By Robert Patton

Can you imagine being born in a refugee camp, living out your entire life in the camp, and finally dying there. Yet this is what a good many Palestinians have experienced.

More than sixty years ago, innocent people were uprooted from their homes and forced to live in a no man’s land where jobs are rare to non-existent and the presence of foreign troops are an ever-present reminder of their inferior status. Now we find that the elected leaders of these Palestinian pariahs are applying to the UN for the status of a free and independent state.

It’s not surprising that many are saying that this is about time. The issue has stretched out many times longer than the Civil Rights crisis in our own country. Can you imagine if Jim Crow laws still existed here and demonstrators in the South were still met with police dogs and clubs? Unthinkable, isn’t it? ………………… Read more

Before 1948 Jews and Muslims coexisted peacefully for hundreds of years. If not for the Holocaust they would still be doing so. Who can demonstrate a right by parentage or religious faith to seize a piece of land that once belonged to others? Who can justify a society in which some people are more equal than others?

Why did virtually the entire civilized world oppose apartheid in South Africa while giving moral and financial support to Israel even as the rights of Palestinians are violated on a daily basis?

But let’s forget about rights and past injustice and imagine a State in Palestine that combined the best of Jewish and Muslim talents and efforts. Imagine a state where people respected the beliefs and customs of their neighbours and worked together to build prosperous, happy lives for all. Wouldn’t that be a shining example to set for the rest of the world?