"A great day for peace"

[Rug]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-44104599

Benjamin Netanyahu declares today's opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem as "A great day for peace".

Doesn't look much like peace to me ...

Rug

[mrbadger]

It's open already? I thought it took years to build an Embassy building properly

[Morkonan]

It's just a placeholder... probably.

"You must construct more pylons..."

Trump wasn't likely interested in actually building anything, just leasing something that looked good for the photo-shoot. Nothing important is going to get said, there, anyway - There are already satellite embassies in Jerusalem.

[pjknibbs]

It's just a placeholder... probably.

As it says in the article:

"A small interim embassy will start operating from Monday inside the existing US consulate building in Jerusalem. A larger site will be found later when the rest of the embassy moves from Tel Aviv."

[Morkonan]

It's just a placeholder... probably.

As it says in the article:..

Obviously, I don't read "teh internetz"...

There was mention of this awhile back, including bits and pieces about satellite embassies, which many nations have in Jerusalem. In short - It's just a public gesture, albeit a very inflammatory one, and really doesn't change much of anything. Well, at least as far as business-as-usual goes. The Palestinians and a lot of other people are obviously ticked-off about this "Official" move.

It's a pretty dumb thing for Trump to have done, which is likely why he did it.

Don't give him a fork and leave him near an electric socket...

[Retiredman]

It's a pretty dumb thing for Trump to have done, which is likely why he did it.

No big deal...
This move was mandated back in the 90's when US Congress approve it and Clinton sign the bill.
Trump just complete the mandate and cut the 6 month BS paperwork.

[mrbadger]

So it's a couple of rooms with a sign, probably written in orange crayon by the great man himself, with the words 'its our embusy!!!!!' written in big letters.

[theeclownbroze]

As the chicken noise girl said it "See you back in Jerusalem!"

[Rug]

So it's a couple of rooms with a sign...

And for this, 52 people shot and killed, another 500 with gunshot wounds, and 1,500 more with other injuries !

I don't understand how this is allowed to happen. And I don't understand how a people who suffered such terrible oppression can become such terrible oppressors in such a short space of time.

Can anybody offer any sort of explanation/justification for this ?

Rug

[Usenko]

So it's a couple of rooms with a sign...

And for this, 52 people shot and killed, another 500 with gunshot wounds, and 1,500 more with other injuries !

I don't understand how this is allowed to happen. And I don't understand how a people who suffered such terrible oppression can become such terrible oppressors in such a short space of time.

Can anybody offer any sort of explanation/justification for this ?

Rug

It's easy to explain, but hard to unravel.

The Jews were granted a homeland in the aftermath of WW2. This was chosen to be their traditional homeland in Israel. Fine so far. But the land wasn't empty; in the interim, many other people had settled there (although there remained a significant Jewish population).

The UN declared a state for the Jews. Other people in the region opposed this move (understandably - even if the land belonged to someone else's great-great-great grandparents, it seems a bit rough to declare that the hundreds [or even thousands] of years your folks have lived there don't matter!). The UN plan mandated creation of a Palestinian homeland too, but this land was annexed by various neighbouring states, who would have annexed the nascent Israel too, except the Jews were ready and fought to preserve their state.

All this means that the Jews - with some justification, it has to be said - feel that they understand the Palestinians' situation, but say that they obeyed the UN mandates, and it's really not their fault that OTHERS disobeyed the UN and didn't wind up creating a Palestinian homeland too. Basically "It's awful, but it's not our problem; we did what we were supposed to do." So when there's terrorist attacks on them the Israelis see themselves as being perfectly justified in dealing with it very harshly.

On the other hand, the Palestinians - with some justification, it has to be said - feel that they were kicked out of land in which they'd lived since before living memory by the Jews, or at least by others on behalf of the Jews; and since the Arabs around them have been the opposite of helpful, they feel that the only option they have left is terrorism.

In short, it's two groups of people that have been put into a difficult situation, not entirely of their making, and violence is a regrettable (but perfectly human) response.

[Retiredman]

Give the land back to the Canaanites and Philistines. They were the first to
own the land. The rest are interlopers.

[Usenko]

Well, the Israelites and Assyrians made certain we wouldn't be doing that . . .

[muppetts]

Well, the Israelites and Assyrians made certain we wouldn't be doing that . . .

LOL Boom Headshot!

[pjknibbs]

Give the land back to the Canaanites and Philistines. They were the first to
own the land. The rest are interlopers.

By the same logic, everyone in the USA and Canada should evacuate immediately and give the country back to the native Americans who lived there for thousands of years before European settlers arrived!

[mrbadger]

We should all head back to the sea and give the land back to the insects I say