Poor Palestine

The plight of the poor Palestinians. Nobody in this world every gives them a break. Chased from nation to nation, massacred, raped, bombed, denied basic human rights, no country of refuge of their own. A powerless people that by necessity resorts to violence at times, but they are such a small population that there is no hope of salvation without sponsorship by the more powerful nations of the world. Most of the world however would rather that they just disappear, but that was tried for a time and it just didn't work. Left alone they thrive because they are an intelligent and industrious people. Most of the world refuses to do that though, and now that they have their own tiny corner of the world that they can call their home, not recognized as such by many nations, they still need to withstand constant attempts by a powerful neighbor to destroy them. What hold back their final destruction? Many it is because they have the atomic bomb?

Oh? Are you confused? Did you think I was writing about the Palestinian Arabs? No. I am writing about the original Palestinians. Those who called themselves Palestinians and were known as Palestinians before they became a nation named Israel and before the word 'Palestinian' was appropriated in 1967 by Yassir Arafat. Before the original Palestinians began to call themselves 'Israelis'. The Jewish men and women who when asked who they were would always answer 'Palestinian' because there was no Israel until 1948. The Jews who were members of the Palestinian Brigade during WWII, who were members of the Palestinian Assembly of Representatives, and the Jewish National Council in the Palestine Mandate.

I bring this up because I need to highlight one of the many great successes of the Arab world: To change the meanings of words and the history of the area previously known as Palestine.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Mandate_of_Palestine for an informative Wiki on the British Mandate.

Appropriating language is a common practice in the world. Right-wing reactionaries do it all the time in this country. Left-wingers seem to be less successful. Consider how 'liberal' became a dirty word, how ''anti-abortion' became 'pro-life'. Zealots know that if you change the language and alter the meaning of words, you can control the direction of the argument. Similarly, if you repeat a lie often enough, eventually many people will believe it to be true and you can re-write the historical record.

Think about it. This is NOT the last word I will have on this subject.