Reply #57: I have both eyes, thank you very much.

[aranthus]

And I'm sure one could manufacture a relatively innocuous description of the Nakba narrative (though you didn't; you just assumed it). As for, "why does it make so much difference to you whether they were expelled or fled out of fear? The fact remains that they weren't allowed to return to their homes...." If you are as smart as I think, and have as much knowledge and understanding of the conflict as you claim, then you already know the answer, so this question seems to be a bit of posing. Nevertheless, the answer is that it has to do with responsibility for one's actions and situation. The Palestinians think of the Nakba as something that was done to them, rather than as something to which they have a causal relation. If they were forcibly expelled, then it's all Israel's fault. If they became refugees in a war that they started, then they have some responsibility. Now you might say that even if the Palestinians have some responsibility for being refugees, that it isn't and shouldn't be all on them, and I would agree with you. However, I have yet to read anything by a Palestinian arguing that it was a mistake to have followed the Mufti in 1947; that they shouldn't have opted for a general strike, rioting, and attacking the Jews after the Partition Resolution vote, and that maybe they should have tried to negotiate a settlement. I have yet to see the Palestinians take any responsibility for their actions and their own refugee status. For example, in a recent interview in the New Statesman, Khalid Meshal, head of Hamas, said, among other things:

": Are you committed to the destruction of Israel?

Khalid Meshal: What is really happening is the destruction of the Palestinian people by Israel; it is the one that occupies our land and exiles us, kills us, incarcerates us and persecutes our people. We are the victims, Israel is the oppressor, and not vice versa."

And also:
"KL: What is your view of the cause of the conflict between the state of Israel and the Palestinians?

KM: The conflict is the outcome of aggression and occupation. Our struggle against the Israelis is not because they are Jewish, but because they invaded our homeland and dispossessed us. We do not accept that because the Jews were once persecuted in Europe they have the right to take our land and throw us out. The injustices suffered by the Jews in Europe were horrible and criminal, but were not perpetrated by the Palestinians or the Arabs or the Muslims. So, why should we be punished for the sins of others or be made to pay for their crimes?"

These ideas are bullshit. If the Palestinians continue to believe them, then they aren't going to be interested in any reasonable peace.