Why Do Palestinians Deserve What Zionists Did?
“The tragedy of the people of Palestine is that their country was “given” by a foreign power to another people for the creation of a new state. The result was that many hundreds of thousands of innocent people were made permanently homeless. With every new conflict, their numbers increased. How much longer is the world willing to endure this spectacle of wanton cruelty?” ~ Bertrand Russell, 1970
The first question to ask when talking about Israel is Why should Palestinians suffer for European sins? If you think Jews need their own nation, it’s easy to argue that Germans should give them land. But why should Palestinians?
For twelve hundred years, Jews thrived in the Arab world. Muslims believe Jews are one of the peoples of the book, and therefore they are dhimmi, which literally means “protected”. Historically, in return for being protected, adult male dhimmi paid a special tax, the jizya, that gave them the privilege of being exempt from military service. The amount of the special tax varied under different rulers, but it was never described as excessive. Today, no Muslim country requires it.
That special tax explains why Palestine’s devout Jews became Arab (Musta’arabi) Jews. It explains why Palestine’s less religious Jews chose the cheaper solution and converted to Islam. It explains why Palestine’s Hispanic…
