Both Sides Of The Issue
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July 30th, 2014

Both Sides Of The Issue

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Discussion (7)¬

  1. Bridgette says:

    Mr Bell,

    I've long been a HUGE fan of Candorville, and these last few strips have been among my favorites. I have tended to sit silently while people around me scream about which side is 'right' and which is 'wrong' in this conflict and yet, I feel just like this. I look at both and go, neither is right.

    I know my history. As you mention, the British and French offered not just the Palestinians, but the Shepardim Jews living in Israel a state of their own in exchange for loyalty during the the fight against the Ottoman Empire in WWI. They then broke their words and took the lands. Then went way too far in 1948 and founded Israel.

    The history after that was a combination of Palestinians seeking to find a new life somewhere else such as Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon only to be forced into refugee camps and turned into enemies to be used against Israel by the various Muslim leaders surrounding Israel. This goes on up to 1968 and then another quick war, and those camps end up inside Israel when the dust settles.

    Ultimately, the whole thing is a huge mess where both sides are both rather right and both rather wrong. Thank you for saying that.

  2. Lisa says:

    I wonder if these characters know that the Arabs were given the opportunity to create a Palestinian State at the same time the Jews were in 1947, but chose not to? Or that until 1967, the West Bank and Gaza were under the auspices of Egypt and Jordan but no Palestinian State was created during those 19 years? It was only after Israel, after years of being attacked by the Arab States, took control that suddenly the "Palestinians" claimed to be acting in their own defense rather than from a noncompromising belief that Israel had not right to exist.

    • Darrin Bell says:

      These characters know that how you characterize it is not at all how Arabs characterize it. "Palestinians" believed that entire land was promised to them in return for rebelling against the Ottoman Empire, and that as soon as WW1 ended the British and French betrayed them, doubled the population of Jewish residents in "Palestine," and then carved up "their" land and handed it over to people they consider foreign invaders. The Western world doesn't see it that way because the West interpreted Britain's "promise" differently than the Arabs did.

      The two camps look at the same set of facts, analyze them completely differently, and then proceed from there to do what they think is logical according to their own interpretation of history. That's the source of the problem. That's why the problem is so intractable.

  3. Erika says:

    Brilliantly and simply said. Thank you.

  4. jdm says:

    Today’s cartoon in the l.a times (both sides are right) is an particularly egregious example of an ignorant world view. The pathway to a two state solution for the palestinians is clear and open to them if they forswear the intent to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. There is no moral equivalency between Israel’s use of force to protect its citizens and those in gaza, (not only hamas), who use humans as shields. It is reprehensible that the useful idiots in the press around the world can’t (or won’t) discern the difference.

    get real!

    jdmarks

    • Darrin Bell says:

      “Today’s cartoon in the l.a times (both sides are right) is an particularly egregious example of an ignorant world view. The pathway to a two state solution for the palestinians is clear and open to them if they forswear the intent to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.”

      …as yesterday’s cartoon stated.