By Alan Hart
For readers who may not be intimately familiar with English terminology, an oxymoron is a figure of speech by which contradictory terms are combined to form an expressive phrase or epithet such as cruel kindness and falsely true. (It’s derived from the Greek word oxymoros meaning pointedly foolish).
For my contribution to the De-legitimizing Israel series, I’m going to confine myself to one question and answer.
The question is: How can you de-legitimize something (in this case the Zionist state) when it is NOT legitimate?
I think this is a pointless exercise. What is legitimate? Is Iraq? Or Jordan? Was the area legitimate when the Ottoman Empire ruled it? There is no doubt the majority residents got the shaft, but Israel exists, folks. This sort of dissecting is a waste of time.
ReplyDeleteOne of the major arguments met in online discussions is that the existence of the Israeli state is legitemate and condoned by the Inernational community. This became a given that no one questions. It's always useful to remind people of what is a fact and what is not. It may be futile as an exercise but not so to establish the truth about the foundation of Israel.
ReplyDeleteLegitimate, rather.
ReplyDeleteYes, but the discussion, online or otherwise, does nothing to advance the cause of a Palestinian state. In fact, I think the better argument is that because Israel exists and is occupying land that was meant for a Palestinian state, it has an obligation as a member of the international community, to either negotiate in good faith and settle boundaries or have them IMPOSED by the UN.
ReplyDeleteThat is, of course, if the real cause IS for a Palestinian State or is it really for the destruction of Israel.
I think we can leave the destruction of Israel to the Israelis. They have the task well in hand.
ReplyDeleteAnd it cannot come soon enough. Sick of everything Israel.
ReplyDelete