Palestinian Christians Refuse To Be Pushed Off Their Land

[Ben Kenobi]

the legal title preceded the state of Israel and both come from the British...its like the Feds having a treaty with a tribe before a state was created

And the United States of America is not bound by the agreements of either Britain or other colonial powers who came before them.

[Berzerker]

The legal titleholders and the state of Israel were born with Britain's permission, the USA was not

[kentonio]

I am extremely confused. Our resident fundamentalist Christian (who also hates big government) appears to be taking the side of another religions state government over those of lifelong Christians who embody everything Christianity preaches. What's more these Christians are even from the very place Jesus was born and lived. Could anyone explain what might possibly be making him not like these particular Christians?

[C0ckney]

it could be one of those weird american things where israel can do no wrong; every outrage, every provocation, every injustice, every act of violence committed by israel is not only justified but righteous.

or it could be because he's a colossal racist, terrible christian and all round ****stain.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

What I am surprised is that you can all still be bothered by Ben's trolls. After all these years, really?

as for the article, I like this the best:

"We are not doing any of those steps in order to make the family leave. We are enforcing the law."

Ooooh yes, "the law".

[C0ckney]

this case could hardly be more black and white: a family who have held the land for generations and who even have documents to prove it have been subjected to a campaign of intimidation and destruction in an attempt by the israelis to steal their land, and yet in the face of all of forces of the occupying power have maintained a courageous and non-violent resistance without compromising their christian principles; yet despite all this there are still people who defend israel's actions in this case.

its how the west was won

quite. it's a typical example of the tactics used by a colonial power to appropriate the land of the original inhabitants.

of course, this is hardly an isolated incident, it's been going on for years all over palestine, and most of the victims lack both the documentation and resources (both physical and moral) of the nassar family.

[Dr Strangelove]

the legal title preceded the state of Israel and both come from the British...its like the Feds having a treaty with a tribe before a state was created

You say that with irony, right? Tell that also to the descendants of Hispanics who lived in Texas or California before those areas were annexed to the United States, many of whose ancestors fought for Texas freedom or for US annexation, all of whom were promised that they could keep their former land legally acquired from the Mexican government.

[Dr Strangelove]

And the United States of America is not bound by the agreements of either Britain or other colonial powers who came before them.

Actually in the case of Texas and California it was bound in writing to honor all land grants previously issued by the Mexican government.

[Dr Strangelove]

I am extremely confused. Our resident fundamentalist Christian (who also hates big government) appears to be taking the side of another religions state government over those of lifelong Christians who embody everything Christianity preaches. What's more these Christians are even from the very place Jesus was born and lived. Could anyone explain what might possibly be making him not like these particular Christians?

They're darkies, he's a Texan.

[Imran Siddiqui]

or it could be because he's a colossal racist, terrible christian and all round ****stain.

I'm going to go with this.

[Dinner]

Its almost as if you didn't read the article.

Meh, this particular guy is in the process of proving his ancestors owned the land (though I do wonder why he doesn't have current tax records since the 1960's because if I didn't pay my property taxes for even one year I'd lose my house yet they apparently haven't paid them for half a century) but that doesn't change the facts I posted about. It is a fact that the vast, vast, vast majority of Palestinians have never had any legal right to the land they have built on and instead are just squatters and I have absolutely no problems with removing squatters or knocking down their squatter settlements.

[Sava]

Meh, this particular guy is in the process of proving his ancestors owned the land (though I do wonder why he doesn't have current tax records since the 1960's because if I didn't pay my property taxes for even one year I'd lose my house yet they apparently haven't paid them for half a century) but that doesn't change the facts I posted about. It is a fact that the vast, vast, vast majority of Palestinians have never had any legal right to the land they have built on and instead are just squatters and I have absolutely no problems with removing squatters or knocking down their squatter settlements.

Why pay taxes to a country actively engaged in ethnically cleansing your people?

[Sava]

it could be one of those weird american things where israel can do no wrong

Except he's not a ****ing American, dip****.

[Dinner]

Don't pay your taxes, lose any and all rights to land ownership.

(Then the freeloading nontaxpayers can whine even more about "ethnic cleansing" when the truth is their population is exploding.)

[Imran Siddiqui]

Damn, if only the Native Americans had paid their taxes, then they wouldn't have been swept off the land by the United States...