12 thoughts on “Mort Klein and the No-State Solution – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. Klein once again is in cloud-cuckoo land. Hamas, no matter how much we may dislike its politics and violent history, has actually created law and order in Gaza where none existed under Dahlan and the Fatah thugs… you need a better argument than this. The Nazi party revitalized the German economy and Mussolini made the trains run on time. If Hamas didnt keep launching rockets into pre 1967 Israel and released Gilad Shalit, it would build more confidence in those who want to withdraw from the West Bank. Israel has also failed in this respect, and 81% of the Gush Katif refugees still lack permanent houses in Israel. Thus, Jews who might want to move to pre 1967 Israel will not vote to make themselves homeless
    Heres where we differ. You believe that if Israel withdrew to the 1967 borders, there would be peace. If I believed that, I would support your position as well. I believe, that the 1967 borders would serve as a new launching point for attacks on Israel. Being here, I take much more risk than you do, because if I am correct, Qassams fall on my family. It is unlikely that Qassams will fall on Mercer Island. Despite your protestations to the contrary, Hamas is acting in a manner consistent with their charter, which will not tolerate a Jewish entity anywhere in Dar al Islam

  2. “Jewish racist”

    How the heck is what he says racist? He’s referring to the culture of violence throughout the Palestinian culture that Arafat set up when Rabin invited the PLO to the West Bank. That has nothing to do with race. Why do you claim that everyone who criticizes Arab and Muslim terrorism is racist??? It has nothing to do with race, but with culture and ideology. When I think of Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, I think of Islamic terrorism, but the guy’s a white convert! This is a movement, or series of movements, that have nothing to do with race.

    “One of the more humorous lines from Klein’s piece is:

    -It is simply a flat-earth statement to describe Judea, Samaria and Gaza as occupied.-”

    You know full well that there are good arguments by respectable scholars (though you disagree with them) against the idea that WB and Gaza are occupied so I can see your dishonesty clearly here.

  3. @A.N.: Isn’t it typical for the pro-Israel right to compare Hamas to Nazis. So predictable. Can you prove that Hamas is launching rockets into Israel? No, of course you can’t because they’re not.

    I believe, that the 1967 borders would serve as a new launching point for attacks on Israel.

    Of course you do. The only satisfactory pt at which you’d agree to settle w. the Palestinians is if they bowed down & sang Hatikvah & drove merrily off to settle in Jordan or wherever…just as long as it wasn’t in Palestine.

    if I am correct, Qassams fall on my family.

    Do please tell us about all those Qassams falling on yr family. Do I detect just a wee bit of self-pity & dramatization on yr part?

    I don’t live on Mercer Island. And contrary to yr views about me, I don’t see myself as divorced from Israel. When an Israeli (or Palestinian) is killed, I feel it almost as much as you (well, you don’t regret the Palestinian deaths too much, but you know what I mean).

  4. @Yoni: Of course the term “culture of violence” & the other slurs Klein & Pipes level against all Palesitnians are racist. Anyone who claims an entire race or ethnic group is characterized by one vice or another is automatically racist. If you don’t understand why this is so I’m not the person to explain it to you.

    There are no “good arguments” and no “respectable scholars” who dispute the idea that Gaza is occupied. Anyone who attempts such argument is by definition using an argument which is bankrupt & invalid and therefore is not a respectable scholar. Respectable scholars use respectable arguments.

  5. While the occupation is certainly one of the main obstacles to peace, it’s by no means the only one, and to think an Israeli retreat to the Green Line, all other things remaining the same, would mean peace and light and happiness on all fronts, is a delusion. IMO, quiet on the “southern front” wasn’t Sharon’s objective in evacuating Gaza, and quiet isn’t what he got.
    On the other hand, since I don’t believe in a Zionist conspiracy to conquer the whole world, Israel will have borders somewhere. And if, according to A.N., in the case of an unilateral determination of those borders the Quassams will keep flying anyway, they might just as well fly across the Jordan or the Blue Line – or the Litani river.

  6. There is at least as strong an argument that Israel, with its mandatory military service, heavy representation of generals in politics, settler mobs and propensity for killing unarmed Palestinian men, women and children is a “culture of violence” as the Palestinians.

  7. “That’s what political-intellectual bullies do.”

    Richard-It seems like everyone is the bully except for you. You seem to be bulling everyone into excepting the Arab position? Isn’t that a but hypocritical?

  8. Of course you do. The only satisfactory pt at which you’d agree to settle w. the Palestinians is if they bowed down & sang Hatikvah & drove merrily off to settle in Jordan or wherever…just as long as it wasn’t in Palestine… how exactly do you know this about me?

    Do please tell us about all those Qassams falling on yr family. Do I detect just a wee bit of self-pity & dramatization on yr part?…Cant you admit that some people would be taking a big risk on your prescription, and that you would be taking no risk on your prescription? There are many in Israel who think like me, and are unprepared to take the risks you suggest. Patronizing us isnt convincing us, although I guess as Sephardim thats all we deserve

  9. @A.N.: Yes, everyone, both Palestinians and Israelis would be taking a big risk on behalf of peace. But it is a risk well worth taking. And if you think that my staking my good name & credibiliity on a peace agreement means I am taking “no risk” you are sadly mistaken. If there was such an agreement & it failed there are tens of bloggers waiting to flay me for my error (not to mention that I’d flay myself for being wrong).

  10. You might get flayed by bloggers and flay yourself, but these risks pale in comparison to the risks that I and other Israelis will take in terms of life and limb. I was initially optimistic about the Gaza evacuation, but the results have convinced me that evacuating the W Bank and E Jerusalem would lead to the same situation. Gaza does have an opening to the outside world thru Rafa crossing, which is controlled by Egypt and not Israel. If the siege were the issue, we would expect Qassams flying into Egypt as well as Israel. You might see things differently if your house and family were in range of these rockets, and might not be so cavalier in offering advice from a distance of 8000 miles

  11. If the zealously collaborationist regime of Abu Mazen doesn’t move the Israelis closer to acknowledging a Palestinian right to independence, why should the Palestinians refrain from violence? It seems to be the only thing Israel understands.

  12. @A.N.:

    the risks that I and other Israelis will take in terms of life and limb.

    I am sorry but the rules of Jewish peoplehood provide me the right to weigh in on how Israel should conduct itself. So unless & until you choose to divorce the Diaspora from Israel itself, I will avail myself of that right to speak out & consider my view & voice integral to the debate.

    I wouldn’t see anything diff. if my home were in Israel. I have lived in Israel for two years and my views were the same then as they are now. And there are hundreds of thousands of Israeli Jews living there in Israel alongside you who share my views. So living under the guns is no excuse for being a right wing rejectionist as you are.

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