Friday April 20, 2018

I've Been Thinking:

Yesterday Israel celebrated her 70th anniversary of independence. But actually, the anniversary is today.

The anniversary is the 5th day of Iyar. When the 5th of Iyar falls on a Friday (as it did this year), the anniversary is officially celebrated on Thursday. This is Israeli law. It is a way to prevent a national desecration of the Sabbath.

So Thursday was the day before the anniversary. But yesterday was the day Palestinians mourned their Nakba, their catastrophe. What is interesting is that even the Palestinian catastrophe is artificial.

Palestinians chose to protest on a day that really is not the anniversary. In addition, Israel independence day is actually celebrated on the Hebrew date not the Gregorian date. That date should mean nothing to the Palestinians.

But the Palestinians are simply obsessed with their hatred. Listen to what Palestinian leader Ahmed Tibi, who is also a member of Israel's Knesset, said:

"What happened then was a Nakba - a human and national disaster on any scale ... Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian citizens live to this very day close to the villages they were uprooted from. What's more natural, humanitarian and just than returning them to their homes in their abandoned villages and restoring their stolen property?"

"We must recognize our national identity as Palestinians, with empathy to the suffering and loss we've experienced since 1948, which continues to this very day in different ways," he went on to say. "Empathy to another's suffering is an important aspect in narrowing gaps and bridging disagreements, including national conflicts. This is the time to recognize our Palestinian narrative."

Even the hatred was misplaced.
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