Before we come down too hard on the occupying territory of Israel, we Americans should look in the mirror.
We are occupiers of the worst description without even a religious justification for having ravished not only the indigenous former inhabitants of America but a huge portion of the land they had occupied for thousands of years. Israel's sliver of land, occupied or not, is a crumb by comparison, as are the atrocities committed by both sides of this heart-wrenching impasse in the Middle East.
Without going into details nor jusifying the inexcusable predations committed in the fifteenth century and following--why celebrate instead of mourn on Columbus Day, some are asking these days--I want to say that most nations rest on foundations of violence, with Liberia being the only exception, from what I have read.
I see the influx of "illegal" immigration into the United States by hordes of Hispanic/Indigenous hybrids as a form of taking back lands that were once theirs--certainly Texas and California for starters. Whatever their lineage, their life styles where they came from far more resemble those of the indigenous peoples of America, destitute in the vast majority, destitute enough for them to give up everything in order to seek a better life for themselves and a better future for their children. Descriptions of the rank poverty they are risking their lives to escape are devastating.
By 2050 it is predicted that Hispanics in this country will outnumber whites--more Hispanic babies are already being born daily in this country than whites.
In the long run, I believe that the trend of "people of color" more and more asserting their rights against stiff opposition heralds a massive sea change. It's been said before by a Native American: "Europe must die" before America can live. "Europe" means most of us, those living the American Dream and aspiring toward it--whatever their skin color or ethnic origins may be.
In short, I believe that America will once again become a land of indigenous peoples. We call Hispanic imigrants "Hispanic" and mostly "illegal" and "alien."
It won't happen tomorrow: the Koch brothers and their friends are discovering oil and uranium on the miserable reservations we still allow Native Americans to inhabit and they are drilling into an fracking land sacred to them, but the latter is nothing new and hey, we left them lands we considered worthless . . . until now. Where next will they be forced to go? Inner cities? Some of them, if not all, are built on land once considered sacred.
I don't mean to get preachy. I'm a European through and through. My daughter's great-grandmother was a full-blooded Cherokee, but her husband was a Civil War veteran.
I just predict that some day, if "Europeans" don't destroy the beloved Earth altogether, civilization will have evolved. To predict a Nirvana will be saying too much. But the dominators will be People of Color and let us hope that their values are un-"European" enough and less hypocritical to formulate a far superior civilization that ours, the Terminators'. I predict that sheer numbers will be the force that brings this about rather than violence. But what an example we've set for them. Indigenous people welcomed European invaders with friendship. Let them usher us out or assimilate us in the same way.
And as far as the Middle Eastern impasse between Israel and Palestine is concerned, Arab representation in the Knesset is increasing. Where this will lead I can't predict with confidence. I can only hope that Netanyahu's abandonment of the Two State solution will become yesterday's news and can only pray for peace. If you ask me about which side I am "pro" or "anti," call me "pro peace." Peace is, after all, the answer.
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