vision2020
RE: Amb. Hume Horan on the US and Islam in the Modern World
Tim,
Although the U.S. was not directly involved in the Balfour Declaration we
may have been used. Read this:
http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0897/9708018.html
Cliff Todd
-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Ewers [mailto:tewers@uidaho.edu]
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2001 3:57 PM
To: Sunil Ramalingam; meteor2@moscow.com; vision2020@moscow.com
Subject: RE: Amb. Hume Horan on the US and Islam in the Modern World
Friedman discusses this issue at length in "From Beirut to Jerusalem." If I
remember correctly, according to Friedman, the Palestinians were not so much
forced into exile by the Israelis as they were encouraged to get out of the
way by the neighboring Arab states. The Arab states, opposed to the
creation of the state of Israel, intended to run the Mediterranean red with
Jewish blood. They failed in 1967 and Israel ended up with even more land.
The point that strikes me is the degree to which America is considered
responsible for the situation in the Middle East. I don't for an instant
believe our hands are clean, but the cause(s) of the problems there precede
U.S. involvement, (or even existence). For instance, the Balfour
Declaration, which lead to the creation of Israel, was drafted in the early
part of this century. The Declaration was drafted by the British as a
land-division agreement involving the French and the Arab states. The U.S.
was not involved.
What I find interesting about the piece by former Ambassador Hume is the
explication of, perhaps, a more fundamental reason for the conflict in the
region. Pointing fingers at the U.S., Israel, or the Israeli treatment of
the Palestinians may be a diversion from actually addressing what ails the
region.
-----Original Message-----
From: Sunil Ramalingam [mailto:sunilramalingam@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2001 2:04 PM
To: tewers@uidaho.edu; meteor2@moscow.com; vision2020@moscow.com
Subject: Re: Amb. Hume Horan on the US and Islam in the Modern World
One quick thought that jumped out at me when I read this paragraph:
"Once, when I appealed to Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud for more
help to UNRWA, he replied only "You Americans created the refugee
problem. You solve it." In response, I asked could he imagine, if a
catastrophe had driven half a million Canadians into ND, ID, and MN,
that three generations generations later, these populations would
still be held in refugee camps? How differently the half million
Jews driven from Arab lands in 1948 were received by Israel, compared
to how the half million Arabs, driven from Palestine in 1948, were
received by their Arab neighbors!"
I don't know how one can compare the treatment of Jewish refugees from Arab
countries in 1948, and the Palestinians in exile. Israel was established as
a Jewish state, and naturally accepts Jews from other nations. Lebanon and
Jordan, just to use two examples, weren't created with such a mandate; why
should one expect them to accept refugees from neighboring states? We don't
have that open-door policy here...
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