Thursday, December 29, 2005
That's what they'd like, anyway. I always have to laugh when people try to tell me that a Muslim majority would actually be something not to worry about in Israel, and that somehow a modern standard of human rights and democracy would be preserved. As proof of concept, they point to the historic good treatment of religious minority populations in Muslim lands -- leaving aside the dubious idea that this was even a historic truth, the idea that "dhimmitude" or "protected status" (of which the poll-tax, or "jiziyah" is an integral part) -- a sort of legalized protection racket -- is compatible with any modern sort of concept of human rights and democracy is beyond bizarre.
The obviously dhimmi behavior of a beleaguered Palestinian Christian community ought to be cause for outcry on the part of people of good will in the West, instead they take the statements of people under the gun at face value.
This story at Italiam site Chiesa is a must-read:
The Mayor of Bethlehem is Christian, but It’s Hamas That’s in Charge
In an interview with Karby Legget, published in the December 23-26 edition of “The Wall Street Journal,” Masalmeh, the leader of the Hamas contingent at the municipal council of Bethlehem, confirmed: “We in Hamas intend to implement this tax someday. We say it openly – we welcome everyone to Palestine but only if they agree to live under our rules.”
Batarseh, the mayor, doesn’t agree. He doesn’t want the tax, and says it will never be introduced.
He knows well that living with Hamas is difficult. But he says he is convinced that “the only way to make Hamas more moderate is to bring them inside the system.”...
Why should they change, when their current methods are so successful?
Israel is routinely blamed for the dwindling Christian population in areas under PA control, but if they are to blame, why then is it that the Muslim population continues to expand? This is always left unexplained.
Judith Apter Klinghoffer has more.
(H/T: Andrew Bostom)
