Only if taken completely out of its context.
Okay, do it. Prove to me that a great proportion of Palestinian culture supports terrorism. And, do it without using either Arafat’s mouthpieces or biased Israeli cites.
You ask, "What proportion of Palestinians would have to support terrorism before you feel it would be fair to say, “The Palestinians do X?” Well, you tell me–how many Americans would have to support a war on Iraq before you feel it would be fair to say, “The Americans support a war on Iraq”? Answer–the majority of them. Therefore, I would have to have it proved to me that the majority of Palestinians support Al Aqsa and Hamas and their terrorism agendas before I would stop carefully distinguishing between “Palestinians” and “Palestinian terrorists”. I guess that’s 51%. So–cite?
You could start by showing me that Arafat consistently has a greater than 51% approval rating.
http://web1.ahram.org.eg/weekly/2002/586/re61.htm
In support of my thesis, in addition to the thousands of Palestinians I already mentioned that the Israeli government evidently doesn’t have any problem with giving work permits to, I offer the following.
There’s Sari Nusseibeh. Does he support terrorism?
http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2001/oct/011018.nusseibeh.html
http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2002/03/aq032002.html
How about the rest of the faculty at Al Quds, and the college kids studying dentistry? Do they all cheer every time another suicide bomber blows up a Jerusalem cafe and kills a few more Jews?
http://www.alquds.edu/faculties/
Do the kids at the music school in Ramallah want to be suicide bombers? How would their teachers feel about that? How about their parents?
http://beta.kpix.com/news/ap/APTV/National/a/i/Palestinians-Barenboi-ai.html
Barenboim’s a Jew, and an Israeli citizen. Why would Jew-hating Palestinian terrorists allow him to come near their children, let alone teach them?
What about members of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society? Do they serve coffee and donuts to celebrate when Hamas claims credit for another bombing?
What about all the members of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations network? Are all these people supporting terrorists? Are all the people down at the Society for Deaf Children cheering in sign language when they turn on the TV and see bodies being scraped off the sidewalk in Jerusalem?
http://www.pngo.net/members.html
Oh, yeah, the YWCA in Ramallah, it’s a real hotbed of terrorism, especially that kindergarten they’re running in the Jalazon refugee camp… :rolleyes:
This is a lot of people we’re talking about here. Now, if you can show me that any of these groups are just a front for Hamas or Al Aqsa or Arafat, as always I welcome enlightenment. But until you can show me otherwise, I will continue to believe that these people are the “silent majority” I’m talking about, the ones who are just trying to get on with their lives and who privately wish that all the thugs would go away, and that the thugs are in the minority, and that therefore it’s important to continue to distinguish between the “normal people” and the “thugs”.
You’re right, I did go too far. “Judging an entire group by the actions of a few members of that group” is technically not “bigotry”–it’s “prejudice”. “Bigotry” is only “the obstinate or intolerant holding to one’s opinions and prejudices”. So the act of “judging” itself wouldn’t make you a bigot–it’s the act of holding to the prejudices that resulted from your “judging” that would make you a bigot. My mistake.
It’s only appropriate to blame the entire group if the things that some of its members did were done in fulfillment of the agenda of the larger group. It’s appropriate to blame Earth First for a member’s act of putting spikes in a tree that made a chainsaw buck back and injure a logger, because this is the sort of thing that’s on Earth First’s agenda.
It’s appropriate to blame the Red Brigades for the actions of those members who blew up a Parliament member’s car, since blowing up cars is on the Red Brigade’s agenda.
It’s not appropriate to blame the Democratic Party for the Watergate burglary, since burglary isn’t on the Democratic Party’s agenda.
It’s not appropriate to blame the Chicago Police Department for the actions of cops who took bribes, because taking bribes is not on the CPD’s agenda.
It’s not appropriate to blame the entire group of Palestinians for the actions of those members who are currently sending suicide bombers against Jews, because sending suicide bombers against Jews is not on the Palestinians’ agenda. If you believe it is, then give me a cite that proves it.
!!!
OKAY NOW I’M REALLY PISSED!!! Give me cites for all of the following, toot suite, or this discussion is over.
**“At the request” of Arafat? Prove that. (We’re back to the “Arabs run the UN” conspiracy theory, I see.) :rolleyes:
**Prove that he steals it. Prove that he uses it to pay for terrorism. Prove that the UN knows this.
Your basic premise that started this discussion was “the UN is unfair to Israel, specifically in regard to its resolutions.” I’ve been asking you for days now for a list of all the pro-Palestinian UN resolutions that you feel were unfairly favorable to the Palestinians, and all the anti-Israel UN resolutions that you feel were unfairly censuring of Israel, and you have consistently refused to do so, preferring instead to bring up totally irrelevant matters, from Zionism to white supremacy to lynch mobs to the My Lai massacre to Zimbabwe.
Anybody else, upon my first request for a list of the offending resolutions, would have simply said, “Oh, sure, here they are,” and provided some links and a quick rundown on exactly how he felt they were unfair. Then we could have discussed it. But no, you prefer to carry on with your anti-Palestinian, anti-UN blatherings, as you faithfully repeat all the glurge from the anti-UN, anti-Palestinian websites.
Put up or shut up.
And I’m not even going to touch your “Arabs run the whole UN” conspiracy theory until we finish dealing with UN resolutions (if we ever do), but just so you’ll know, there’s a limit to the amount of time I’m willing to spend talking to conspiracy theorists.
Especially if they refuse to even attempt to provide cites.
Uh, DDG, the part of my quote that you rather conveniently took out and replaced with ellipses said, “not that I completely agree with it.” I’m not going to go to the trouble to provide support for an argument I don’t completely agree with, unless you think there’s a compelling reason why I should.
That said, perhaps the “silent majority” needs to be less silent. Or perhaps they aren’t a majority. I 'm sure I don’t know.
No, it’s neither. It’s simply the use of a collective noun.
To say, “the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor,” is a correct historical statement. However, to assume that every single every single Japanese citizen approved of the attack would be prejudice. YMMV
OK.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Weekly/Palestine/20001204.html
Since a Saudi Arabian publication calls it a “Palestinian Intifada,” why shouldn’t we do the same?
That was implied in the cites I provided.
It was widely reported recently that Arafat had stolen over $1 billion. We discussed it on a thread here, as well.
AFAIK his money comes from the UN and the EU.
If they don’t, they’re totally negligent.
You have put words in quotation marks that I never said. Newspapers fire reporters for that.
In fact, my basic premise was that the UN has been unfair to Israel. I’ve provided quite a bit of evidence. The amount of additional evidence available is huge. However I’m losing interest, particularly as you seem to ignore each bit of evidence I bring up, and you never provide any evidence the other way…
You have stated a different premise than I did and now you’re telling me how I must make my case.
Here’s an alternative idea. I’ve provided substantial evidence of my POV. It’s your turn. Please provide some evidence that the UN has not been biased against Israel.
cite? 
Seriously, the amount of unfair and unbalanced UN actions against Israel is so large that it would take a book. You are asking for too much. You want a book that doesn’t exist, UN Anti-Israel Prejudice for Dummies[sup]TM[/sup]
<< enters thread >>
<< checks preceding post for requested lists of UN resolutions >>
<< finds none >>
<< checks preceding post for requested cites >>
<< finds none >>
<< leaves >>
<< cursing the hamsters, puts head back into thread just long enough to point out that the fact that some Saudis may have referred to it as a “Palestinian” intifada does not count as a cite proving that the entire group of Palestinian people have as their communal and mass agenda the sending of suicide bombers against Jews >>
<< leaves >>
Ms./Mr. Goose – you are asking for too much. We spent a number of posts debating the propriety of addressing “Palestinian” conduct – whether it was racist or bigoted or prejudiced. You laid down circumstance that would satisfy you that the label could legitimately be used. That’s your standard. You say I have not satisfied your standard, and I agree.
We now know that a Saudi Arabian periodical has their standard. Why isn’t their standard at least as valid as yours?