Jews

First, a disclaimer -- I'm not Jewish -- I'm of mixed Scottish/Irish/English descent. I'm barely Christian; I was born that way, but I don't practice it.

I was intrigued by the review of Schindler's list that you put up on your web site. It wasn't so much the review you put up, but rather people's comments on it. Such as this one:

"Maybe you should read more about them. what did they do to be afflicted as such."

...which is essentially implying that the persecution that Jews have received over the years is deserved. I think that's rather unfair; "The Jews" didn't do anything; most are just people living their life the way anyone around the world lives their life. They do not, as a group, act or do anything different or nefarious, anymore than "Muslims" are terrible people because of the radicals who pervert the Koran, beheading people in the name of Allah. Most Jewish people are just folks living their lives; the same as Muslims or any other group of people.

And this one:

"Schindler's list aint the real history book. As a muslim i suggest that we refer to our Koran. By the way Aiz..you are a muslim arent you?"

It seems to imply that if you don't hate Jewish people, you aren't a real Mulsim. I hope this isn't a prevailing sentiment.

I realize there is a lot of anti-Jewish sentiment in the Muslim world, and with some reason -- but let me perhaps explain it to you my from perspective, for what it's worth.

Clearly the land that is now Israel was a historic homeland of Jews, as well as Arab Mulsims; there are shared holy sites there. Jewish people had a movement to gain a homeland before WWII -- Arabs and Muslims sided with Hitler during WWII, which was an unfortunate alliance. Had the Jews not been so persecuted -- exterminated en-masse by the Germans, they would not have had a homeland artificially created for them.

Incidentally, some Nazi propaganda films equated Jews to vermin; pests that needed to be exterminated, like cockroaches. It seems to me that I hear a bit of rhetoric like this from some of the more radical Imams -- recently an Iraqi Imam called Jews "offspring of pigs and apes" In a sense, dehumanizing them, making it easier to invent all sorts of horrific stories of what they do and are, making it easier to hate and kill them.

In any event, the area that is Israel and Palestine was occupied by the British -- after WWII, the mandate that the British put before the UN was the creation of a state of Israel for the Jews, and Palestine for the Palestinians. Not a fair deal for the people who'd lived there, I'll agree, but that's what happens in war: to the victor go the spoils, and clearly based on how the Jews were treated, some kind of safe haven was needed.

The ironic thing about the entire situation is that had everyone signed on to the original UN resolution put forth by the British, there would be an Israeli and a Palestinian state today. That was always the plan. What happened, though, is the neighboring countries of Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Syria, etc. all attacked Israel within 3 days of it being formed as a nation.

All of Israel's neighboring countries refused to acknowledge Israel as a country, and had determined to push the Jews "into the sea" They lost that war, and they also lost the 3 day war in 1967 -- the result of that war is why Israel is in the occupied territories. They won that land it battle, and claimed it in order to defend themselves from their neighboring countries, which all were at the time threatening Israel with destruction.

Now I realize many may consider the creation of Israel to be illegitimate to begin with, and thus reject all of this entirely. The fact is, however, that Israel exists, and it is not going anywhere. It needs to be dealt with in a progressive and positive manner.

The Palestinians surely suffer, but they suffer not just from the Jewish people in Israel. The Palestinians have been used as pawns by Jordan, Syria -- all of the neighboring countries. They've been rejected asylum in said countries, and they've been (in my opinion) used as martyrs to focus people's hatred on the Jewish people, not on the corrupt governments that are sitting atop many of the countries in that area of the world.

What happens with Israel gives land back that they won in war? They did so with Lebanon, and it proceeded to be occupied by people who used it as a base to attack Israel. They are essentially faced with a situation where in order to maintain security, they need a buffer zone.

Are atrocities committed by Jewish people in Palestine? I think so. I also think that atrocities are committed by Palestinians there as well, and the way neighboring countries -- and Arafat himself -- have used the Palestinian people I find almost as objectionable. I find the Israeli settlements to be utterly disingenuous -- but I also find the idea of suicide bombing -- blowing up as many civilians people as possible in a cafe or pizza parlor -- to be even more abhorrent.

All of this is just background information; the real issue I'm wondering about is why does it seem like in order to be Mulsim, you have to despise Jewish people? The amount of distortion that goes on is amazing -- a poll in Egypt shows that people think the perpetrators of 9/11 are, in order:

1) The Mossad
2) The CIA

...way down on the list is bin Laden. I simply just do not understand such things.

From the perspective of an American, we want nothing more than for the situation to be resolved. But if the root of a lot of this is simply blind hatred for "The Jews" I don't see how that can ever be resolved.

I hope I haven't offended you with any of this; it isn't my intent. I'm really interested in how all of this is perceived by people in moderate, modern countries like Malaysia.

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