Monday, March 12, 2007
A Report That Raises More Questions Than it Answers
This Reuters story by 'special correspondent' Alistair Lyon carries the headline: Misery tempts Palestinian Christians to flee. Here's the first paragraph:
Despairing of life under Israeli occupation, many Palestinian Christians are moving abroad, threatening their ancient links to Bethlehem and the land where Jesus was born.
Forgive me for thinking, based on that sentence, that the Christians were leaving the Bethlehem in the West Bank, (of the former Kingdom of Transjordan, of the former British Palestine Mandate, of the former Ottoman Empire) BECAUSE of the Israeli occupation. It turns out not to be the case.
There's this atrociously unfair paragraph: A towering concrete wall is closing in on Bethlehem as part of a barrier that Israel is erecting, which it calls a defense against suicide bombers from the occupied West Bank. Much of it has been built on Palestinian land.
Were there not suicide bombers entering Israel from the West Bank which the fence has greatly reduced? Mr. Lyon seems under the delusion that the second Intifada grisly death toll is some sort of Israeli propaganda.
Then come the real reasons both Christians and Muslims have left and are leaving Bethlehem.
1) The aid-dependent Palestinian economy took a devastating hit when international donors decided to boycott a Hamas government formed after the Islamists won an election in January 2006.
How is that Israel's fault? It isn't. The Palestinians have only to look in a mirror to see who is responsible for the cutting off of the European dole they have relied on for 50 years or more. The rest need no comment.
2) Violent infighting between Hamas and the once-dominant Fatah faction has driven Palestinians closer to breaking point.
3) Two-thirds of the population now live in poverty, according to the British charity Oxfam, with more than half unable to meet their families' daily food requirements without assistance.
4) ... most [Christians] cited similar motives to Muslim migrants -- political conditions, unemployment and lawlessness, although discomfort with rising Muslim militancy was a factor for some.
It would appear to most fair-minded readers that the Palestinians are responsible for the growing self-exile of the Palestinians, but there's a greater historical precedent for blaming the Jews for, well, everything.
Here's where I wish the writer had had either a bit of human curiosity (or less stringent lefty blinders on):
About 50,000 Christians live in the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war -- east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Another 110,00 reside in Israel.
And what's the emigration rate for the Christians who reside in Israel? I'd bet a lot less want out of that particular Israeli occupation. Anyone care to bet against me?
Despairing of life under Israeli occupation, many Palestinian Christians are moving abroad, threatening their ancient links to Bethlehem and the land where Jesus was born.
Forgive me for thinking, based on that sentence, that the Christians were leaving the Bethlehem in the West Bank, (of the former Kingdom of Transjordan, of the former British Palestine Mandate, of the former Ottoman Empire) BECAUSE of the Israeli occupation. It turns out not to be the case.
There's this atrociously unfair paragraph: A towering concrete wall is closing in on Bethlehem as part of a barrier that Israel is erecting, which it calls a defense against suicide bombers from the occupied West Bank. Much of it has been built on Palestinian land.
Were there not suicide bombers entering Israel from the West Bank which the fence has greatly reduced? Mr. Lyon seems under the delusion that the second Intifada grisly death toll is some sort of Israeli propaganda.
Then come the real reasons both Christians and Muslims have left and are leaving Bethlehem.
1) The aid-dependent Palestinian economy took a devastating hit when international donors decided to boycott a Hamas government formed after the Islamists won an election in January 2006.
How is that Israel's fault? It isn't. The Palestinians have only to look in a mirror to see who is responsible for the cutting off of the European dole they have relied on for 50 years or more. The rest need no comment.
2) Violent infighting between Hamas and the once-dominant Fatah faction has driven Palestinians closer to breaking point.
3) Two-thirds of the population now live in poverty, according to the British charity Oxfam, with more than half unable to meet their families' daily food requirements without assistance.
4) ... most [Christians] cited similar motives to Muslim migrants -- political conditions, unemployment and lawlessness, although discomfort with rising Muslim militancy was a factor for some.
It would appear to most fair-minded readers that the Palestinians are responsible for the growing self-exile of the Palestinians, but there's a greater historical precedent for blaming the Jews for, well, everything.
Here's where I wish the writer had had either a bit of human curiosity (or less stringent lefty blinders on):
About 50,000 Christians live in the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war -- east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Another 110,00 reside in Israel.
And what's the emigration rate for the Christians who reside in Israel? I'd bet a lot less want out of that particular Israeli occupation. Anyone care to bet against me?
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 11:26 PM 
