Relentless - The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East
A week or so ago I caught a documentary called Peace, Prosperity, and the Promised Land and did a post on it. A few of my young Israeli readers got upset and suggested I check out this film.
A few things I learned watching Relentless:
Israel belongs to the Jews. Jews are native to Israel the same way feather Indians, not to mention Mexicans (?), are native to the lower 48 states here in the US. They'd been living there, without interruption, for over 3,000 years before before the United Nations gave them their country in 1947. Why would the Jews need the United Nations to grant them a country when they'd already been living there for 3,000 years (I've only been in my place for four months!)? Because you're an anti-semite. Duh!
What United Nations? The United Nations resolution that created Israel in 1947 is as legitimate as the first nine Prince albums. Only a crazed, freedom-hating Arab would even consider questioning it. That said, the 1967 resolutions ordering Israel out of Gaza and the West Bank have no credibility. In fact, they weren't even worth being mentioned in this film.
Arabs just aren't a very peaceful people. In 1993, Bill Clinton met with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser "Head Towel" Arafat in Oslo, Norway to get this damn thing solved once and for all. The Jews, because they're nice like that, made the Arabs the kind of offer you'd have to be an idiot to refuse. How did the Arabs respond? More Israelis were killed in the 5 years following Oslo than in the 15 years prior. Meanwhile, in what has to be some sort of record, not a single Arab died, from natural causes or otherwise.
Did we mention suicide bombers? Suicide bombers in Palestine are like the Beatles here in the US (back when the Beatles were still popular). Young girls go crazy over them and put posters of them on the walls over their bed. Text books in Palestinian schools consist of nothing but instructions on how to blow yourself up. The most popular Saturday morning cartoon? Something having to do with blowing up Jews.
On a semi-related note, this film got me to thinking: Do Palestinians ever just kill themselves the way normal people kill themselves - you know, pills and a bottle of champagne, slitting your wrists in a bath tub, etc? I wonder how the rate of suicide, including regular suicides as well as suicide bombers, in Palestine compares to the suicide rate in other countries.
