This Article was originally written in 2003
Various large scale world atrocities and conflicts have occurred in
the past few years: Saddam's annihilation of the Kurds, Syria's brutal
occupation of Lebanon, East Timor, Tibet, Kosovo, Bosnia, Chechnya,
conflict between India and Pakistan, North Korea, War in the Congo and
Rwanda, Kashmir, Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Bali, massacres in Algeria,
Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Indonesia, Philippines, West China,
Bask region in Spain and France, Syria, the Lebanese civil war, and the
Iran-Iraq conflict. The majority of the conflicts are instigated by
Muslims against fellow Muslims or other ethnic and religious minorities.
There are many nations around the globe who once had their own
statehood. They still maintain their unique national identity, culture,
language and connection with the land:
The population of the Kurdish people is almost 35 million. Their
homeland, Kurdistan, is divided between five countries. In his
statements President Bush categorically rejected the idea of an
independent state for Kurdish people - Kurdistan.
Basks, the ancient people of Europe are still divided and prosecuted
by both France and Spain. Nobody is willing to even consider their
independence. The EU is liberally vocal in expressing support for
Arab-Palestinians but extremely mute about the future of the Bask
people.
Addressing the question of Iraq President Bush and the other ally
leaders felt a compulsion to raise the issue of a so-called Palestinian
state. It is in spite of: there has never been an Arab or Muslim state
in the territory called "Palestine". Palestinians are just a mix of
people from various neighbouring regions (some of them even came from
Bosnia). Syrian Arabic is one of the most commonly spoken dialects among
them. Their leader, Arafat, is Egyptian.
The war in central Africa claimed almost 3 million victims during the
last decade. Nobody gave a damn! Still, Arab-Israel conflict is the top
priority of US, EU and UN. All eyes are on Israel. I am still puzzled
why?
Steven Shamrak,
Australia.
Website:www.shamrak.com/
Email:StevenShamrak@gmail.com
Steven Shamrak, born in the
Soviet Union, lives in Melbourne Australia. He is a qualified civil
engineer and software specialist, and was an active participant in the
nascent Moscow Zionist movement before he arrived in Australia 25 years
ago. Believing that "a sense of pride, nationhood and connection to all
Jewish land" is missing from Jewish hearts, he spends his spare time
Educating Jews and non-Jews about Jewish history in the Middle East.
