Israel at 60
If we have to pretend states have birthdays, we have to take the metaphor to its logical conclusion…
Apparently, Israel is turning 60.
You know what that means? Israel is only two years away from reaching the legal retirement age!
That’s right, maybe when it turns 62, Israel will finally pack its bags, move to Florida, and let the Palestinians return to their homes and live in peace.
If you want to know what all the fanfare is about, why Israel out of all countries in the world is the only one that has to mobilize a multi-million dollar campaign to celebrate its “birthday” in places that are… not Israel… read up about some of complications that accompanied Israel’s birth: namely, a little problem called “the Palestinian people,” who were dispossessed of their lands, homes, rights, and security in 1947 and 1948, and continue to live mostly under military law (aka, brute force) in the West Bank and Gaza, thanks to billions of dollars of birthday gifts that the United States gives Israel every year.
Editorial in the SF Chronicle: Mayor Newsom’s Israel trip is ill-advised on the 60th anniversary of the Nakbah
On May 15, my family will commemorate an-Nakba, Arabic for “the catastrophe,” which is the dark underbelly of Israel’s foundation. Sixty years ago, Jewish militants and, later, the Israeli army, forced 2 out of every 3 Palestinians - more than 700,000 people - to flee their homes. Many Palestinians who resisted expulsion or were unable to leave were massacred in cold blood, as were those who returned to harvest food from their orchards or gather personal belongings left behind. The Palestinians who fled now constitute the oldest unresolved refugee population in the world, despite their internationally recognized right to return. Meanwhile, Israel permits any Jew from anywhere in the world to immigrate and obtain citizenship.
General Resources about the Nakbah: Electronic Intifada’s Nakbah page.
I’m afraid Israel can’t wish that problem away when it blows out the candles next week.
