# Al-Jazeera broadcasting leaked "Palestine Papers" **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 24, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808 "2011-01-24T17:31:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808/81 "2011-01-25T20:13:00Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > God, you Americans can be so provincial smetimes. When I said “mainstream media”, I meant the mainstream \*global \*media, not those news networks that happen to operate in the U.S. Every country is a province of the American Empire anyway, so, nyaaah. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808/82 "2011-01-25T22:58:34Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > God, you Americans can be so provincial smetimes. When I said “mainstream media”, I meant the mainstream \*global \*media, not those news networks that happen to operate in the U.S. global MSM? I thought we were talking about the awareness of the issues in the USA. I understand that people otuside the US were more aware of Israel’s misbehaviour, but in america, there was virtually a new blackout of criticism of israel. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808/83 "2011-01-25T23:01:16Z")
If you think that there is virtually a blackout of criticism of Israel in US MSM then all I can say is…lay off the Fox, man. These days there are many decaffeinated beverages that are just as tasty as the real thing! -XT ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808/84 "2011-01-25T23:02:46Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Israel _without_ aid would be more than a match for Palestine _with_ aid. 1948:“On the eve of the war, the number of Arab troops likely to be committed to the war was about 23,000 (10,000 Egyptians, 4,500 Jordanians, 3,000 Iraqis, 3,000 Syrians, 2,000 ALA volunteers, 1,000 Lebanese and some Saudi Arabians), in addition to the irregular Palestinians already present. The Yishuv had 35,000 troops of the Haganah, 3,000 of Stern and Irgun and a few thousand armed settlers.[46]” Doesn’t really sound like the arabs had overwhelming force lined upgainst israel. Its no minor feat to have won the war but the odds were probably on their side. 1967: pre-emptive strike destroyed Egyptian air force of Russian MiG 21s. “The attack guaranteed Israeli air superiority for the rest of the war.” The arabs outnumbered the Israelis but Israel had air superiority and it sounds like the Egyptian generals really sucked at their job. 1973: Russia didn’t seem quite as supportinve of their proxy as the US was of its. “Egypt felt the only way to convince the Soviet leaders of the deficiencies of most of the aircraft and air defense weaponry supplied to Egypt following 1967 was to put the Soviet weapons to the test against the advanced weaponry the United States had supplied to Israel.” “On the afternoon of October 7, an alarmed Dayan told Meir that “this is the end of the third temple”. He was warning of Israel’s impending total defeat, but “Temple” was also the code word for nuclear weapons.[202] Dayan again raised the nuclear topic in a cabinet meeting, warning that the country was approaching a point of “last resort.”[203] On 8 October, Meir authorized the assembly of thirteen 20-kiloton-of-TNT (84 TJ) tactical atomic weapons for Jericho missiles at Hirbat Zachariah, and F-4 aircraft at Tel Nof, both nuclear-capable. These were prepared for use against Syrian and Egyptian targets.[202] They would be used if absolutely necessary to prevent total defeat, but the preparation was done in an easily detectable way, likely as a signal to the United States.[203] Kissinger learned of the nuclear alert on the morning of October 9. That day, President Nixon ordered the commencement of Operation Nickel Grass, an American airlift to replace all of Israel’s material losses.[204] Anecdotal evidence suggests that Kissinger told Sadat that the reason for the U.S. airlift was that the Israelis were close to “going nuclear.”[202]” So it appears that at least in the 1973 war that Israel might have either fallen or resorted to nuclear war if the US hadn’t stepped in. In any event Israel is the dominant military power in the region. But should relative military advantage be the determining factor in the outcome of the Middle East pease process? Because by that metric, unless the compromise is acceptable to Palestine over the long term, the peace will last only as long as the relative military advantage is maintained. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808/85 "2011-01-25T23:06:07Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Overwhelming military superiority is not much use against terrorism. Israel can say, “for every one of us you kill, we’ll kill ten of yours”, and the Palestinians will go ahead and kill one Israeli. And then the world will condemn Israel for killing ten Palestinians. > > So tell me, how does overwhelming military superiority help us keep that one Israeli alive? Of course it doesn’t and ust as the world condemns the terrorist for killing an innocent Israeli, they will condemn Israel for killing innocent Palestinians. If only there were some way other way. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808/86 "2011-01-25T23:19:30Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > If you think that there is virtually a blackout of criticism of Israel in US MSM then all I can say is…lay off the Fox, man. These days there are many decaffeinated beverages that are just as tasty as the real thing! > > -XT I said “was” a virtual blackout. As in pre-2000. I don’t remember a lot of criticism fo Israel prior to 2000ish. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808/87 "2011-01-25T23:30:07Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > in america, there was virtually a new blackout of criticism of israel. Again, your ignorance is not anybody else’s fault. There was never any “news blackout”, virtual or otherwise. Just like you were unaware of Palestinian grievances despite a massacre _at the Olympics_ or the hijacking of a _cruise ship_, your lack of awareness doesn’t reflect on the state of news in America. The 1990’s, in specific, saw the Madrid Conference, Oslo, Wye River… You’re actually claiming that the decade that contained the Oslo Accords and lead up to the 2000 Camp David summit had a “virtual” “blackout” of criticism. [Hell, here’s one article I found in a whole 60 seconds of searching, it’s pre 9/11.](http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/04/opinion/abroad-at-home-is-there-no-choice.html) It says, for example: > [@](#): > > Israel has made a two-state solution to the conflict less and less attractive by continuously building and enlarging settlements on land that would be part of the Palestinian state. > > The Palestinian view at the time of the Camp David conference last year was well described in The New York Review of Books by Robert Malley, a special assistant to President Clinton who was at Camp David, and Hussein Agha. > > ‘Seen from Gaza and the West Bank,’’ they wrote, ‘‘Oslo’s legacy read like a litany of promises deferred or unfulfilled. Six years after the agreement, there were more Israeli settlements, less freedom of movement and worse economic conditions. Powerful Palestinian constituencies – the intellectuals, security establishment, media, business community . . . – whose support was vital for any peace effort were disillusioned . . ., doubtful of Israel’s willingness to implement signed agreements.’’ The situation seems to be a bit like a man who turns out the lights and then claims that there’s a blackout going on. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808/88 "2011-01-25T23:36:45Z")
This took a whole 90 seconds. [ > [@](#): > > First there was Mr. Netanyahu’s sudden move to build a big Jewish settlement at Har Homa in East Jerusalem. Then came his decision to make the first of three promised Israeli withdrawals from the West Bank include only 9 percent of the land at stake. And of that 9, 7 was in land already under Palestinian political administration, only 2 from the much larger sector controlled exclusively by Israel. > > President Mubarak, at a press breakfast, used starker language than I have ever heard from him. Palestinian resentment ‘‘may explode,’’ he said, if Mr. Netanyahu goes ahead with the Har Homa settlement. ‘‘There will be violence, and Arafat will never be able to control it.’’ If things go on like this, ‘‘the peace process will stop.’’ > […] > Does Mr. Netanyahu understand how dangerous the situation is? Judging by his public reaction, he does not. He issued a statement saying that he was ‘‘fed up’’ with criticism. His Government said ground would be broken next week on the Har Homa settlement. ]([http://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/14/opinion/at-the-chasm-s-edge.html?ref=anthonylewis](http://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/14/opinion/at-the-chasm-s-edge.html?ref=anthonylewis)) Yes, a virtual news blackout. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808/89 "2011-01-25T23:44:25Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > 1948:“On the eve of the war, the number of Arab troops likely to be committed to the war was about 23,000 (10,000 Egyptians, 4,500 Jordanians, 3,000 Iraqis, 3,000 Syrians, 2,000 ALA volunteers, 1,000 Lebanese and some Saudi Arabians), in addition to the irregular Palestinians already present. The Yishuv had 35,000 troops of the Haganah, 3,000 of Stern and Irgun and a few thousand armed settlers.[46]” > > Doesn’t really sound like the arabs had overwhelming force lined upgainst israel. Its no minor feat to have won the war but the odds were probably on their side. > > 1967: pre-emptive strike destroyed Egyptian air force of Russian MiG 21s. “The attack guaranteed Israeli air superiority for the rest of the war.” The arabs outnumbered the Israelis but Israel had air superiority and it sounds like the Egyptian generals really sucked at their job. > > 1973: Russia didn’t seem quite as supportinve of their proxy as the US was of its. “Egypt felt the only way to convince the Soviet leaders of the deficiencies of most of the aircraft and air defense weaponry supplied to Egypt following 1967 was to put the Soviet weapons to the test against the advanced weaponry the United States had supplied to Israel.” > > “On the afternoon of October 7, an alarmed Dayan told Meir that “this is the end of the third temple”. He was warning of Israel’s impending total defeat, but “Temple” was also the code word for nuclear weapons.[202] Dayan again raised the nuclear topic in a cabinet meeting, warning that the country was approaching a point of “last resort.”[203] On 8 October, Meir authorized the assembly of thirteen 20-kiloton-of-TNT (84 TJ) tactical atomic weapons for Jericho missiles at Hirbat Zachariah, and F-4 aircraft at Tel Nof, both nuclear-capable. These were prepared for use against Syrian and Egyptian targets.[202] They would be used if absolutely necessary to prevent total defeat, but the preparation was done in an easily detectable way, likely as a signal to the United States.[203] Kissinger learned of the nuclear alert on the morning of October 9. That day, President Nixon ordered the commencement of Operation Nickel Grass, an American airlift to replace all of Israel’s material losses.[204] Anecdotal evidence suggests that Kissinger told Sadat that the reason for the U.S. airlift was that the Israelis were close to “going nuclear.”[202]” > > So it appears that at least in the 1973 war that Israel might have either fallen or resorted to nuclear war if the US hadn’t stepped in. Point here is that in '48, '67 and '73, Israel had what amounts to pretty well all of its neighbours against it - and even then, Israel basically had the odds. In '67, Egypt was supplied by the Soviets but Israel wasn’t supplied by the US. There is simply no way that the Palestinians, all on their lonesome, could ever top the efforts of Egypt, Syria, Jordan _and_ the Palestinians, acting together. > [@](#): > > In any event Israel is the dominant military power in the region. But should relative military advantage be the determining factor in the outcome of the Middle East pease process? I’m not claiming it ought to be. I’m simply skewering what I see to be a fallacy - that the US, merely by shifting aid, can change that “determining factor”. Because I see it as a bit of a pipe-dream. > [@](#): > > Because by that metric, unless the compromise is acceptable to Palestine over the long term, the peace will last only as long as the relative military advantage is maintained. If the Palestinians _alone_ are required to confront Israeli military force, that will be “into the foreseeable future”. The reasons: Palestine, assuming it obtains both de facto and de jure statehood, will still be what amounts to an impoverished third-world nation. It cannot hope to actually confront Israel on any terms of equality without changing that fact, which is likely to take a very long time - even under the best of conditions. The comparative advantage in wealth, manufacturing and technological progress enjoyed by Israel isn’t likely to change any time soon, and mere injections of aid money cannot create a first-world society out of a third-world one. Indeed, that to my mind is _the_ pressing problem for Palestinians - that of nation-building. It is always somewhat of a mystery how some nations can do this under the most adverse of conditions, and others cannot; it has something to do with intangible factors such as the quality of nationalism espoused by the citizens of the country involved. Certainly merely facing adversity is as often a spur as a curb to pulling one’s nation up by its bootstraps - Israel itself is an example of that, if ever there was a nation born out of adversity it is Israel. It seems to me at least that the Palestinains ought to concentrate on nation-building, and then, when in a position of greater national coherence, demand deals. Right now they are divided, with one half of their nation basically rejecting the very notion of deals, and the other half essentially powerless to make any credible deals. Again, all this has nothing to do with ethics, it is simply a matter of facts on the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808/90 "2011-01-26T02:09:03Z")
It’s absurd to talk about a right of return and a two-state solution at the same time. There’s no way the returnees would consider themselves Israeli citizens. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808/91 "2011-01-26T05:19:26Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Right now, Israel’s hardliners win by making sure that a peace deal is not achieved. The same can be said for the Hamas hardliners. Neither wants peace. It is unfortunately true that there are elements on each side whose personal interests are served by preserving the status quo. The longer it is without a deal the more entrenched the settlements become and the harder it becomes to move them. And on the Arab (not just the Palestinian) side, _many_ different groups self-interests are served by keeping the conflict in place. Hamas is nothing if Israel is not the demon. Various other leaders of Arab countries and groups would lose the scary “other” as an outside threat to distract their own subjects from the abuse their own leaders heap upon them. Bibi and company are indeed, as **Alessan** puts it, dickheads. But they are able to get away with it because few see the PA as able to deliver on security no matter what they are given in exchange. So the logic goes, why offer? And of course their being dickheads makes it all the less likely that the PA will be able to get into position to be able to deliver. Actually I think Bibi miscalculated. He got greedy. I think he thought that he could get more out of Obama in return for halting construction and was not happy to end up with okaying more construction, killing off the process, and having lost all those nice things dangled out as “incentives”. Getting the two sides to agree to that which they know is what a solution has to look like will require better leadership than Bibi can provide, a stronger hand for Abbas with his own people, and an American leader who is in a postion domestically to be a true friend, and hide the car keys if an Israeli leader is going do the political equal of getting into a car after kicking back too many. L’shanah Haba’ah … ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808/92 "2011-01-26T17:17:54Z")
By the way Newcomer, there have now been four (five?) cites provided showing that Abbas suspended the negotiating process on several different occasions. Do you admit you were mistaken in your claim that it is fictional to claim that? And if so, what point exactly were you trying to make? ---
**Author:** ![Dick\_Dastardly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@Dick\_Dastardly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dick_Dastardly)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808/93 "2011-01-26T17:42:58Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > :dubious: And yet this type of simplistic horseshit gets constantly tossed in with hardly a ripple…and would probably not make a ripple if asserted in most places in either the US or Europe. Interesting that if the ‘Israeli side’ has been adequately portrayed either on this board or by the MSM that this level of willful ignorance still persists, don’t you think? > > 😛 > > -XT It isn’t simplistic horsehit or wilful ignorance – things I’m leaving entirely up to you – it’s a simple fact. Whenever you have a military occupation then you’re going to have a violent reaction, especially if the occupation is going on for half a century and the occupiers are building all over the occupied land illegally and against the will of the entire international community. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808/94 "2011-01-26T18:35:30Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Point here is that in '48, '67 and '73, Israel had what amounts to pretty well all of its neighbours against it - and even then, Israel basically had the odds. In '67, Egypt was supplied by the Soviets but Israel wasn’t supplied by the US. > > There is simply no way that the Palestinians, all on their lonesome, could ever top the efforts of Egypt, Syria, Jordan _and_ the Palestinians, acting together. I agree. Almost all of my knowledge of the middle east comes from cocktail party conversations (the gist of the conversattions is that pre-1967 borders will bring peace to the middle east) and wikipedia. > [@](#): > > I’m not claiming it ought to be. I’m simply skewering what I see to be a fallacy - that the US, merely by shifting aid, can change that “determining factor”. Because I see it as a bit of a pipe-dream. I was positing shifting that aid for 60 years. In 60 years do you think that could change because some palestinians seem to be counting things in terms of centuries. > [@](#): > > It seems to me at least that the Palestinains ought to concentrate on nation-building, and then, when in a position of greater national coherence, demand deals. Right now they are divided, with one half of their nation basically rejecting the very notion of deals, and the other half essentially powerless to make any credible deals. I agree. Palestine should take half a loaf now and then take the other half later… if they still want it. Israel’s incentive is to give them enough of a loaf that there is a reasonable chance that they will not want more if they ever develop the means to take it. > [@](#): > > Again, all this has nothing to do with ethics, it is simply a matter of facts on the ground. And what do you think the ethics say? ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808/95 "2011-01-26T18:38:31Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > It’s absurd to talk about a right of return and a two-state solution at the same time. There’s no way the returnees would consider themselves Israeli citizens. Why not? Why the heck would they return otherwise if not for the same reason Mexicans flood over our borders? Sure they would retain thier culture but I imagine they would become as politcally engaged as anyone else, I would guess that within a generation they would feel the same sense of nationalism that the children of immigrants feel here in America. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808/96 "2011-01-26T19:34:43Z")
[News from the latest installment:](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/25/palestine-papers-mi6-hamas-crackdown) > [@](#): > > Among the newly released confidential PA documents is an extraordinary account of a 2005 meeting between Israel’s then defence minister, Shaul Mofaz, and the PA’s interior minister, Nasser Youssef. > > Referring to Hassan al-Madhoun, a commander in the armed Fatah-linked al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades who was held responsible by Israel for a suicide attack the previous year, Mofaz asked Yousef: “We know his address … Why don’t you kill him?” Yousef replied: “The environment is not easy, our capabilities are limited.” Israel killed Madhoun a few months later in a drone missile attack on his car. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808/97 "2011-01-27T00:15:01Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > It’s absurd to talk about a right of return and a two-state solution at the same time. There’s no way the returnees would consider themselves Israeli citizens. > [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Why not? Why the heck would they return otherwise if not for the same reason Mexicans flood over our borders? Sure they would retain thier culture but I imagine they would become as politcally engaged as anyone else, I would guess that within a generation they would feel the same sense of nationalism that the children of immigrants feel here in America. Why not? Uh… because by the Palestinians’ own declarations, the “Zionist entity” is illegally occupying their country, Palestine, and their goal is liberate their country. To use the Mexican analogy you brought up, it would be as if Mexicans regarded the post-1836 borders as illegal and vowed that somehow, someday, they would win their rightful territory back. It doesn’t help that Israel unapologetically IS “Zionist”- it’s whole point to be an ethnically Jewish majority homeland, and the Israeli Arab minority doesn’t always have it easy. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Amazing\_Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@The\_Amazing\_Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Amazing_Hanna)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808/98 "2011-01-27T00:31:39Z")
How about we declare the United States a white, Christian nation, and place all those nasty “Americans” of other ethnics heritage in Alaska or somewhere? ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808/99 "2011-01-27T01:24:28Z")
> [@The\_Amazing\_Hanna](#): > > How about we declare the United States a white, Christian nation, and place all those nasty “Americans” of other ethnics heritage in Alaska or somewhere? Huh? Could I trouble you for a translation? ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808/100 "2011-01-27T01:28:49Z")
Sounds rather obvious. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/al-jazeera-broadcasting-leaked-palestine-papers/568808.md?page=6)