Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to Re: Nevertheless

Re: Nevertheless

You wrote:

"Given that the goal of the current Palestinian leadership is the total and absolute extinction of Israel, which they have put down in writing, if you have a better idea on how to deal with it, some kind of compromise with someone who wants you utterly dead, I'd love to hear it, and I'm sure many others would too."

Here are the significant passages from your link:

"Article 15: The liberation of Palestine, from an Arab viewpoint, is a national (qawmi) duty and it attempts to repel the Zionist and imperialist aggression against the Arab homeland, and aims at the elimination of Zionism in Palestine. Absolute responsibility for this falls upon the Arab nation - peoples and governments - with the Arab people of Palestine in the vanguard. Accordingly, the Arab nation must mobilize all its military, human, moral, and spiritual capabilities to participate actively with the Palestinian people in the liberation of Palestine. It must, particularly in the phase of the armed Palestinian revolution, offer and furnish the Palestinian people with all possible help, and material and human support, and make available to them the means and opportunities that will enable them to continue to carry out their leading role in the armed revolution, until they liberate their homeland

"Note, however, that the PLO's translation sometimes deviates from the original Arabic so as to be more palatable to Western readers. For example, in Article 15, the Arabic is translated as "the elimination of Zionism," whereas the correct translation is "the liquidation of the Zionist presence." "The Zionist presence" is a common Arabic euphemism for the State of Israel, so this clause in fact calls for the destruction of Israel, not just the end of Zionism."

Well...I don't see at all any reference to the "total and absolute extinction of Israel," but I do see an attempt to spin the language of the PLO charter. Lacking an Arabic linguist to settle this, I direct your attention to article 24:

"Article 24: The Palestinian people believe in the principles of justice, freedom, sovereignty, self-determination, human dignity, and in the right of all peoples to exercise them."

I have a hard time reconciling the language of article 24 with the "interpretation" of article 15 offered above at your referenced link.

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