A Land Milk and Honey and Blood

I am currently reading the great epic, The Great War For Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East by Robert Fisk. It is a great, albeit horrifying book, and one I recommend to everyone, whether or not they care to learn anything about the Middle East because the knowledge within it is too important to overlook.

Now, why am I bringing it up today. Because today, there is something I read that I would finally like to cover. That is, the use of an ancient, oft quoted, and ridiculed book, to verify conquest. Anyone have any guesses to what I'm talking about? Well, the book is the Bible, the single most read book in history. And the justification I'm discussing is the use of the Bible by Israelis to say that the land of Palestine, yes Palestine, is theirs.

I'd like you to think a moment on that. Think on the history of those who argued that what was in the Bible was law. That whatever it says was to come to pass. Who comes to mind? Crusaders? Witch burners? Homophobes? Quite a few less savory groups right? Now think on this. If I were to use the Bible, Quran, or Tibetan Book of the Dead for all I care, to justify stealing land that the United Nations said wasn't mind, what do you think the reaction would be? I'd be told I was crazy, stupid, or something of the like. I'd be told to shut up, to quit wasting everyone's time. And they'd have every right to tell me such. Such a thing would make me beyond a colossal ass. Yet many Israelis like to say that the land they are currently occupying was promised to them by God. I've seen people on film and in books say this. Many truly do believe this. They believe that a book gives the jurisdiction over international law. That God promised them the land. No where is this a viable argument. No where does this give permission for anything. This is beyond religiousness, its fanaticism. It's why so many turn against religion because they view it as a tool for doing wrong. An ironic and terrible thing since so many religions teach what most would view as good or wholesome.

Israel is illegally occupying Palestinian territory. They are doing so with impunity and an arrogance unmatched by all sane nations. They use excuses of the most ridiculous nature to allow for their thievery, their occupation, and their terrorism. This has to stop. And to push my point, here's a little something from the Bible:

And the Lord spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan, near Jericho, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places: And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it... But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land fro before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.
The Bible, Numbers 33:50-53,55

And here we are again, watching this ancient genocide unfold again. Personally, I prefer a different Bible quote:

"You shall not steal." 
8th Commandment