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Bertrand Russell's Last Message
Russell, Bertrand
http://www.connexions.org/CxLibrary/Docs/CX5576-RussellMidEast.htmYear Published: 1970 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX5576 No people anywhere in the world would accept being expelled en masse from their own country; how can anyone require the people of Palestine to accept a punishment which nobody else would tolerate? Abstract: The development of the crisis in the Middle East is both dangerous and instructive. For over 20 years Israel has expanded by force of arms. After every stage in this expansion Israel has appealed to 'reason' and has suggested 'negotiations.' This is the traditional role of the imperial power, because it wishes to consolidate with the least difficulty what it has already taken by violence. Every new conquest becomes the new basis of the proposed negotiation from strength, which ignores the injustice of the previous aggression. The aggression committed by Israel must be condemned, not only because no state has the right to annexe foreign territory, but because every expansion is an experiment to discover how much more aggression the world will tolerate. Subject Headings |