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Consider Israel. It has been the lightening rod for Muslim rage ever since it was formed. Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's recent call for Israel to be "wiped off the map" reinvigorated both anti-Israeli and anti-Iranian sentiment around the world. Ahmadinejad's most improvident claim...that the Holocaust is a myth...didn't help his cause in the West. Unfortunately, it also served to submerge his other statements and questions, some of which should be examined much more closely. For example, why was Israel carved out of the Middle East instead of Germany? This question adds ammunition to his other claim, that Europeans just wanted their own "Jewish problem"...remember that anti-Semitism was NOT restricted just to Germany...whisked as far away as possible. In fact, if this was indeed their purpose, it worked. Anti-Semitism was virtually absent in the Arab world until Israel was formed, being confined almost entirely to the developed world. In fact, the word itself is somewhat of a non sequitur, since both Arabs and Jews have a Semitic origin. Even today, as anti-Jewish sentiment begins to rise once again in Europe, extremists like Ahmadinejad provide a ready made cover for it.

Our commentators would have us believe that the main reason for Iranian militancy is that they have a theocratic government, dominated by an extremist minority. But what about Israel itself? Is it not true that it too is a theocratic state dominated by an extremist minority?

We have posed this question to Israelis. They almost uniformly respond that there is a "world of difference" between the two states, that Israel is a liberal democracy with equal rights for all, while Iran is a medieval autocracy, which oppresses all its citizens. But, wait a second. Iran ELECTED its current president, although in an election seen to be flawed at the very least. Hitler was himself ELECTED in Germany during the thirties in an equally faulty manner. But, then, given OUR recent experiences with elections, we know all about problems in the electoral system, right?

The truth is that religious states ALWAYS lead to discrimination and inequality. While it is true that Christians and Muslims do have civil rights in Israel…they can vote, their speech is relatively free, etc. But what about the "right of return?" This special right, which allows any Jew, anywhere in the world to instantly become an Israeli citizen is available ONLY to Jews, although Israel is also the seat of some of the holiest places for both Christians and Muslims as well. Among other things, it has insured that Jews remain a majority in Israel. One of the most talked about "problem" in Israel…after the constant warfare…is that Muslims in Israel tend to have higher birth rates than Jews, "threatening" that Jewish majority.

As far as we are concerned, there is only one viable alternative in that part of the world and it is NOT the much touted two state proposal…which is, by the way, favored by almost no one on either side of the issue, each side wishing and acting on their wishing that the others would just "disappear"...either by being wiped from the face of the Earth or hidden behind the newest "protective" wall. No, the only true alternative is for Israel/Palestine to combine and form a single state, democratic and SECULAR, with liberty and justice for all. It turns out that there is sizeable minority of both Jews and Arabs who agree with us that this is the only solution to their problems.

Think about just what such a answer might mean, what an example it could set for the rest of the world. People of ALL major Western religions living in peace and prosperity. What kind of traction for their blustering would the Ahmadinejad's of the world have given such a reality? What kind of encouragement would it give to ALL peoples, everywhere, to bury their differences and live in peace with one another.

What about Oprah? Could George Bush advance such a proposal? Could John Kerry or any of the rest of the completely sold out Congress do so? Not a chance! The amounts of money put into their pockets by American arms manufacturers alone...check out the percentage of American manufacturing devoted to death and destruction...would put a huge damper on any such proposal. After all, that money could go just as easily go to their opponents.

THIS is certainly one thing that an independent non-politician, self-made billionaire can do that those others can not. Think about it.

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