I just read an absolutely EXCELLENT article on the palestine/israel issue. here is a link to the article, try not to be put off by the title, i believe it is only there for shock value:

http://emperors-clothes.com/gilwhite/Israel.htm

in the article, the author gives his views about israel and palestine, and gives justification for the israeli position. This article changed my mind quite a bit, i was previously leaning towards being pro palestinian, but after reading this article, i am not so sure. I would like to read another article this good from the opposite point of view.

if i have not yet convinced you to read the article, here is the authors words, which i could have said myself a few hours ago (the report is not short, i will not post the whole thing here)

quote:

Here is what I used to believe about the Middle East (all of these beliefs are quite popular): 1) That the media (at least the American media) has a uniformly pro-Israel bias. 2) That Arafat’s Fatah is a secular nationalist organization trying to combat the fundamentalist influences of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Islamist terrorists. 3) That Palestinian terrorism is not anti-Semitic but aims at national liberation. 4) That the Palestinian leadership has attempted to implement the Oslo accords in good faith but the Israelis have sabotaged the process. 5) That Israel is a state overwhelmingly made up of European and American Jews who moved into Palestine and displaced Middle Eastern natives. 6) That historically Jews were well-treated in the Arab world, and that current Arab hostility therefore stems from the current conflict.

he goes on to explain why these assumptions are not true, and explains it in a very factual and non biased way, backed up fully with references and footnotes.

an excellent read for anyone interested in the situation in the middle east, whatever your current beliefs may be.

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good to see you seek for more info and views towards the conflict..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/co...,653594,00.html

And if you knew who benny morris is, you'd be even more convinced

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"Those are my principles, if you don't like them... well, I have others.”

I must say that I was somewhat pro-palestinian before, but as time goes by, I am becoming more and more pro-israeli, and it's not just because of this article.

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1+1=10

Like the uplifting trance--> progressive house metamorphosis, you just get fed up with cheesy arguments

ON a serious note: The more you know, the more u think...the liklier you're gonna see that its NOT as black n white as many suggest. I prefer some1 who acknowledges the complexity of the issue to some1 who pretends to know it all and immediately jumps on one side.

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"Those are my principles, if you don't like them... well, I have others.”

JohnSmith, your article was excellently written out, seemed kinda like a research paper. it took me a while to read but it was really put forth in depth, really put forth a lot of info and things to learn (knowledge = power, no?). some of the arguements i've used here before (like the fact the PLO was founded before the 6-day war, before there was any 'occupation' and therefore nothing really to liberate) but others were new (the point on UN Resolution 194). TranceGiant, i also liked your article a lot. the recurring theme in both was people who have 'changed' their opinion from one side of the spectrum to the other. i can say honestly that it was the same for me as it was for Benny Morris, i also was a strong peace advocate throughout my highschool years but after camp david i changed my prespective. it was a gradualy change but it caused me to research the topic more and more and not take things for granted, until i've come to the point where i stand now, i am confident about my view now. i am still striving for peace but by seeing the issue for what it really is, the motivating factors and what both sides stand for i have come to relalize that certian methods of approaching a solution wont work.
anyway thanks for the material. what did you get out of the articles JohnSmith?

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If God is the answer, it must have been a very stupid question.

knowledge.

I haven't gotten around to reading the guardian one yet, i will though.

like you say, knowledge is power. the most startling thing i learned was about the dhimmi people, and how long that's been going on.

the issue is very much not black and white. I was a peace advocate since afghanistan, but always feigned ignorance on the israel palestine situation.. I am beginning to learn it now.

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Nice to see open-minded people here, no matter which side of they bridge they jump from and on which one they land ... I believe our highschool educative system (Or maybe it's just my own teacher which I have a lot of respect for) does a wonderful job ... Some of the statements on the article were indeed tought to my class.

Long and impressive article Johnsmith, I've read points 1 and 2 so far and am continuing ATM...

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Check My Music

This obviously didn't get enough attention. An excellently written article (I also recommend reading other articles on the site, very impressive) which I believe it's length terrified a lot of readers.

Come on you guyz, it's worth it

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