To the Editor:
Second Opinion.
A sure nominee for the Most Influential Human Being in History is Abraham (followed at a distance by Paul of Damascus). Considered the father of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, his religious progeny eventually claimed the ancestral family home in Jerusalem and environs. If you think the tenets of faith precluded any of those religions from engaging in war, pillaging, or persecution, you don’t know your history.
No one with a conscience or any knowledge of the Holocaust would deny the Diaspora Jews the right to establish a home for themselves. The point is, they chose a place that was already occupied in the millennia since they left. They had an obligation to work it out (share) with the existing inhabitants. The western nations had an obligation to see that it was a condition of occupation, but Israel, the eldest, wants it all and the west is essentially helping them achieve that.
I suspect that our Editor is selective in advocating that people with an ancient historical presence in a location are entitled to exclusive occupation. Consider, again, the Native Americans. Here long before we arrived, their displacement occurred only because they were brutally forced out. Their conquerors (us) have been here for a mere 100-250 years. So what rights do we, as current occupants, have?
None, under Martin's argument. Residents of Seattle or Dallas, Phoenix, Boston, New York, or Ventura? Find another place to live and be nice about it. No objections, violent or otherwise. The people who lived here long before us, and were violently dispossessed, may reclaim their ancient homeland.
By the way, this current conflict in Israel was begun by the Israelis who, on the first day of Ramadan in April closed down, at gunpoint, one of the holiest sites for Islam because they thought the sound of Muslim prayers would interfere with the Prime Minister’s speech at the nearby Wailing Wall. The Palestinians did not begin the recent hostilities. Google it.
Next week, closer to home.
Kelly Scoles,
Fillmore