Nobody argues that Britain ever had a right to colonize Palestine with European Zionist colonists, even though the Balfour declaration was put into a "legal format" such as the Mandate for Palestine by the League of Nations. All it shows is that the major powers - colonial Western states - chief among them the British Empire, could put into "legal form" and pass any resolution as fits their interests. However, power doesn't make it legal nor moral, much like Israel considers its colonization of the West Bank "legal" and puts it into a legal framework.
Regarding partition, it is ridiculous to claim that anyone had the legal right to partition Palestine between its native inhabitants and illegal European colonists who were forced upon them. That's where Palestine differs from other borders that were drawn in the Middle East. Just to give an idea how ridiculous that resolution was - it would be the equivalent of the UN voting to partition Algeria between Algerians and the French colonists = in fact even worse since most of the Zionist colonists were not even born in Palestine!
Besides conflating innocuous labor migrants (US) with armed colonists (Palestine), you fail to mention that even if there was any legitimacy to UNGA 181 (partition resolution), Israel even in its pre-1967 borders was in violation of the very resolution from which it claims legitimacy when it ethnically cleansed and occupied 78% of Palestine, way beyond the partition plan (UNGA 181 awarded the Zionist colonists 55% of Palestine and obviously never granted them the right to commit ethnic cleansing).
In addition, opponents of UNGA 181 claim that the UN had no right to vote on partitioning Palestine to begin with since it is in opposition to its very own charter and granting illegal European Zionist colonists 55% of Palestine would be the equivalent of the UN voting to partition France between the French and its population of recent illegal immigrants.
That's only the direct aid and if put to present value would be probably a quarter trillion. Add to that the indirect aid, which probably amounts to a similar amount and you're talking some big shekels. Israel does have the entrepreneurial drive that many immigrant societies have but it wouldn't be anywhere near without American support. In fact, it wouldn't even exist without American support.
But the more important thing is that Romney subscribes to racial and cultural supremacy theories - theories that have been used to eradicate and exterminate quite a number of people in the past - that's where the real evil of those statements lays.
I salute you Juan. This is the absolute truth and real history of Palestine - the story of an indigenous population struggle against colonial dispossession. The Zionist colonial project does not aim to live as good neighbors or even exploit their work force - the Zionist state aims to displace them all and clear the land for a Jewish Lebensraum. The more Americans know this, the less support will be for Israel.
Romney's comments are evil and echo the Israeli hasbara which sometimes blames the people of Gaza of not making Gaza a "paradise". That of course would be equivalent of Hitler chastizing and mocking Jews for not making Warsaw Ghetto a thriving economy... it's not only unadulterated evil but one that mocks and berates the victim on top of that.
I am sorry to disappoint Juan, but as an Israeli I can tell you this sounds more like wishful thinking. I know the desperation to see some signs of hope from within Israel but I am afraid that would be a dangerous illusion.
There is no turning of the tide in Israel and the colonial Apartheid beast cannot change its nature. If anything those opposing the war are doing it because they fear Iranian retaliation, not because of some sudden enlightenment. It's quite a negligible part of Israeli society which is steadily marching towards the right with no change in course on the horizon.
Yes, it's nice to see that but it would be an illusion and self-deception to try to read anything into it.
Please do not single out Netanyahu. This policy of strangulation and de-development has been in place for a very long time, in fact since 1967. Israel's aim is to depopulate Area C of the West Bank of Palestinians as they want to corral them into tiny disconnected bantustans on about 8% of historic Palestine.
Yes, evil does not always come in the form of bombings that make the news, yet this beaurocratic strangulation and ethnic cleansing is no less evil than any of Israel's other forms of oppression.
I am sure you have read Disappearing Palestine by Jonathan Cook, where he lists all the methods of dispossession and how it is part of the bigger picture of the Zionist project in Palestine.
Nobody argues that Britain ever had a right to colonize Palestine with European Zionist colonists, even though the Balfour declaration was put into a "legal format" such as the Mandate for Palestine by the League of Nations. All it shows is that the major powers - colonial Western states - chief among them the British Empire, could put into "legal form" and pass any resolution as fits their interests. However, power doesn't make it legal nor moral, much like Israel considers its colonization of the West Bank "legal" and puts it into a legal framework.
Regarding partition, it is ridiculous to claim that anyone had the legal right to partition Palestine between its native inhabitants and illegal European colonists who were forced upon them. That's where Palestine differs from other borders that were drawn in the Middle East. Just to give an idea how ridiculous that resolution was - it would be the equivalent of the UN voting to partition Algeria between Algerians and the French colonists = in fact even worse since most of the Zionist colonists were not even born in Palestine!
Besides conflating innocuous labor migrants (US) with armed colonists (Palestine), you fail to mention that even if there was any legitimacy to UNGA 181 (partition resolution), Israel even in its pre-1967 borders was in violation of the very resolution from which it claims legitimacy when it ethnically cleansed and occupied 78% of Palestine, way beyond the partition plan (UNGA 181 awarded the Zionist colonists 55% of Palestine and obviously never granted them the right to commit ethnic cleansing).
In addition, opponents of UNGA 181 claim that the UN had no right to vote on partitioning Palestine to begin with since it is in opposition to its very own charter and granting illegal European Zionist colonists 55% of Palestine would be the equivalent of the UN voting to partition France between the French and its population of recent illegal immigrants.
That's only the direct aid and if put to present value would be probably a quarter trillion. Add to that the indirect aid, which probably amounts to a similar amount and you're talking some big shekels. Israel does have the entrepreneurial drive that many immigrant societies have but it wouldn't be anywhere near without American support. In fact, it wouldn't even exist without American support.
But the more important thing is that Romney subscribes to racial and cultural supremacy theories - theories that have been used to eradicate and exterminate quite a number of people in the past - that's where the real evil of those statements lays.
I salute you Juan. This is the absolute truth and real history of Palestine - the story of an indigenous population struggle against colonial dispossession. The Zionist colonial project does not aim to live as good neighbors or even exploit their work force - the Zionist state aims to displace them all and clear the land for a Jewish Lebensraum. The more Americans know this, the less support will be for Israel.
Romney's comments are evil and echo the Israeli hasbara which sometimes blames the people of Gaza of not making Gaza a "paradise". That of course would be equivalent of Hitler chastizing and mocking Jews for not making Warsaw Ghetto a thriving economy... it's not only unadulterated evil but one that mocks and berates the victim on top of that.
I am sorry to disappoint Juan, but as an Israeli I can tell you this sounds more like wishful thinking. I know the desperation to see some signs of hope from within Israel but I am afraid that would be a dangerous illusion.
There is no turning of the tide in Israel and the colonial Apartheid beast cannot change its nature. If anything those opposing the war are doing it because they fear Iranian retaliation, not because of some sudden enlightenment. It's quite a negligible part of Israeli society which is steadily marching towards the right with no change in course on the horizon.
Yes, it's nice to see that but it would be an illusion and self-deception to try to read anything into it.
Please do not single out Netanyahu. This policy of strangulation and de-development has been in place for a very long time, in fact since 1967. Israel's aim is to depopulate Area C of the West Bank of Palestinians as they want to corral them into tiny disconnected bantustans on about 8% of historic Palestine.
Yes, evil does not always come in the form of bombings that make the news, yet this beaurocratic strangulation and ethnic cleansing is no less evil than any of Israel's other forms of oppression.
I am sure you have read Disappearing Palestine by Jonathan Cook, where he lists all the methods of dispossession and how it is part of the bigger picture of the Zionist project in Palestine.