Who Really Cares About the Palestinians?

For decades there has been an international drumbeat of concern for the Palestinians, their victimhood, their welfare and their human rights. But how much does the world really care about the Palestinians? We are learning now they don't care at all as Assad slaughters them in Syria.

Where are the front-page headlines? Where are the UN condemnations? Where is the U.S. State Department ? Where are the sponsors of flotillas to bring aid to the refugees? Where are the campus protests? Where are the Christian organizations? Where are the peace groups? Where are the pro-Palestinian organizations?

The answer is they are all silent.
Just two months ago, 180 countries voted in favor of Palestinian statehood at the UN, but they have not adopted a resolution condemning the brutal slaughter of Palestinians by Syria. Imagine if Israel were responsible for what is happening to the Palestinians. The UN would have acted immediately and all the groups mentioned above would be in an uproar.

How do we explain the difference?

The answer lies in a simple but inconvenient truth — no one really cares about the Palestinians – unless Jews are involved.

This is not new; you can go back to the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948. The popular misconception is that the Arab states invaded to help the Palestinians. Actually, they intended to carve up Palestine for themselves, not to create a Palestinian state.

From 1949 until 1967, Egypt could have given Gaza to the Palestinians for a state, just as the Jordanians could have created a Palestinian state in the West Bank . Neither did, but no one in the world cared because the Palestinians were not interested in a state and the occupiers were Arabs.

The lack of concern for the Palestinians was also evident after the 1967 War when the UN adopted Resolution 242, which has been the basis for all peace negotiations, yet does not mention the Palestinians.

When the PLO tried to overthrow Jordan's King Hussein in 1970, the world did not show concern for the thousands of Palestinians who were killed by the king's forces. The exact figure is unknown, but the number may be greater than the total for all of the conflicts with Israel put together.

Yet another example of the disinterest toward the Palestinians occurred when Kuwait expelled 300,000 Palestinians for supporting Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. This made no headlines and generated no UN resolutions.

The world was only concerned with the killing of Palestinian refugees in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Lebanon because Jews were in the vicinity. The murderers were Lebanese Christians; nevertheless, it was Israel that was blamed.

After more than 700 Palestinians have been killed in Syria, survivors are fleeing the country. Have you heard any concern for them or for how the Palestinian refugees have been treated for decades in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan?

Israel offered to allow some of the refugees from Syria to go the West Bank, but Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas rejected the idea.

Of course the Palestinians have controlled all the refugee camps in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for almost 20 years and done nothing to move the people into permanent housing and close the camps. They prefer to keep the camps as breeding grounds for terrorists and as examples of victimhood.

The Arab states are full of bluster on the Palestinian issue, but, besides rhetoric, the Arab states provide only token amounts of money so they can say they are contributing to the cause. They have repeatedly pledged aid to the PA, but not made the payments. And, given the wealth of the Gulf states, the amount of these pledges is embarrassing. On January 14, 2013, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said his government might not meet its obligations to its people because of the failure of Arab League members to deliver the $100 million they promised.

Another inconvenient truth is that the world is indifferent to Arabs slaughtering Arabs. We continue to see this in Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and other Arab countries. The usual explanation is essentially a racist one; that is, Arabs are expected to behave in this way whereas Jews are held to a higher standard and that is why their involvement merits worldwide attention.

The irony is that the people who care the most for the Palestinians are probably American and Israeli Jews. In the United States, Jews are among the most vociferous supporters of the Palestinians. The Jewish establishment organizations are also pro-Palestinian, advocating a two-state solution that would give Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza the same freedoms Israelis enjoy, but are currently denied to them by their own leaders. In Israel, many Jews advocate for the Palestinians: Israelis represent them in the courts, join them in protests and speak out on their behalf in the press and the Knesset. The many Arab-Jewish coexistence projects are nearly always initiated by Israeli Jews.
With the slaughter in Syria, Palestinians can see who their real friends are, and most are not the ones they expect.

Wow, you are a wonderful apologist for the Pals and their supporters.

But it is clear that you don't care a fig for your credibility. What you say is all sophistry, which is quite clear to anyone with half a brain.

As violence raged in Syria, U.S. officials made clear Tuesday that the United States has lost patience with President Bashar al-Assad.

"Your days are numbered," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said in comments directed at the Syrian leader. "It is time and past time for you to transfer power responsibly and peacefully."

Both President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have called on Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down, accusing him of “slaughtering” his own people. The United States has also instituted increased sanctions against Syria. European Union diplomats are scheduled to discuss new sanctions on Friday. Europe is in a difficult position with Syria because the European Union economic situation is so fragile and Syria sells 95% of its oil to Europe. The United States does not have as great a dependence on Syrian oil and is freer to move against them.

You are full of crap Advocate.

What we have condemned is the "indiscriminate killing of civilians".

We are excited to announce the upcoming 9th annual Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) starting late February in Europe and moving to various countries through the month of March.

Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is an annual international series of events (including rallies, lectures, cultural performances, film screenings, multimedia displays and boycott of Israel actions) held in cities and campuses across the globe. Last year’s IAW was incredibly successful with over 215 cities participating worldwide.

IAW seeks to raise awareness about Israel’s apartheid policies towards the Palestinians and to build support for the growing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel campaign.

Support for Palestine is growing.

ISA 20:4 So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and
the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their
buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.

In other words, chain them all up, strip them naked, and frog-march them around the med basin for everybody to get a good look at.

You'd also have to totally shut down the entire palisavage media and education systems (permanently) and institute some sort of a de-nazification program similar to what was done in Germany after WW-II.

Support for Palestine is growing.

Quote:

We are excited to announce the upcoming 9th annual Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) starting late February in Europe and moving to various countries through the month of March.

Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is an annual international series of events (including rallies, lectures, cultural performances, film screenings, multimedia displays and boycott of Israel actions) held in cities and campuses across the globe. Last year’s IAW was incredibly successful with over 215 cities participating worldwide.

IAW seeks to raise awareness about Israel’s apartheid policies towards the Palestinians and to build support for the growing Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel campaign.

http://www.palestinecampaign.org/events/israeli-apartheid-week-2013/

Israili apartheid is an oxymoron. After all, Israeli Palestinians are the most prosperous Muslims in the Midddle East.

Israel's health ministry is to investigate why contraceptive injections were widely given to Ethiopian immigrant women.

A new committee will look into allegations that this was done in a deliberate attempt to reduce births in the Ethiopian Israeli community.

In December, an Israeli TV documentary produced evidence about the use of a drug called Depo-Provera.

It suggested immigrants were given shots without their full consent.

At the time, health officials flatly denied this was a policy.

However, the Haaretz newspaper now quotes a Health Ministry spokesperson as saying there will be "an in-depth investigation into this issue, even though it has been looked into in the past, to confirm that there is no such instruction by any agency".

Ministry officials, an independent physician and a representative of the Ethiopian community are expected to sit on the panel.

A new Ethiopian-Israeli member of parliament, Penina Tamanu-Shata, from the second biggest party, Yesh Atid, has been pressing for an inquiry.

The issue is extremely sensitive in Israel where the population of about 120,000 thousand Ethiopian Jews sometimes complains of discrimination. There have been several scandals in the past. In 1996, for example, the Israeli authorities admitted they had secretly disposed of blood donations given by Ethiopian Israelis because of fears about HIV/Aids.

Questions are being asked whether the use of contraceptive shots could have contributed to the 50% drop in the birth rate among Ethiopian immigrant women in the past decade.

Depo-Provera shots, which are given every three months, are not a standard method of birth control in Israel.

Allegations have been made that some Ethiopian women coming to the country were given them against their will and without having the full side effects explained.

In recent weeks, the Health Ministry has issued new advice to gynaecologists "not to renew prescriptions for Depo-Provera for women of Ethiopian origin if for any reason there is concern they might not understand the full ramifications of the treatment".

Wow, you are a wonderful apologist for the Pals and their supporters.

But it is clear that you don't care a fig for your credibility. What you say is all sophistry, which is quite clear to anyone with half a brain.

Quote:

In other words, chain them all up, strip them naked, and frog-march them around the med basin for everybody to get a good look at.

You'd also have to totally shut down the entire palisavage media and education systems (permanently) and institute some sort of a de-nazification program similar to what was done in Germany after WW-II.

I have to congratulate you Gungasnake on your use of irony. Your brilliant parody of a conservative fanatic is the best way to show the contradictions in their rhetoric. And it is funny to boot.

Well done!

Advocate wrote:

Wow, you are a wonderful apologist for the Pals and their supporters.

But it is clear that you don't care a fig for your credibility. What you say is all sophistry, which is quite clear to anyone with half a brain.

so you agot half a brain so you support Obama?
he don't like israel or havent you heard?