Yuck, had a really long discussion with vmarks on #joiito about Israel and Palestine. Shared basically no common ground. He believes Arabs are well represented in Israel, that Palestinians are occupying Israeli land, that Barak’s offer at Camp David was generous ¹, etc.
Totally frustrating. I had to part.
I think I need ArgumentsForIsraelAndPalestine.
ArgumentsForIsraelAndPalestine
Recent article on ElectronicIntifada:
Viability, a term found in the Road Map, is not a secondary issue. After almost four decades of deliberate Israeli de-development of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, the Palestinians are left today with scorched earth. No functioning economy (the Palestinians, 70 percent of whom live on less than $2 a day, are being kept alive by international relief agencies); no agriculture (since 1967 Israel has uprooted or cut down a million olive and fruit trees); no homes for the young generation (Israel has demolished 12,000 Palestinian homes since the occupation began, and refuses to issue permits to build new ones). Two generations of Palestinians have never known freedom, only military occupation. They have been brutalized, traumatized, undereducated, and left with few skills and little hope of employment. A full 60 percent of the Palestinian population is under the age of 18. ²
#Israel