Until I decided to educate myself, I had felt that Israel was a good thing. A little research has led me to find some problems with Israel. For example, there is the Israeli Day of Independence. I have problems with this. I also have problems with the promised land. I also have problems with the Zionist movement as it has been practiced.

Let's look at the promised land. Why is it called the promised land? It was land promised to the descendants of Ibrahim (Abraham, Abe) the father of the Jews. From Abraham's son Isaac came the Jewish people and from his other son, Ishmael, came the Arabs. Therefore the promised land belongs (theologically) to Jews and Arabs (which are mostly Muslims and Christians). This land is biblically just as much the Arabs as it is the Jews.

Zionism was the search for a homeland for the Jews to flee persecution from Russians and later the Nazis. Most of Europe at some time or another had a thing against Jews. So a Jewish homeland seemed like a great thing. Unfortunately a Jewish homeland can't just be made from nothing. So there were two places in mind, Palestine (the land of Canaan), or Argentina. Both had people living there. The vote went to Palestine. A homeland for people that number about 15 million, in a tiny area slightly smaller than New Jersey. Of course the people in that area, Arabs (and Jews even), weren't too thrilled. You can't just add people to an area, without causing some trouble.

Experiment: Here's an experiment for those of you who don't understand this. Get two jars of fruitflies. Add one jar to the other and watch how quickly death happens.

Humans, to some extent, are civil, but there was opposition to this projected influx (no not all 15 million, but it was still a lot of people). The current population of Israel is slightly under 6 million 80% being Jews, most of the rest being Arabs. This is a land that has gone from being a promised land for semitic people to strictly a homeland for Jews. Zionism is racism. On one hand its home for "people without a land" and on the otherhand it exiles the Palestinians who once lived there. Approximately 5 million people are Palestinian refugees. This includes descendents, however, they have a right to live peacefully in Israel.

Independence... from what? Britain? They let you have this land. It was a freebee. India and Pakistan had to fight for their independence from Britain. America even had to fight for their independence. Balfour's declaration and US pressure pretty much opened the doors to Palestine for the Jews. The Palestinians weren't oppressing Jews, but that's pretty much who the Jews were fighting, along with Palestinian allies. Israel independence. Celebrate it, but recognize the cost for 5.8 million Jews today is 5 million Palestinians. Insha'allah this land can be lived in by all of Abrahams descendents. Each as equals.