"So what's your solution?" by Moshe Arens
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1089751.html
This editorial is by Moshe Arens, former Minister of Defense and Foreign Minister of Israel. Arens is a member of the Likud party, the major center-right political party in Israel. The newspaper is the Haaretz, a left-leaning daily that has been described as "the most prestigious Israeli newspaper" and "Israel's liberal beacon". Neither the author who wrote this editorial, nor the paper that published it, can be considered the fringe of Israeli political thought.
For Arens, an axiom (#2) necessary for any negotiations of a two-state solution in Israel-Palestine is: “There is a limit to the size of the minority population that can be included within the borders of the State of Israel without endangering the Jewish state's ethnic coherence.” This is an extraordinary statement. Imagine other politicians making equivalent statements. A white American politician calling for the deportation of blacks and Hispanics so as not to “endanger the state’s ethnic coherence”. Imagine Han Chinese, Iraqi Shiites, South African blacks, or Indian Hindus calling for the depopulation of minorities in their respective countries. This sort of blatant racism would be considered outrageous by the international community if it came from anywhere other than Israel.
This racism is mostly overlooked by the West because the state of Israel, as it currently exists, is inherently racist. To renounce the views of politicians like Moshe Arens, would call into question our entrenched policy of being a loyal ally with Israel. To accept the current state of Israel, one has to accept that Jews are superior to Arabs, and that Jews have more of a right to live in this land than other peoples.
Enacted two years after the founding of the state of Israel, and now a cornerstone of Israeli national identity, the Law of Return gives the Jews of the world the right to settle in Israel and be made citizens. Arabs, despite having equally significant historical and religious ties to the land, are officially considered less worthy to live in the state of Israel. Imagine if a law like this existed in the U.S., and did the equivalent for whites or Christians, inviting and giving them preferential treatment merely because of their religious-ethnic similarity to the majority.
This intrinsic racism can be seen in the existence and expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Under military occupation since 1967, the Palestinian territories are now home to nearly half a million Israeli settlers. These Israeli settlers are not subject to the same military and local laws as the Palestinians. This has created a system where settlers enjoy liberties and legal guarantees that are denied to Palestinians. The UN security council, the International Court of Justice, the EU, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch all consider the Israeli settlements to be illegal. Israelis argue they have a right to build these illegal settlements because of the “Bible and the history of Jewish people”. That Jewish people lived in the area within the last 2,000 years is, in the Israeli view, enough justification for the flagrant violation of international law.
Moshe Arens use of the term ‘Judea and Samaria’ for what is internationally known as ‘the West Bank’, reveals the religious motivation of his racism. The terms Judea and Samaria are used to demonstrate a biblical Jewish connection to the land and thus supply the rationale for contemporary Jewish control over the area.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
New Words and Etymologies
Newly discovered words
4/22/2009
Exegesis - Critical explanation or analysis, especially of a text. GREEK: exegeisthai “explain, interpret,” from ex- “out” + hegeisthai “to lead, guide.”
Invidious - Tending to rouse ill will, animosity, or resentment. LATIN: invidiosus “envious,” from invidia “ill will”. Consider: envy
Braggadocio – A braggart. Stock character in drama, such as Shakepeare’s Falstaff. From: Brag, braggen, ORIGIN UNKNOWN
Cardamom - A rhizomatous Indian herb having capsular fruits with aromatic seeds used as a spice or condiment. GREEK: kardamōmon : kardamon, “cress” + amōmon, an Indian spice
Eidetic - Marked by or involving extraordinarily accurate and vivid recall especially of visual images; technical term for ‘photographic memory’; GREEK: eidos, “form”
Rhizomatous - A horizontal, usually underground stem that often sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Also called rootstalk, rootstock. GREEK: rhiza, “root”
4/23/2009
Transgenic - Of, relating to, or being an organism whose genome has been altered by the transfer of a gene or genes from another species or breed. LATIN: trans-, “beyond, across, over” + ENGLISH: genic, “produced or generating something” OR “relating to genes”
Catechism – A summary or exposition of religious doctrine. GREEK: katechizein, “teach orally, instruct by word of mouth,”
———————————————————————————————————-
Etymological origins discovered
4/22/2009
Spawn – LATIN: expandere, “to spread out, pour out”; The notion is of a “spreading out” of fish eggs released in water.
Tadpole - tadde “toad” OLD ENGLISH: tadige, tadie + pol “head” MIDDLE DUTCH: pol “head, top.”
Fall - OLD ENGLISH: feallan. Noun sense of “autumn” (now only in U.S.) is 1664, short for fall of the leaf (1545).
Autumn - LATIN: autumnus, a word probably of Etruscan origin. Harvest was the Eng. name for the season until autumn began to displace it 16c.
Narcoleptic – GREEK: narke, “numbness, stupor” (consider: narcotic) + lepsis, “an attack, seizure.”
Remember – LATIN: rememorari “recall to mind, remember,” from re- “again” + memorari “be mindful of,” from memor “mindful”. Consider: memory
Jism – DISPUTED: Probably related to Jazz, which has an undetermined etymology. Possibly african or gaelic origin. AMERICAN
Root – OLD NORSE: rot, “root”
4/23/2009
Fluorescent – Glowing in ultraviolet light. Coined by Eng. mathematician and physicist Sir George G. Stokes (1819-1903) from fluorspar(fluorine), because in it he first noticed the phenomenon, + ending -escence from opalescence, phosphorescence
Fluorine – Element 9, symbol F. LATIN: fluor, “a flowing, flow”. Consider: fluent
Ibid. – LATIN: ibidem, “in the same place,” from ibi, “there” + demonstrative suffix -dem.
Terrace – LATIN: terra, “earth, land”. Consider: terrain
Indonesia – LATIN: indus, “india” + GREEK: nesos, “island”
4/22/2009
Exegesis - Critical explanation or analysis, especially of a text. GREEK: exegeisthai “explain, interpret,” from ex- “out” + hegeisthai “to lead, guide.”
Invidious - Tending to rouse ill will, animosity, or resentment. LATIN: invidiosus “envious,” from invidia “ill will”. Consider: envy
Braggadocio – A braggart. Stock character in drama, such as Shakepeare’s Falstaff. From: Brag, braggen, ORIGIN UNKNOWN
Cardamom - A rhizomatous Indian herb having capsular fruits with aromatic seeds used as a spice or condiment. GREEK: kardamōmon : kardamon, “cress” + amōmon, an Indian spice
Eidetic - Marked by or involving extraordinarily accurate and vivid recall especially of visual images; technical term for ‘photographic memory’; GREEK: eidos, “form”
Rhizomatous - A horizontal, usually underground stem that often sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Also called rootstalk, rootstock. GREEK: rhiza, “root”
4/23/2009
Transgenic - Of, relating to, or being an organism whose genome has been altered by the transfer of a gene or genes from another species or breed. LATIN: trans-, “beyond, across, over” + ENGLISH: genic, “produced or generating something” OR “relating to genes”
Catechism – A summary or exposition of religious doctrine. GREEK: katechizein, “teach orally, instruct by word of mouth,”
———————————————————————————————————-
Etymological origins discovered
4/22/2009
Spawn – LATIN: expandere, “to spread out, pour out”; The notion is of a “spreading out” of fish eggs released in water.
Tadpole - tadde “toad” OLD ENGLISH: tadige, tadie + pol “head” MIDDLE DUTCH: pol “head, top.”
Fall - OLD ENGLISH: feallan. Noun sense of “autumn” (now only in U.S.) is 1664, short for fall of the leaf (1545).
Autumn - LATIN: autumnus, a word probably of Etruscan origin. Harvest was the Eng. name for the season until autumn began to displace it 16c.
Narcoleptic – GREEK: narke, “numbness, stupor” (consider: narcotic) + lepsis, “an attack, seizure.”
Remember – LATIN: rememorari “recall to mind, remember,” from re- “again” + memorari “be mindful of,” from memor “mindful”. Consider: memory
Jism – DISPUTED: Probably related to Jazz, which has an undetermined etymology. Possibly african or gaelic origin. AMERICAN
Root – OLD NORSE: rot, “root”
4/23/2009
Fluorescent – Glowing in ultraviolet light. Coined by Eng. mathematician and physicist Sir George G. Stokes (1819-1903) from fluorspar(fluorine), because in it he first noticed the phenomenon, + ending -escence from opalescence, phosphorescence
Fluorine – Element 9, symbol F. LATIN: fluor, “a flowing, flow”. Consider: fluent
Ibid. – LATIN: ibidem, “in the same place,” from ibi, “there” + demonstrative suffix -dem.
Terrace – LATIN: terra, “earth, land”. Consider: terrain
Indonesia – LATIN: indus, “india” + GREEK: nesos, “island”
New Words and Etymologies
Newly discovered words
4/20/2009
Gendarme – Military unit that functions as police. OLD FRENCH: gens d’armes, “men-at-arms”
Enceinte adj. - Carrying an unborn child; pregnant. LATIN: inciens, “pregnant”
4/21/09
Besot – To muddle or stupefy, as with alcoholic liquor or infatuation. LATE OLD ENGLISH: sott, “stupid person, fool,”
Liminal – Relating to a threshold. LATIN: limen, “threshold”. Consider: subliminal.
Peccadillo - a slight offense; a petty fault. LATIN: peccatum, “a sin, fault, error”
Noviate – the period of training and preparation that a novice member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows. Consider: novice - “probationer in a religious order,” from LATIN: novicius “newly imported, inexperienced” (of slaves), from novus “new”
Catabolism – (chemistry) destructive metabolism, usually including the release of energy and breakdown of materials. GREEK. Kata, “down” + ballein, “to throw”
Parturition – childbirth. LATIN: parturīre, “to be in labor”
Atavism - The return of a trait or recurrence of previous behavior after a period of absence. LATIN: atavus “ancestor,”
Apotropaic – Intended to ward off evil. GREEK: apo-, “from” + trepein, “to turn”. Consider: apostrophe
Apostate – one who forsakes his religion or faith. GREEK: apostasia “defection, desertion, rebellion,”; apo-, “away from” + stenai, “stand”
Wapper-jawed/Whopper-jawed – Askew.
Wapper – “to blink the eyes, to move tremulously”. DUTCH: wapperen, “to swing, oscillate, or waver.”
Anagoge /Anagogic - A mystical interpretation of a word, passage, or text, especially scriptural exegesis that detects allusions to heaven or the afterlife. GREEK: anagein, “to lift up”
Chthonic - Of or relating to the underworld, lit. “belonging to the earth”. GREEK: khthōn, earth
———————————————————————————————————-
Etymological origins discovered
4/20/2009
Sine Qua Non - “(a condition) without which it could not be”. LATIN
Chattel - Slave. OLD FRENCH: chatel, property or goods. Application to slaves (1649) is a rhetorical figure of abolitionists, etc.
Taliban - Student PASHTO, ARABIC.
Felicity – Great happiness. LATIN: Felix, “happiness”
Demur - To voice opposition, object; delay, linger. LATIN: de- + morari “to delay,” from mora “a pause, delay.”
Ameliorate – To make better. LATIN: melior “better,”
Etiology - Science of causes or causation. GREEK: aitia “cause” + -logia “speaking.”
Pith - The essential or central part. OLD ENGLISH: piþa “pith of plants,” also “essential part,”
Apartheid – S. African policy of racial segregation. AFRIKAANS: apartheid (1929 in a S.African socio-political context), lit. “separateness,” DUTCH: apart “separate” (from Fr. àpart) + suffix -heid, cognate of Eng. -hood.
Betwixt and between - In an intermediate position; neither wholly one thing nor another. OLD ENGLISH: betweox, from bi- “by” + tweox “for two,”
4/21/09
Neophyte – new convert. GREEK: neophytos, lit. “newly planted,” from neos “new” + -phytos “planted,”
Isomorphism – GREEK. isos, “equal” + morphē, “shape”
Neologism – practice of innovation in language; new word or expression. GREEK: neo + logo
Antinomian – The belief that moral laws are relative in meaning and application as opposed to fixed or universal. GREEK: anti- “opposite, against” + nomos “rule, law”
Gall – bile. OLD ENGLISH: galla
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