Saturday, December 1, 2012


UN Move Issues 'Birth Certificate' to Palestine
   The UN this week issued a birth certificate to Palestine. That is how Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas characterized the UN's upgrading of Palestine status to nonmember state.
   "Nonmember state" might not sound like much, but the significance of the UN's 138-9 vote is that Palestine is now recognized as a sovereign government in the eyes of  that body. Israel controls the West Bank and East Jerusalem (parts of Palestine), a control that is now at odds with the UN's recognition.
   The date of this decision prompts me to lift an eye. It came Thursday, Nov. 29 -- 65 years to the day after the UN voted to partition the area that was all then called Palestine into two states, one for the Jews and the other for the Arabs. In his passionate plea to the UN Thursday, Abbas said the ruling was a last chance to save the two-state solution set forth 65 years ago. 

   Bethlehem, birthplace of the Savior, is in the West Bank. The West Bank is also the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people.
   Israel responded quickly to the UN move, the next day announcing it will build 3,000 more homes for Jews in the West Bank. The news story I saw on that had a picture of a sign put up by the Palestinians, saying, "Warning: This is illegally occupied land, State of Palestine, 29/11/12." I had never thought of it till then, but when the Arabs refer to Palestine as being occupied by Israel, they may be referring as much to the Jewish settlements as they do to Israel's control.
   I do not consider the Jews moving to Palestine to be a form of "occupation," at least, certainly not a ruling occupation. Nor do I think it should be considered illegal for the Jews to immigrate there. Perhaps I am wrong, though, and this is not part of what the Palestinians mean when they say they are suffering under an occupation.
   The Jewish settlements, though, remind me a little of another group of people considered as Israelites by some, who immigrate to a chosen land (the U.S.), only to be told they are illegal invaders. 

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