I would like to call attention to Kenya’s esteemed photojournalist Mohinder Dhillon’s call for a Kurdish state along the lines of Israel [in a letter to the editor published the Star on Tuesday, October 22]
That yet another iteration of the genocidal war against the Kurds witnessed today continues to befuddle world peacemakers is undeniable. In l918 after the First World War, imperialist-minded British and French victors redefined key sections of the Middle East without acknowledging those who actually lived there. In short — with maps in hand —Kurdish lands then formerly part of the old Ottoman Empire were distributed among what is today Turkey, Syria and Iraq.
Dhillon points out that after that ghastly era today termed The Holocaust in which 6 million Jews were brutally murdered in concentration camps, 700,00 Jewish survivors formed the basis of today’s Jewish State of Israel.
Unfortunately, he neglects the second section of this history. Here one needs to interject the catastrophic effect this move had on the indigenous Palestinian people. Instead of an inclusive democratic secular state accommodating everyone, during a second genocidal war fought by British, French, American forces in aid of Israel, thousands of Palestinians were killed and 700,000 made homeless. To date, those Palestinian refugees struggle through life in camps in Lebanon and elsewhere.
If asked if that Jewish State should be replicated elsewhere, one can easily assume it would receive few Palestinian votes.
Via email
