it! Read the story replacing "Jews" for robbers, and "Arabs" for cops. The very first line will betray you! As will the entire allegory: because as much as people want to believe this is an even-matched, good-intention-versus-good-intention, both-sides-are-at-fault fight, the truth is on the other side of the room. Investigate it and see for yourself, and come back and tell me when you've found the number of Jews who've exploded themselves in packed Arab restaurants, public transport busses, or pizza parlors. Then I'll listen to you.
Just a few points you left out in your latest post, Judah:
ReplyDelete- It's not true that the arabs have only been there since 1929. (My ancestors (christian arabs) have come from this country through many generations, long before that.)
- Yes, the arabs are in other countries as well, but that doesn't justify what the jews kick them out of Israel. They were there too, and have been for several thousand years.
- There are also christian and muslim holy sites in Israel.
- It's not a question of taking all land from one part and giving it to the other.
yes, I totally agree with you that "exploding themselves" is not a good thing. And its hard to imagine how one justifies that.
Yes, the number of jews that have exploded themselves in arab public places is probably zero, but they are killing and suppressing the arabs in several other ways that aren't any better. (Much through military and police actions.)
Today the arab vs. jews in Israel is made into an ethnic and political issue. it should be about people living together.
Looking at the population (numbers taken from the CIA World Fact Book and they are for 1996): The Jewish population are 80.1% = about 5 million. Of them only 1 million are born in Israel, the other 4 millions have immigrated to the country. The non-Jewish (mostly Arab) are 19.9% = about 1.3 million. All (allmost) of them native born in what today is the state of Israel. (There were more, but many have emigrated because of the conflict) I can't see how you justify the suppression of the arabs when they were here first.
The least one should expect from the immigrants is to respect the life of the people allready living there. They and their ancestors were born there, and they have nowhere else to go to that they can call "home". This is their country too.
I believe that it must be possible to live together in peace, but the current escaliting nature of this conflict will make that harder day by day. However, I look to South Africa, where they have abolished apartheid, and the suppressers and the suppressed are successfully working together towards a society living together.
My dream is that these believes come true some day soon. I can't see how your biased article helps, though.
Some statements need correcting:
ReplyDelete"They (Arabs in Israel)were there too, and have been for several thousand years."
This is not true. There were very few Arabs in the Israel area until Muhammad in the 7th century. Prior to this, Arabs were in Arabia. Under Muhammad, Arabs invaded Israel and many other places, settling and crushing the indiginous population. Muhammad actually had it out for Jews: it is by his edit that Saudi Arabia is to this day "Jew free". He had to exterminate thousands to make it this way.
The Jewish people are the actual indiginous nation of Israel. The only ones older are Canaanites, and they are not around now.
"There are also christian and muslim holy sites in Israel."
It should be pointed out that these sites have always been desecrated, even to modern times, mainly by the Arabs and Muslims. The most freedom for all three faiths at all of the sites has been protected by Israel.
"Yes, the number of jews that have exploded themselves in arab public places is probably zero, but they are killing and suppressing the arabs in several other ways that aren't any better"
This is an old antisemitic lie. You are ignoring the fact of the age-old Arab hatred of Jews. Even modern "moderate" Arab leaders like Hanan Ashrawi still insist on extermination of the Jews. They use the code words of "not recognizing Israelis' right to exist".
The occupation was demanded by Arab aggression against Israel. The Arab leaders keep it going by continuing this aggression.
The Arab aggressors are the oppressors. Who else would demand "ethnic cleansing" Jew-free Gaza?
Things might get better some day, but not as long as you have a modern-day polity like the Palestinian government which is so seeped in ethnic hatred. They are not 100% to blame, of course. It is more like 93%.
Peter, thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteIt's not true that the arabs have only been there since 1929. (My ancestors (christian arabs) have come from this country through many generations, long before that.)
It's true that there have been Arabs living in the land here and there, especially after the dispersion of the Jews in 70 CE. But I ask, who was there first? Who had a country there first? Whose land is it, historically? The land is the only home for which people group? Which group of people called this land their only home for 4000 years?
"Palestinians" today are largely Jordanian outcasts, all of whom have never actually belonged to a nation called Palestine!
Yes, the arabs are in other countries as well, but that doesn't justify what the jews kick them out of Israel. They were there too, and have been for several thousand years.
This may come as a surprise, but Israel doesn't actually want to "kick them out". Perhaps the very worst one can accurately accuse Israelis of is wanting to live in their land in peace.
Or have I missed something, where Jewish scholars are strapping TNT to themselves and detonating in civilian areas? Pardon me if I missed that, we must've been watching different television channels.
There are also christian and muslim holy sites in Israel.
Perhaps you aren't aware of many of the "Muslim" holy sites. Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem? Built right on top of the site of the 2nd Temple, the holiest site in Judaism. Oh, and let's not forget that the building itself was originally a pagan temple, hacked into a church by medieval crusaders, then rennovated into a Mosque after the conquest by Saladin. So let's not pretend Israel is an ocean of Islamic holy sites. On the contrary, Jerusalem itself is the holiest place in Judaism. One can only imagine if the tables were reversed, what the outcry in the Arab world would be if a bunch of Jews wanted a piece of Mecca or Medina? Oh boy, then there'd be hell to pay for sure! Somehow I think the Islamic constraint would fall short of Israel's!
Christians have holy sites in Israel, but yet again, Israel has preserved these sites for the sake of the internation community of Christians. That said, I don't think Christians in general, myself included, would have any problem with Israel owning the land of Christian holy sites. After all, it is in the land of Israel, and to say it belongs to anyone else is factually, historically, and Scripturally incorrect.
It's not a question of taking all land from one part and giving it to the other.
Really? Pardon my ignorance, but I'm not aware of any land-for-peace deals that give land to Israel. Am I wrong? Or are we implying the Palestinians will be content with this next land-for-peace deal? Let's watch this unfold and come back in a few years when Palestinians have been given all of Gaza and Jerusalem, if they're content I will eat my words. But I guarantee you they will not be content, and I can make this guarantee because the real intention of such a Palestianian state is the destruction of Israel and eradication of the Jewish people. It's no secret, go read the mission statements of any of the forces fighting against Israel, they'll spell it out for you plainly.
If I can say one thing positive about this conversation with you, Peter, let me say this: we both have common ground in that we want peace. I pray for the peace of Israel, Scripture commands we do, in fact. I even sing songs about the peace of Jerusalem. The difference between you and I, Peter, is that I believe the best way to achieve peace is not to force the creation of a militarized state right-smack in the middle of its cut-throat enemies. What's more, the current method of peace attempts -- the taking of land possessions away from Israel and giving it to Arabs whenever some Islamic militant feels it necessary to blow himself up in the middle of a restaurant -- is a proven way NOT to create peace, but to create only more militants. What better way to encourage Islamic militants than to give land to them whenever they detonate themselves inside pizza parlor?
The arabs living in Israel are not to blame for living in Israel. They were born and raised there for many generations. They have been removed from the places that are their homes, and offcourse they react to that.
ReplyDeleteOne problem in this discussion is that both of us have grown up with beliefs of what is and is not the truth about this conflict. There are points you know to be true, where I know of a different truth and vice verse. (And of course there are also some truths we agree on...)
I'll end it here, with a few last words that I hope we can agree on.
My hopes for peace is one peace that is not uphold through military or violent force.
Since there are now two ethnic groups living there, I believe the best one can hope for is that they accept to live together as equals.
Thanks for sharing your views. I'll continue to look at your blog.