Wednesday, January 28, 2009

If the majority of Palestinians were Christians, what would Palestine look like today?

Accepting that Israel would not exist in its current state without the incredible amount of monetary, military, and political support from the United States, I am trying to imagine what the region of Palestine (the regions west of the Jordan River, south of Lebanon, and north of Egypt) would look like in terms of geopolitical boundaries, and subsequent political influence on the world stage.

If Palestinians were predominantly Christian, would they have received equal or greater support and largess from America? What if Palestine was only 1/3rd Christian? Would Jewish political influence be as great or as successful in American politics? Would there be as many Jewish political operators in the US government? Would Kissinger have had so much power and influence? Would there ever have been a "Six Day War?"

Perhaps even engaging in this discussion is tantamount to discussing what the world would be like if unicorns were real, because the idea that Palestinians - nay Palestine - could be Christian is quite farcical. But pondering what that region of the Middle East would be like were it not for the US government's massive, unwavering support in capital and goods to Israel is at least more potentially useful than pondering the effect a fancy horse would have on the world.  (Unicorns could never save the world, but perhaps if the US were to cut off the supply of refined fuel to Israel for a few months, and maybe not sell them so many bombs, some measure of peace might be found.)

Alas, I know that if Palestinians were predominantly Christian, there probably wouldn't be that many of them in the Middle East, as is evidenced by the tiny numbers of them in other ME countries.  So I guess the crux of my point isn't so much about Palestinian religiosity, as it is about which side the US government ended up supporting. Though both go hand in hand.

We - the US - made the choice to support the Jews over the Arabs. Ignoring the lobbying efforts of wealthy and influential Jewish operators, the other part of my point is a question about the relationship between Jews and Christians, versus Jews and Muslims throughout history.

Christians historically have harmed Jewish peoples more than any other nation or tribe, yet it is the support of a self-declared Christian nation given to a self-declared Jewish nation that has allowed this Jewish nation to thrive, while occupying the lands and oppressing the Muslim inhabitants. 

Is this atonement? Or is there another prevailing reason for our decision to support a Jewish nation over Islamic nations?

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