My day pretty much starts off the same way every day. I have my morning cup of green tea while surfing the news articles of the web. I wouldn't want to venture out into the world without knowing whether the sky was going to fall, or something of that nature.
One day, while courageously trudging through the doom and gloom that news articles often offer. A series of questions popped into my mind and I could not set them aside.
The first question was what is the big deal about the Palestinian U.N. bid? After all it was the U.N. recognition of the State of Israel that played a vital role in the establishment of its legitimacy.
After all of the failed attempts in negotiating a peace deal between these two parties. I feel that perhaps the U.N. involvement may not be a bad thing. I can find no reason to thwart the efforts of Palestine to be recognized as a sovereign state and the vast majority of the world leaders have arrived to the same conclusion.
The second question that came to mind seemed to have a simple answer at first. Why is America the only nation to back the Israeli stance? Well of course the answer would be, because they are our allies and the only democracy in the region.
I had to question whether the Israel being a democracy would hinder the support of other nations, and it turns out that this would not be a contributing factor. My research did however turn up something that most people do not know.
According to Professor Shlomo Sand (Hebrew University, Tel Aviv) and Professor Ilan Pappe (Hebrew University, Tel Aviv), Israel is not a true democracy. It is what they refer to as an "Ethnic Democracy". They state that twenty five percent of the citizens in Israel do not have the same rights as the Jewish population and are treated as second class citizens.
This brought me to my third and final question. Why does America support Israel so strongly if these professors are correct in their analogy of the situation?
I can only find two reasons for such great support by the American government, neither of which feels me with joy.
The first reason is media spin which I feel is a byproduct of the second reason, the Israeli Lobbyist.
These two elements combined work very effectively by coercing large numbers of Christian organizations into supporting the Israeli government. These religious groups in turn apply pressure to government officials, some of which have already been wooed themselves.
I truly hope things work out for the Israeli and Palestinian people. At the same time, I hope America remembers that sometimes you have to let your friends know when they are wrong. That is also what friends are for.
Written by: D.C. Willis
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