Ediblog.com
End Israeli Settlement Activity?
By Ariel Natan Pasko
Every time I hear an American official remind Israel on the need to end
settlement activity, my blood pressure starts to go up. Those American
officials have hit the nail on the head. Yes, for sure, settlement activity
should come to a halt and the occupied territories should be given up.
So when David Satterfield, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near
Eastern Affairs recently spoke out again, I couldn't agree with him more.
I whole-heartedly agree, and by the way the Mexicans would too. America
should return the occupied Southwestern territories it took from Mexico
(some say bought, but that was after the war). Since according to
International Law, conquest does not transfer sovereignty rights, America
has been occupying illegally California, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas
since 1845. George W. Bush - the settler - will have to give up his home, as
he suggests others do elsewhere. I propose that an International Peace
Conference be convened, to reopen this long historic injustice, and settle
this conflict permanently. I'm sure America would find Israel to be a friend
and an even-handed participant.
As Satterfield recently said, Israel must stop building settlements and
rethink a barrier in the West Bank and told Palestinian leaders to rein in
terrorist attacks. And I fully agree. America should also stop building its
anti-immigration wall along the US-Mexican border. Lucky for the Americans,
the Mexicans long ago stopped terrorist attacks against American settlers,
they just want to return to their homeland - California, New Mexico,
Arizona, and Texas - to find work. Israelis aren't as lucky, the
Palestinians still are trying regularly to slaughter Jewish
"settlers" and are too often successful.
I guess Israel's security fence is more justified than the American's wall.
So when an American official spouts-off about giving up occupied
territories, they should first check to see if their membership card for
MEChA is still valid.
MEChA by the way, is a radical Hispanic students organization in the
Southwest United States, whose constitution Article II, Section 1, says,
"...general membership shall consist of any student who accepts,
believes and works for the goals and objectives of MEChA, including the
liberation of AZTLAN, meaning self-determination of our people in this
occupied state and the physical liberation of our land." MEChA is just
the tip of the Hispanic liberation iceberg.
This radical movement and other liberationists like them, identifies itself
as "America's Palestinians." Their ultimate goal is to reclaim the
American Southwest, including California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and
parts of Colorado and Texas. Hispanic activists refer to the former Mexican
territory as Aztlan, the mythical place of origin of the Aztec people.
Aztecs in Colorado? Palestinians in Hebron or Jerusalem?
I think, since anyone can open a bible and see for themselves that the
Jews/Israelis were in Hebron and Jerusalem for thousands of years, there
shouldn't be a question as to whose land it is. But I don't know, those
Aztecs have a point...
Since both Christians and Muslims believe in G-D's revelation to the
Children of Israel and His promise of bringing them into a land - the
present Israel - there shouldn't be too much dispute, Jews aren't settlers
in Judea and Samaria - the West Bank - and Gaza, they're the indigenous
population. Jews have lived in their ancient homeland from time immemorial.
The same cannot be said of those European and African settlers living in the
American Southwest. Black and White settlers might just have to return their
lands to the original inhabitants, Aztecs or Mexicans, or whomever a proper
International Tribunal shall determine to be the rightful owners.
I don't recall anywhere in the New Testament or in any African writings that
claim that G-D gave them the Southwest United States, or for that matter
anywhere in the "New World". By the way, lets not forget the
genocidal slaughter of the Native Americans in the rest of what's now called
the United States. Fair is fair, and if American officials and American
policy can call on Israel to give up lands, Israel should reciprocate and
file motions in the UN on behalf of the Mexicans, the Aztecs, and the other
indigenous peoples in North America.
When Satterfield recently said, "As Israeli settlements expand ... it
becomes ever more difficult to see how two peoples can be separated into two
states," He didn't stop to think, who is right, whose land it is, and
who is stealing. Arabs invaded the area in the 7th century. Why should they
have a state? The 22 Arab states they already have aren't enough?
Satterfield said in a speech to a conference on the Arab-Israeli War in
1967, "Settlement activity must stop." If he meant in Los Angeles,
and Phoenix, and Dallas, I agree. But in Hebron, where my forefathers
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived; where King David ruled from, before
Jerusalem, forget it!
"The course of the separation barrier under construction now remains a
significant problem as well ... and, like settlement activity itself, takes
everyone further from the comfort and trust necessary to achieve the
president's vision of two states," Satterfield said. When George W.
Bush packs up his home and migrates to, lets see where was that, the east
coast? Or was that Great Britain? I'll consider giving up part of the Land
of Israel - for all of a split second - no, let Bush be a refugee, the Jews
have G-d on their side, and are already home.
Satterfield concluded, saying that a two-state vision "must be the
basis for any lasting final status arrangement." Boy is he right-on
there, and I hope the Aztecs enjoy living on Bush's ranch.
By the way, where does Satterfield live?