Great post!

On this topic also see: What is AIPAC ;
Illegal Israeli Settlements - British press v American media ; Jimmy Carter on Israel's apartheid policy and the power of the Israel lobby ; If Americans Knew

Palestine was designated as the Jewish National Home by the League of Nations, enshrining this designation in international law. Why should the Jewish people give up any part of Palestine?

The notion of a "Palestinian people" was born circa 1969, when the North Vietnamese tutored the terrorist PLO on how to subvert public opinion in the West. Neither UN resolution 191 of 29 Nov 1947 nor SC resolution 242 mention Palestinians in any way. There is, in fact, no such people as "Palestinians" - the Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza are indistinguishable from the Arabs in Jordan, for example. Why should these Arabs have yet another state, at the expense of the Jewish National Home?

I'm glad Noam Chumpsky appears early: this ludicrous, proven liar spares the need for informed viewers to watch any more of this myopic, one-sided propaganda.

Aren't you guys suppose to loathe the U.N. - and you're quoting them as an authority here?

The U.N. also said the Iraq war was illegal.
I'm guessing you're not going to cherry-pick any of those arguments any time soon.

If QM really believes his arguments (and why should we doubt him?), presumably he still considers himself a British citizen. Any word on when those back-taxes will be coming through?

Quantumushroom, your views appear constantly extreme, are you really so sure about what you're saying?!?

it would seem to me that what Noam Chomsky says is on the side of human rights, and justice for all people. he always has intelligent reasonable opinions. what's your basis for having such an extreme stance against him?
perhaps you could enlighten us.

i'm just interested what the evidence is that he's a liar?
has he lied or are you saying that because he has non-aggressive opinions, the total opposite to yours

am totally cool with you Voting Down this film, i dont care, i'm just wondering though - why do you Vote Down almost all clips that focus on politics and the situation in the middle east??

i must admit this film does seem somewhat biased, it doesnt show all sides of the story, but i wouldnt be so sure it's propaganda. it might make Israel look like a bully - but only because it highlights what's going on compared to what the televised news would have us believe. though i'm open to the possibility that everything that i believe, that i've been told, could be a pack of lies.
all this vid really does is slaps you into questioning what you're told by your TV.

The facts and opinions raised in this documentary are difficult to refute and may be easily substantiated for those willing to make a minimal effort. The use of prescribed words in conveying desired information is touched on and how a particular narrative may be achieved is an essential ingredient of propaganda. This tactic is worth keeping in mind when reviewing topics of a similar nature.

johnald, it presents the Palestinian point of view which I certainly wouldn't call biased, the MSM's overwhelming presentation of the Israeli position makes it appear so, particularly for citizens residing in the USA.

The facts and opinions raised in this documentary are difficult to refute and may be easily substantiated for those willing to make a minimal effort. The use of prescribed words in conveying desired information is touched on and how a particular narrative may be achieved is an essential ingredient of propaganda. This tactic is worth keeping in mind when reviewing topics of a similar nature.

johnald, it presents the Palestinian point of view which I certainly wouldn't call biased, the MSM's over whelming presentation of the Israeli position makes it appear so, particularly for citizens residing in the USA.

*promote

Re-promoting this video to the front page as a VideoSift Classic. Originally published on Saturday 31st March 2007 (promotion called by gold star member Farhad2000)

Strange thing to promote... Anyway, gotta downvote on the pro-Palestinian agenda. Sorry.

"Palestine was designated as the Jewish National Home by the League of Nations, enshrining this designation in international law. Why should the Jewish people give up any part of Palestine?"

The Jewish National Home described in the Balfour Declaration, which was later incorporated into the British League of Nation Mandate over Palestine, does not necessarily suggest that there is international legal precedent for an Israeli state encompassing all of historical Israel. One, the Balfour Declaration itself was a wartime expedient designed to build support for WWI among European and, especially, American Jews so its value as legal precedent is suspect. Two, the British Government, who issued the Balfour Declaration, made two other, contradictory agreements: one with King Hussein, in the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence, which gave all Arab speaking lands, except for the Lebanon, to his rule in exchange for orchestrating an Arab uprising against the Ottomans; and the second with the French in the Sykes-Picot Agreement which divided up Ottoman territories for French and British colonization and administration. Three, the League of Nations Mandate was in violation of the League's charter: it denied the right to self-determination to former Ottoman subjects. Four, the Balfour Declaration describes a Jewish National Home within Palestine which shall not "prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine", not a Jewish state. Five, the Balfour Declaration was a declaration by fiat of the British Government that was performed with out consultation with or consideration of the Palestinian people. For these, and numerous other, reasons it is unwise to take the Balfour Declaration as international legal precedent for an Israeli state.

Fortunately, we don't have to take the Balfour Declaration as precedent. The 1948 UN Special Commission on Palestine enshrines the existence of separate Israeli and Palestinian states living alongside eachother. It is important to note however the the borders of these two states look very different from the borders we see today. In the 48-49 war, the Israelis seized territory beyond the '48 borders and declared them unconditionally Jewish. This seizure of land was in violation of international law but was tolerated, largely as a result of European guilt over the holocaust. Israel expanded it's borders yet again in the Six Day War of '67, in which they launched preemptive strikes against Syria, Jordan, and Egypt, seizing and retaining territory to this day. The seizure of land by war is in violation of the UN charter and as result numerous UN Security Council Resolutions (242 and 338 among others) have been drawn up condemning Israeli's seizure of land and demanding that it be returned. The point is that Israel has a legal right to exist, but it illegally holds much of the land it currently possesses.

A final legal issue is Israel's denial of right to return to Palestinian refugees, a clear violation of international law. Israel faces a demographic problem, in that if they allow refugees to return, within a generation Arabs will outnumber Jews in the Israeli state. Israel would then have to either give up its Jewish identity, or give up its democracy in order to suppress Arab influence over the state. Israel doesn't have a solution to this problem as the Jewish birthrate is much lower than Palestinian. As a result, their only choice, from their perspective, is to continue to violate international law, with the knowledge the US financial and military back will remain, until a longterm solution can be devised. In the mean time, Palestinian refugees continue to languish in the conditions of refugee camps.

Good movie. Maybe that should run on network TV and let's have a town hall meeting afterward. This world is sick.

Rudy Gunnerman

*promote

Promoting this video back to the front page; last published Sunday, August 12th, 2007 12:36am PDT - promote requested by Farhad2000.

*documentaries

Adding video to channels (Documentaries) - requested by mauz15.

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This video has been declared non-functional; embed code must be fixed within 2 days or it will be sent to the dead pool - declared dead by cricket.

Awarding eric3579 with one Power Point for fixing this video's dead embed code.

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