Oh I see and he interpreted an account set up for to remit tax revenues collected by Israel as his personal account. Looks like the PLO was as corrupt as Hamas claims.
What Can Israel Teach the U.S. About Airport Security?
- Thread starter kkelso
- Start date
Not so sure all of the Druze in Golan Heights are "forced down" the throats to obtain Israeli citizenship. Unlike the Kurds, I could not recall Druze in Lebanon, Syria & Israel all share the same wave length to have a country (Druzstan??) of their own. Many if not all of them are loyal to the host countries and dare to say they live peacefully with Jews way more often than either Shia or Sunni Arabs in Lebanon or Syria.
Plus many of their men are volunteered and accepted to be part of the IDF, almost on equal terms to service in all branches except Sayerot & IAF. Tell this to the Palestinian Arabs, Christians (not the Lebanese who once served in SLA before 2000) in particular living in Israel. Everybody in Israel knows unless you are part of Hasidim or just making an aliya, moving ahead in the society will be a big handicap for men who do not serve IDF for 3 years.
The only drawback one could recall would be during 1982 invasion in Lebanon, the Druze battalions and commandos declined to fight in the battlefields known to be populated with their cousins, while they had no problems to fight the PLOs and even the Amal guerrillas, junior brother of the Hizbullahs as Israel's supposedly ally Christian Phlangists stood by, doing nothing.
As far as the Han Chinese in Tibet and Xinjiang are concerns, I suspect you really mean it is the Tibetans who have fears to be assimilated, pretty much like what ends up to the Manchus, Inner Mongolians and in a way Korean minorities in China.
BTW, Dalai Lama knows too well this inevitable outcome, especially after Chinese invested Billions of USD to build the infrastructures and modernize Tibet, for better or for worse. All he really wants from China is cultural autonomy, not outright independence since Tibet is in no shape to stand on their own feet, other than becoming India proxy state like Nepal or Bhutan.
Still, the Han Chinese, PLA and People's Armed Police in particular need to pick up lessons and absorb all knowledge fast from their West Bank/Golan Heights settlers, IDF and Magav counterparts to prepare themselves from possible violent backlash globally, including Canada. Dalai Lama and those around him are disturbingly becoming Arafat/Mahmoud Abbas, aka Abu Mazan and the Fatah after Oslo, while the new generation of Tibetan Exiles both in India and the west are becoming radical. Many are becoming militants like their counterparts in Hamas and Islamic Jihads and they probably believe the alternative to this "stalemate/deadlock" would be terrorism, convincing themselves that this is the only language the Han Chinese could understand.
Beijing is making a huge mistake to undermine Dalai Lama while he's still healthy and literally giving the militants in the exile camp ammunition to question Dalai Lama's legitimacy, maybe even overthrowing his exile government when he's incapable to run due to illness. Allowing the situation to degenerate like this would create risks for the Chinese in the proper and their overseas breathen (100% or mixed heritage), making them very vulnerable to reprisal and terrorists attacks. It would not be a surprise should these attacks happen, the western countries would turn a blind eye most of the time in order to cave in the "bleeding heart" constituents, while China is caught unprepared and incapable to protect their people and retaliate with superb and flawless executions like the Israelis most of the time.
you are getting mixed up between the Druze who live in the Golan Heights and those who have lived in Israel since 1948. The Golan Heights Druze have little affection for Israel, take a stroll in Majd Al Shams as I did a few years back and you will see the Syrian flags displayed, and people still calling it Syria even though the Israeli government annexed it and moved in 12 thousand welfare cases. When the Israelis did try to implement a program for citizenship for them, a call when out by their religious leaders that anyone accepting it would be ex communicated from the community. Now for most this wouldnt be a big deal but the Druze are a small tight knit group who dont accept converts and marriage to another religious group is almost non existent. On the other hand the Druze from 1948 do serve in the Israeli military and some actually vote Likud (always found that bizarre till you look into the promises of cash)
Hang on scouser, you went to Majd-al-Shams a few years ago??? How did you travel, via Syria or Lebanon? You have said many times you'd never visit Israel. So while I'll agree for the sake of argument that Majdal isn't Israel, how did you get there? Fly into Ben-Gurion, have a shawarma on Dizingoff Street and take a bus up north?
Oh BTW I've also walked the streets of Majdal and know a couple of people there because I worked with them in a dining hall of a nearby kibbutz. Most of the so-called "Syrian" Druze would be fine being able to live in limbo nationally while still being able to work in Israel but their cousins just over the fence in Syria would be in danger if they said so publicly. I've heard this mainly from Israelis but the same opinion was also confirmed by one of my Druze acquaintances in a subtle way that spoke volumes to me. I'm sure you know better since you know everything. Educate us or great teacher!
Oh BTW I've also walked the streets of Majdal and know a couple of people there because I worked with them in a dining hall of a nearby kibbutz. Most of the so-called "Syrian" Druze would be fine being able to live in limbo nationally while still being able to work in Israel but their cousins just over the fence in Syria would be in danger if they said so publicly. I've heard this mainly from Israelis but the same opinion was also confirmed by one of my Druze acquaintances in a subtle way that spoke volumes to me. I'm sure you know better since you know everything. Educate us or great teacher!
Now I know where one of my favorite quotes of all times originated from. I first heard it paraphrased in Armageddon and it made me LMAO.
This is aboslutely ridiculous. having speant some time in the Golan it is clear that the Druze there would much rather be part of Israel than Syria. The Druze are for the most part loyal to Israel.
toguy, it's true that there is a major difference between the Golan Druze and the Druze that live in a few villages in the Carmel area near Haifa. The ones in the Golan do not serve in the IDF or border police (Druze are noted as great border guards and some are highly decorated soldiers), and are at best ambivalent about their relationship to Israel, the usual public expression is one of solidarity with Syria.
Your cohorts are trying to save you from yourself in a gentle way but you seem to be drunk on the zionist Kool-Aid.
Considering they have made the Panchen Lama dissapear and appointed their own, they really shouldn't have to worry (the Panchen Lama is the one said to be able to recognize the next incarnation of the Dalai Lama).
In a comparison of the two issues, Israel is an open democracy with a free press and are under a significant amount of pressure from their own people for peace. China is a closed, semi-totalitarian state where the Authorities couldn't care less about what anyone else says. Both the Palestinians and Tibentans are distinct cultures and deserve their own state; the Palestinians will eventually get one but the Tibetans won't.
No argument here.
My point is the Han Chinese and PLA in particular have the potential to "clone" everything from the Israelis and IDF and become rutheless, mean, efficient machines that could solve the Tibet and Xinjiang issues.
Simply put the Han Chinese just need to polish their skills and learn the trade well from the Israelis, while leveraging their sheer numbers in people to make it happen sooner
Let's hope it's not going to happen anytime soon.
Not necessarily Israeli citizenship. They could pour money into making life in Gaza and the West Bank pretty good, and combine it with a "what are you complaining about anyway, don't you have it pretty good?" message designed to persuade Palestinians they're better of living in a Palestinian West Bank and Gaza.
I suspect there would be fewer extremists if life was good.
If life was good the extremists would pretty much disappear as they have in this part of the world. People will be too busy worrying about jobs, mortgages, their kids, vacations rather than join Hamas will be forced to change or vanish.
Yes, but the PEOPLE also bear some responsibility to make their life good instead of always moaning "woe is me" and blaming the "White Man". I'll use the Hong Kong example again. The Hong Kong Chinese were a conquored people on land that is smaller than the Gaza Strip with no natural resources but the PEOPLE had brains and grit and weren't afraid to work hard and they built one of the most successful societies on this Earth.
how about I blockade Hong Kong for 40 plus years, destroy its airport and its seaport, move in my welfare settlers who number in the thousands but take up 25% of the arable land and allow no independent economy to grow, but keep it completely tied in to my state. But then I am nice enough to move out my welfare settlers while the other conditions continue, how would Hong Kong do? pretty lousy I imagine just like Gaza.
Except that it has been shown over and over that the terrorist types are not the poor and starving but rather the well off and educated (in this case often at Israeli universities).
And in the mean time, Gaza/Hamas has stepped up their rocket attacks against civilian targets again. Last year Israel responded to continual rocket attacks by kicking the shite out of Hamas in Gaza. What do they think will happen this time?
