AW: [thechat] READ AT YOUR OWN RISK: Open Letter to America from a Canadian

[Eike Pierstorff]

> > Merge the two states into one?
>
> Well that *was* the original idea, but it didn't work. Why? At its heart
> because people just want to live mostly with people like themselves. It's
> comforting to humans.

The original idea was to allow Jews to escape from european antisemitism,
which probably was an even more convicing idea after the Nazis set up death
camps for Jews in Europe. However, according to my "Geschichte des
Zionismus" (History of Zionism?) Jews and Arabs where at first at friendly
terms with each other and Prince Feisal of Mecca promised that there would
be room for Jews and Arabs alike (Feisal did not last very long, he was
disposed of by the French after he proclaimed Arabian independence and his
brother, who followed hom as a political leader, thought different about the
matter).  It must have been comforting for Jewish survivors to live among
other Jews, who where the least likely to kill for your "race" or religion.

> >The idea of a state just for Jews, or a
> > state just for
> > Arabs is so badly wrong, anyway, IMO. Anything where you start to
> > seperate people out
> > based on qualities like that, you'll see sides where really they don't
> > exist.

Jews have been seperated from others quite often, mostly a very short time
before they were killed. Things will change (for the better, I hope) but at
the moment I can understand that there are israelian jews who feel more safe
when they are seperated from the rest of mankind.

-- eike