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December 24, 2004
God's commands
Whilst we in Australia relax and enjoy ourselves over the next few days, let us remember all those in the Middle East whose lives are at risk on a daily basis.
And when we have a quiet mo in celebrating a Christian festival that defines Xmas, let us remember the way that religion has been, and is used, to justify political claims.
A contemporay example is the way the Israeli right assert that the Old Testament has given Israel the divine right to take possession of the Holy Land and to forcibly expel the indigenous population.
That biblical mandate is being fulfilled by the settler movement. This is a political program sanctioned by religion and it both justifies, and distorts, the Zionist program of a Jewish nation state.
A look into the contents of the political unconscious of the right wing settler movement. That movement has bought about the integration of the territories in Israel, or more accurately, the deepening of the annexation by the Israeli state.
Few expect Sharon to dismantle the main settlements in the West Bank, which slice that territory into cantons. Despite this, Israel is undergoing a political crisis of the occupation.
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at December 24, 2004 03:45 PM
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Comments
Gary, Why call Israel/Palestine the holy land, especially in capital letters, especially when you dont subscribe to any of the archaic semitic monotheisms that originated there.
The same goes for the "holy" Roman Empire.
John
Posted by: John Forth at December 25, 2004 11:55 AM
John
you are right to call attention to the way I wrote the holy land.
I was trying to express the way the settlers who believed in God's command would see it. Through the lens of the Old Testament.
As you point out I do not accept that way of justifying their claim to Greater Israel.
Posted by: Gary Sauer-Thompson at December 26, 2004 08:48 AM