Reply #51: Not quite [View All]

The more I read about this conflict and its history, the more I am convinced that it continues on year after year with such hatred and intransigence - not because the Palestinians are occupied - but because they are occupied by Jews.

By Jews or just by anyone who is non-Palestinian, non-Arab, non-Islamic, and/or non-Oriental (as opposed to Occidental)?

I suspect that it's a matter of a steep cultural divide that promotes feelings of colonization. I think this is bore out by the fact anti-Semitism really didn't come into play until well after this divide had occurred (and were imported from the West). Bigots and simple thinkers break things up into "teams" of us-them. Dividing the camps up into Judaism and Islam is one of several ways that can be used to differentiate the team players even though that's not why. I am seeing the same effect in Iraq where Arab Christians also are affected as they are on the same "team" as the US. You can also see similar teams formed in Iran where people were criticized for adhering to Western culture in dress/mannerisms and in the US where people of darker skin (Arabs/Indians) were racially profiled and in some cases attacked after 9/11.

L-