Help me out here: I've got a map of Israel and a black Sharpie, can you draw me a Palestinian state that doesn't touch both the Mediterranean and the Jordan river? Thanks.
Help me out here: I've got a map of Israel and a black Sharpie, can you draw me a Palestinian state that doesn't touch both the Mediterranean and the Jordan river? Thanks.
Exactly, so it's impossible to construct a Palestinian state that includes the West Bank and Gaza that doesn't go "From the river to the sea." Funny how all those American Presidential administrations that supported a two-state solution with a Palestinian state that included the West Bank and Gaza didn't know this thing they were for meant GENOCIDE.
1. A Palestinian state does not need to include both the West Bank and Gaza. It might just include the West Bank. Or there might be two separate states, one in the West Bank, one in Gaza, as many have proposed.
2. Even if a hypothetical state "touched" the West Bank and Gaza, that doesn't mean it "goes from" the West Bank to Gaza. Example - if New York and Los Angeles seceded and became a discontiguous independent country, would that new country "go from" the Atlantic to the Pacific? No, though it would touch both oceans.
3. More importantly, legalistically interpreting the phrase to simply mean a two-state solution ignores the context and how the phrase is used. It means the entire area, sweeping all the way from the river to the sea, covering all of Israel. Come on now, if someone says "Jews should be sent to the showers" would you think they just meant a refreshing spa with nice hot showers?
OK, let's talk about how the phrase is used today. Since we're talking about college campuses, we just had a protest on our campus that included students chanting "From the river to the sea..." Did they mean by this "Kill all the Jews?" I know you're not a mind-reader, but maybe a little common sense would help to answer that question?
since the students likely had no idea what they were talking about, who knows what they were thinking? The point is that it is an antisemitic phrase. Probably many of them did mean to kill the Jews, and others didn't.
Here's an idea: A single, contiguous Palestinian state, approximately along the lines of the '67 borders, not under occupation by the Israelis (hence "free") also goes "from the river to the sea." Consulting your map, you will note this does not require anyone to nuke Tel Aviv. If you took the time to talk to student activists with Students For Justice in Palestine or with Jewish Voices for Peace (both of whom organized our local protest, both of whom, incidentally, have been banned from the campus of Columbia University) you would find that this is what many of them support. Although some would argue that Israeli land-grabs have gone so far that no viable Palestinian state is possible, and the only answer is a single multiethnic democratic state where Jews and Palestinians have equal rights, another option which also does not require anyone to nuke Tel Aviv. Personally, I like to check in with people and find out what they actually think before I accuse them of wanting to kill all the Jews.
Also, just think about seeing 500 college students carrying signs that say "Cease Fire Now" and concluding "Probably many of them did mean to kill the Jews."
It doesn't matter what it "needs" to do. It matters what a just two state peace would look like.
Your entire argument is specious. And even if you decided it needed the Palestinian state to be contiguous to fit the chant. Why shouldn't Israel gave up a tiny sliver of the land it stole to make the Palestinian state a functioning entity? That is not genocide.
What Israel is doing in Gaza as we speak is genocide. The joke of actually committing genocide as we speak and not condemning that, while winning about a slogan that calls for a just peace. Displays insanity.
Help me out here: I've got a map of Israel and a black Sharpie, can you draw me a Palestinian state that doesn't touch both the Mediterranean and the Jordan river? Thanks.
Yeah, the West Bank region does not touch the Mediterranean.
Exactly, so it's impossible to construct a Palestinian state that includes the West Bank and Gaza that doesn't go "From the river to the sea." Funny how all those American Presidential administrations that supported a two-state solution with a Palestinian state that included the West Bank and Gaza didn't know this thing they were for meant GENOCIDE.
You're being ridiculous, for numerous reasons.
1. A Palestinian state does not need to include both the West Bank and Gaza. It might just include the West Bank. Or there might be two separate states, one in the West Bank, one in Gaza, as many have proposed.
2. Even if a hypothetical state "touched" the West Bank and Gaza, that doesn't mean it "goes from" the West Bank to Gaza. Example - if New York and Los Angeles seceded and became a discontiguous independent country, would that new country "go from" the Atlantic to the Pacific? No, though it would touch both oceans.
3. More importantly, legalistically interpreting the phrase to simply mean a two-state solution ignores the context and how the phrase is used. It means the entire area, sweeping all the way from the river to the sea, covering all of Israel. Come on now, if someone says "Jews should be sent to the showers" would you think they just meant a refreshing spa with nice hot showers?
"ignores the context and how the phrase is used."
OK, let's talk about how the phrase is used today. Since we're talking about college campuses, we just had a protest on our campus that included students chanting "From the river to the sea..." Did they mean by this "Kill all the Jews?" I know you're not a mind-reader, but maybe a little common sense would help to answer that question?
since the students likely had no idea what they were talking about, who knows what they were thinking? The point is that it is an antisemitic phrase. Probably many of them did mean to kill the Jews, and others didn't.
Here's an idea: A single, contiguous Palestinian state, approximately along the lines of the '67 borders, not under occupation by the Israelis (hence "free") also goes "from the river to the sea." Consulting your map, you will note this does not require anyone to nuke Tel Aviv. If you took the time to talk to student activists with Students For Justice in Palestine or with Jewish Voices for Peace (both of whom organized our local protest, both of whom, incidentally, have been banned from the campus of Columbia University) you would find that this is what many of them support. Although some would argue that Israeli land-grabs have gone so far that no viable Palestinian state is possible, and the only answer is a single multiethnic democratic state where Jews and Palestinians have equal rights, another option which also does not require anyone to nuke Tel Aviv. Personally, I like to check in with people and find out what they actually think before I accuse them of wanting to kill all the Jews.
Also, just think about seeing 500 college students carrying signs that say "Cease Fire Now" and concluding "Probably many of them did mean to kill the Jews."
I think they've made themselves quite clear.
And again, the literalist interpretation of that phrase ignores its history and use as an antisemitic dogwhistle.
Yes, they made themselves quite clear when I talked to them about the things they support. I gave you examples above. All quite clear.
It is an anti genocide "dog whistle" and your claim it is anti semetic is the actual "dog whistle" to support the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
It doesn't matter what it "needs" to do. It matters what a just two state peace would look like.
Your entire argument is specious. And even if you decided it needed the Palestinian state to be contiguous to fit the chant. Why shouldn't Israel gave up a tiny sliver of the land it stole to make the Palestinian state a functioning entity? That is not genocide.
What Israel is doing in Gaza as we speak is genocide. The joke of actually committing genocide as we speak and not condemning that, while winning about a slogan that calls for a just peace. Displays insanity.