Originally Posted by
Howie
And what would you do if you were one of the besieged and oppressed population of Gaza - sit there with your family and suffer or fight back?
I've never really though hard about the Israel / Palestine issue.
In biblical times there were the hebrews living in Palestine. Jesus came along and threw a spanner into the works, as far as the scribes / pharasees and high priests of the day (the sanhedren?) are concerned. This brings my first question -
In modern day terms, who side were the high priests on? Where do the jewish people fit in? After Jesus, the christians appeared. The likes of St Paul, St John, Mary Magdalene etc - who would they line up alongside?
Don't know about jewish history, but the next time they appear in our history is in the time of Richard the lionheart (Ivanhoe falls for a jewish girl, daughter of a money lender / the merchant of venice, with Shylock, another money person).
Then there is WW1, when the Brits are on the side of the palestinians.
WW2 when the jews of eastern europe are persecuted by the nazis. At the end of WW2, the jews return to their homeland (did the jews originate from what is now Israel?). Then the troubles start.
Are palestinians part of the arab nations? What religion are they?
Israel was formed to house the jewish people, but how many palestinians live in Israel? Israel seems a strong nation, fighting to maintain its territory. The palestinians appear a poor people with more than their fair share of hotheads (who come across as a parody of a scene from the Life of Brian). Yet somehow, between them, they have created a situation that no-one can solve.
Wouldn't it be nice if Barack Obama was able to get a consensus from other world leaders, then bang a few heads together to come up with a solution.
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Above are my (rather simplistic) thoughts. If anyone can answer a few of the questions from above, I would be grateful.
Best wishes for a better year. John
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