Echoes of Hillel Halkin

Seems like the scathing article by Israeli journalist Hillel Halkin is resounding all over the place, now you can hear echoes of it all the way to Montana.

Sadly, at this time the name of the author of the article titled "A Homeland for the Palestinians? Why They? How About All Those Others?" is lost. However, I will be contacting the Montana News and try to find out who she or he is so I can post it here.

Now, there is quite a few things that I do not agree with, but all in all, this should have Aznar, the Barcepundit, the Intelligencer and quite a few others shaking in their boots.

Here you have what the author says about the Basques:

How about other nationalities that yearn for a homeland, for their own state? There are first of all the Basques, the vast majority of whom live in the northwestern region of Spain. They are a unique people, with a language and a culture that has no relationship to anything else in the world. They have been fighting to become liberated. But Spain – most vociferous in the promotion of a “Palestinian homeland” – refuses that. An independent Basque homeland would not endanger Spain in any way. But does the world, does the UN support the Basques in their quest for independence? Of course not!

And:

Both the world and especially the Europeans don’t really care about self-determination – they don’t lose any sleep over the Basques, the Kurds, the Tibetans or others who yearn for a homeland. They care about their own political and economic interests, which they cloak in the language of political morality.

Now, since the whole thing about Taiwan is warming up to a boil, how 'bout this:

And then there are the Tibetans. They are a distinct people, unique in language and religion. They have been annexed by China, which has flooded the country with its “settlers.” The Chinese are fully in the process of making Tibet into an integral part of China. Clearly, an independent Tibet would not be any existential threat to China. But does the world, does the UN support the Tibetans in their quest for independence? Of course not!

One more thing, while Yahooing "Hillel Halkin" and "Basque" I found out that there is an Israeli that doesn't really like him, at his blog Israpundint (not really working at present, better if you read the "cached" option) he published a post attacking Hillel in which he defends the Basques!

Here you go:

Then Halkin proceeds to destroy his own case by admitting Israel cannot arrive at a peaceful settlement with the Palestinian Arabs. He goes even further and legitimately questions the recently created Palestinian people's right to a state. Halkin ticks off a whole list of far larger and more deserving minority groups in much larger areas, that have no such rights ­ The Chaldeans, Kurds, Chechnyans, Ibo of Nigeria, the Basques of Spain, Uighurs, Karens, Mizos, Nagos, etc. ­ peoples of whom most of us have no knowledge whatever.

Meaning, both sides in Israel understand the need for a Basque Homeland.

Great!

You can read the whole article here.

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