Letter to the Editor: Palestine Protests
Letter to the Editor: Palestine Protests
Letters about any Spectator article are welcome via email to editor@wluspectator.com.
(Columbia students protest in support of Palestine. Source: The Nation/Getty)
"Granted, that conflict has complex origins: it is the product of both Jewish and Palestinian diasporas, and is frequently traced back to antiquity. It would be quixotic to propose a straightforward solution." (“Students, Stop Protesting and Start Caring” op-ed, May 1)
It would? What are your credentials to make that statement? Most of an undergraduate education, of the 2020s variety, in history and classics?
Well, whatever you (not a bad essay otherwise) and all those who are and have been throwing passion into the Israeli/Jewish and Palestinian/Muslim arguments and conflicts do, do NOT consult a PHILOSOPHER!
Philosophy is such an impractical enterprise. Religious beliefs have NOTHING to do with the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Nothing. Never have. Forget what the two groups are taught by their very old religious manuscripts, doctrines and traditions. Forget, for example, the 1960 film Exodus, based on the 1958 novel of the same name by Leon Uris. Forget the theme song to that movie, the lyrics to which begin: "This land is mine, God gave this land to me."
So there are two groups who both believe in God and both believe that they are specially favored by God and have special rights, including territorial rights, as part of that favoring. That has NOTHING to do with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict!
Or does it?
Could one of those impractical Philosophers try to offer any analyses of those beliefs? Could a Philosopher prove which one of those two groups God actually DOES favor (or maybe some OTHER religious group), which one is correct?
Well, let's back up a step. The more fundamental question — "Is there a God or not?" — is pursued in which advanced discipline of human intellectual inquiry? Accounting? History? Law? Medicine? Business Administration? Gender Studies? Turns out, that is one of the fundamental questions of Philosophy: more specifically, Philosophy of Religion.
The answer to that fundamental question is either Yes, or No. If the answer is Yes, then a huge number of other questions rear their heads, including which religious group has the divine right to rule "The Holy Land".
If the answer is No, then the Jewish/Muslim conflict immediately has no reason to continue. (Neither does the current ruling Iranian regime or any other theocratic ruling regime.)
There have been centuries of death and destruction (mix some Christian Crusaders in there, too, just to give an additional flavor to the mayhem). Let's just let them keep rolling right along, until God FINALLY makes it clear which religious group is right, or which one He (She? They? It?) wants to rule Jerusalem and "The Holy Land".
In the meantime, let's keep the Philosophers out of this; let's keep those goofy Don Quixotes at bay and marginalized.
Andrew Ryan, Ph.D
68A, 21P