Soccer Dad

A brief history of israel or two

Recently I was asked to respond to a critic of Israel. I provided the requester with some information. Ironically about that time I came accross this short history of Israel, "Israeli Pride; Israeli Angst" at AlphaPatriot a member of the "Watcher's Council." It starts thusly:

In 1963, Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip.
In 1963, Jordan occupied the West Bank and half of Jerusalem.

In 1963, Syria towered 3,000 feet over Israel, entrenched on the Golan Heights.

(My only quibble right now is that I don't think that the PLO was created in 1963 but in 1965. The point that the PLO was never about "occupied territories" but about Israel's existence still holds.)

Out of step Jew makes an argument that I don't recall ever having seen (at least not in this level of detail, "The Narrative of a People and its Land" At the end Out of Step Jew writes:

By how many Jews and for how many years of Sukkot holidays has God been asked to provide rains for the Land of Israel in the winter ? How many Jews and for how many years have the laws of fasting during a drought year in the Land of Israel (in Tractate Ta'anit) been studied and expounded?

Is there another people with a such a long and extensive narrative that connects them with this specific land in what was called the Fertile Crescent? What other people have written poems, composed prayers and studied laws in such minute detail that relate to the Land of Israel ?

There are no answers to these questions. These aren't questions but powerful statements.
Technorati Tags: Zionism, Israel, Judaism.
Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.

Posted by SoccerDad at September 4, 2005 1:52 PM