A Japanese View of the Palestinians 

 By Yashiko Sagamori

If you are so sure that "Palestine, the country, 

 Goes  back through most of recorded history", I 

 expect you to be able to answer a few basic 

 questions about that country of Palestine: 

When was it founded and by whom? 

What were its borders? 

What was its capital? 

What were its major cities? 

What constituted the basis of its economy? 

What was its form of government? 

Can you name at least one Palestinian leader 

 Before Arafat? 

Was Palestine ever recognized by a country whose

 existence, at that time or now, leaves no room 

 for interpretation? 

What was the language of the country of Palestine? 

What was the prevalent religion of the country of

 Palestine? 

What was the name of its currency? Choose any date in

 history and tell what was the approximate exchange

 rate of the Palestinian monetary unit against the US

 dollar, German mark, GB pound, Japanese yen, or Chinese

 yuan on that date. 

And, finally, since there is no such country today,

  what caused its demise and when did it occur? 

You are lamenting the "low sinking" of a "once proud"

 nation. Please tell me, when exactly was that "nation"

 proud and what was it so proud of? 

And here is the least sarcastic question of all: If

 the people you mistakenly call "Palestinians" are

 anything but generic Arabs collected from all over -- 

 or  thrown out of -- the Arab world, if they really have a  

 genuine ethnic identity that gives them right for self-

 determination, why did they never try to become independent 

 until Arabs suffered their devastating defeat in  the Six 

 Day War? 

I hope you avoid the temptation to trace the modern day 

 "Palestinians" to the Biblical Philistines:  substituting 

 etymology for history won't work here. 

The truth should be obvious to everyone who wants to know it. 

 Arab countries have never abandoned the dream of destroying 

 Israel; they still cherish it today. Having time and again 

 failed to achieve their evil goal  with military means, 

 they decided to fight Israel by  proxy. For that purpose, 

 they created a terrorist organization, cynically called it 

 "the Palestinian people"  and installed it in Gaza, 

 Judea, and Samaria. How else  can you explain the refusal 

 by Jordan and Egypt to unconditionally accept back the 

 "West Bank" and Gaza, respectively? 

The fact is, Arabs populating Gaza, Judea, and Samaria have 

 much less claim to nationhood than that Indian tribe that 

 successfully emerged in Connecticut with the purpose of 

 starting a tax-exempt casino: at least  that tribe had a 

 constructive goal that motivated them.  The so called 

 "Palestinians" have only one  motivation: the destruction 

 of Israel, and in  my book that is  not sufficient to 

 consider them a nation" -- or anything  else except what 

 they really are: a terrorist organization that will one day 

 be dismantled. 

In fact, there is only one way to achieve peace in the 

 Middle East. Arab countries must acknowledge and accept 

 their defeat in their war against Israel and, as the losing 

 side should, pay Israel reparations for the more than 50 

 years of devastation they have visited on it. The most 

 appropriate form of such reparations would be the removal 

 of their terrorist organization from  the land of Israel 

 and accepting Israel's ancient sovereignty over Gaza, Judea, 

 and Samaria. 

That will mark the end of the Palestinian people. What

 are you saying again was its beginning?