Thursday, February 25, 2010

A little perspective

Gil Troy at the Jerusalem Post tells us that March 1-14 has been declared "Israeli Apartheid Week" and there will be many fun and varied activities to celebrate on college campuses across the US.

There are so many other bloggers who can respond to this better than I can.

The problem is that so many people out there don't really know the history of this place. Of my country. It is to long, varied and complex to recount here.

But I do have this to show you:



This is a map of the British mandate of Palestine (1920-1946). Notice how the mandate includes both present-day Israel and Jordan. Jordan is a muslim country.

Next:



In November, 1947 the United Nations partitioned the British mandate to look like this. The Jews were to be granted what appears on the map in blue. Over 75% of the land allocated to the Jews was desert. We accepted the plan; the arabs didn't. After Israel declared independence in May, 1948, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria attacked Israel, vowing to destroy us. This marked the official beginning of the modern "Arab-Israeli Conflict". 62 years later, we're still fighting for our right to be here.

And one more:



Look at Israel on this map (or feel free to go to any map or globe) and compare this one Jewish country and its land to all the Arab-muslim countries surrounding it. How many Jews do you think live freely in these countries?

NOW talk to me about my apartheid country.



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Haveil Havalim is up at my friend Ruti's place. She did such a great job, you won't believe it's her first time!

4 comments:

Mrs. S. said...

Beautifully put!

Shabbat Shalom and Purim Samei'ach!

Anonymous said...

I repeat myself, you are awesome!
Shabbat shalom and Purim sameach!
Arlene

Leora said...

Good job. Excellent. And may I add that many Jews used to live in those Arab countries. But they were forced to live. Where is the outcry? What of their losses?

Batya said...

I've also done posts like these, because few people have a clue as to the size and history of Israel.