Top Ten Myths about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Jeremy R. Hammond, Foreign Policy Journal, June 17, 2010

Myth #1 – Jews and Arabs have always been in conflict in the region.

Although Arabs were a majority in Palestine prior to the creation of the state of Israel, there had always been a Jewish population, as well. For the most part, Jewish Palestinians got along with their Arab neighbors. This began to change with the onset of the Zionist movement, because the Zionists rejected the right of the Palestinians to self-determination and wanted Palestine for their own, to create a “Jewish State” in a region where Arabs were the majority and owned most of the land.

For instance, after a series of riots in Jaffa in 1921 resulting in the deaths of 47 Jews and 48 Arabs, the occupying British held a commission of inquiry, which reported their finding that “there is no inherent anti-Semitism in the country, racial or religious.” Rather, Arab attacks on Jewish communities were the result of Arab fears about the stated goal of the Zionists to take over the land.

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Ahoy There! “Bob” Comes in at Fourth in Crucial Boat Race while Oil Continues to Pour into Mexican Gulf!

Well do I remember how my heart leapt for joy as I gazed out of the subway train that took me across the Charles River from Boston to Harvard Square and saw the yachts on the Charles plying joyously to and fro on the river below, their white sails gleaming in the summer sunshine.

Brought up by the sea, I cannot resist a good boat race, such as the J. P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race that took place around the Isle of Wight off England’s southern coast yesterday.

Nor, it seems, can another feller who’s been in the news lately, and who owns the yacht, Bob, pictured left.

Any guesses?

Clue: Senator Richard Shelby, Republican of Alabama, said: “I can tell you that yacht ought to be here skimming and cleaning up a lot of the oil.”

Commenting on the owner’s jaunty outing, Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, sardonically observed, “he’s got his life back.”

No doubt, its owner is today nursing his disappointment at failing to secure the Roman Golden Bowl trophy, Bob coming in at fourth. That said, there’s nothing like a good boat race to take your mind off things!

Boats round the Needles on the Isle of Wight during the Round the Island Race. No short cuts here, it seems! Photograph: onEdition

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