Does Israel have the right to exist?

The Moebius Strip image was inspired by the January 5, 2009 Daily Show by Jon Stewart. http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=213378This one-sided surface was immortalized in an Escher poster available from:http://www.worldofescher.com/gallery/A29.html


What are the facts? How are the facts interpreted? What is the world view or set of assumptions that are used to define the meaning of the facts? What facts are taken into account and what facts are simply ignored? Reality is not self-explanatory: One group’s terrorists are another group’s freedom fighters. Read the following two articles that are supportive of Israel and then read the third article that was written by some Gazan Palestinian artists.

Rabbi Marvin Hier published his op-ed entitled “The Jews Face a Double Standard” in The Wall Street Journal on January 8, 2009.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123137495711862883.html#printMode
Investors Business Daily published an editorial entitled “War Without End” on January 8, 2009.
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=316222999854619
A contrasting and challenging point of view entitled “Does Israel have the right to exist?” was written by Palestinian artists in Gaza. http://www.resistanceart.com/

Do the ideas in any of these articles resonate with you? As an American citizen, what U.S. foreign policy will support U.S. interests and at the same time address these clashing perspectives? Does unconditional support of Israel put the U.S. in the position of being a Palestinian Nakba denier? The PLO recognized Israel’s right to exist in 1988. Have the past two decades resulted in a better life for the Palestinians? Can the two double standards in Rabbi Hier’s article and the Gazan’s article co-exist or does reality required us to deny one but not the other?