This is an image of the Peacock Angel, a central figure in Yazidi theology.
According to Wikipedia:
In the Yazidi belief system, God created the world, and the world is now in the care of a Heptad of seven Holy Beings, often known as Angels or heft sirr (the Seven Mysteries). Preeminent among these is "Tawûsê Melek" (frequently known as "Melek Taus" in English publications), the Peacock Angel.
Apparently Muslims consider Yazidi to be "devil worshippers," which is to say infidels, which is why they, like the Jews and like the Kurds and like the Copts, have been a persecuted minority under Arab-Muslim imperial rule for millennia.
In any case, Abu Wisam is a Yazidi living in Israel.
Abu Wisam’s family might die of thirst or starvation this week. They, along with 200,000 other Yazidis, Shiites, and Christians, are trapped in the Iraqi heat without food or water on Mt. Sinjar in northwestern Iraq, while members of the Islamic State army kill hundreds of those who stayed behind.I say that we move the Yazidi to Gaza! I think that is just a fine idea, but not just the Yazidi. Israel could open the Gaza as a refuge for all those persecuted by al-Sharia throughout the Middle East.
Thus persecuted Copts from Egypt could come and live in the Gaza. Kurds living under Islamic persecution could come and live in Gaza. And, needless to say, any current Gazans willing to live in peace with their new non-Muslim neighbors would be welcome back with open arms.
It might be a little snug in there, I suppose, but without Hamas running things and with an influx of people not dedicated to political Islam, they could possibly turn the Gaza into some cross between Monte Carlo and Singapore.
Or, maybe not, but whatever would emerge would be far and away superior to what the vicious criminals who run things now have created.
Hamas, of course, would have to be eliminated as an operating organization within the strip and Israel would need to oversee and coordinate the transition of Gaza from a genocidal terrorist statelet to a multi-national liberal-capitalist enclave of refugees fleeing Islamic Supremacism.
Abu Wisam said this:
“I wish Netanyahu would let us live here. I wish he would give the Yazidi some land.”As long as I am daydreaming, I can easily imagine an effort comprised of Israeli, American, Canadian, and Australian business people, with help from the Israeli government, providing the necessary economic infrastructure and technical training to bring the Gaza Strip to economic self-sufficiency.
“Take some from the Palestinians and give it to us,” he added, only half-jokingly. “I’d rather be a street cleaner here than go back there with the Islamists, who murder and butcher.”
Aside from trading partners with the newly revitalized Gaza Strip, the Europeans, other than maybe the Czech Republic, would have no role in the development of the new enclave and neither would the American government under the current administration. In order to maintain a level of independence on this project, Israel would not take a penny from any non-Zionist European organization, nor any funding from the American government under Barack Obama.
Additional funding could come from countries around the world that are already invested in Israeli success, such as China and India and Japan, among others.
Israel, however, would help out with repairing roads, buildings, electrical and water needs, pipelines, and so forth.
The Strip would be semi-autonomous and hold regular elections, but Israel would oversee security and would maintain control over the border and regulate shipments by sea until such a time as Gaza proves itself no longer to be a threat to its neighbors.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
A fine daydream for a beautiful, but cool, Saturday morning here in the Bay Area.
Anyone unprepared to kill all the Gazans will be killed by the Gazans.
ReplyDeleteIn my imagination I see a Gaza Strip, say, 15 years from now, or thereabouts.
DeleteIt has a secular-democratic government along with a highly religious population of Muslims and Sikhs and Jews and Christians and Yazidis and Kurds.
The al-Sharia boys have essentially given up their efforts to take control of the area in order to pursue the genocide of the Jews because the large population of non-Muslims has effectively stifled their ability to take political control.
The blockade is over and hindrances to the border crossing with Israel greatly eased. In fact, it is becoming more and more popular for Israeli hipsters to go into Gaza City for the developing foodie scene their.
Meanwhile, Gaza has one of the most enviable economic positions of any country outside of Israel within the Middle East.
And while homosexuality is still largely frowned upon, laws are in place to protect the civil liberties of all oppressed minorities.
Ah, dreams.
Dreams. Dreams. Dreams.
Of course, if Israel were to open the Gaza to other groups, now would be the time to do it.
But, as I say, dreams.
How dare you deny Hamas the right to self-determination and demean their righteous struggle against the Je... I mean, the ZIonist Entity!
Delete(am I doing it right?)
If I were one of the anti-Zionists at dkos, I might say something like this:
DeleteYou cannot impose a solution onto a problem that Israel caused by violence and genocide through the replacement of the local, indigenous population by outsiders.
Your position is both racist and imperialist and it would show Israel's true face of fascism beneath the liberal-democratic mask.
Thankfully, the world is awakening to what Israel really is.
That sounds about right.
Dontcha think?
Yeah, that hits much closer.
DeleteHow would you oppose the argument?
DeleteWell, I wouldn't have proposed that idea in the first place, but assuming I did, I'd start by pointing out that their opposition to a bi(quint?)national state in Gaza points to a pretty serious disconnect when it comes to what they would force Israel to turn into if they had the power.
DeleteThe Islamic State seemed to come out of nowhere, didn't it?
ReplyDeleteIf by some fantasy, Gaza was allowed to shed its oppressive Hamas/Qatar/U.S. rule, and oppressed Middle Eastern religious minorities were allowed to settle there and of course they would all love each other and get along and create this utopian dream, would Jews, after fighting and dying in the effort, be allowed to settle there as well -- or would they still be relegated to living ONLY within the Green Line as dictated by the U.S., UK, EU, UN and Gulf States? Israel, by the way, is one of the most densely populated countries on earth -- much more so than Gaza was BEFORE this last war. If Israel fights and dies to free the land from Islamic oppression, shouldn't it become a part of Israel? According to Michael L, apparently not. Well, not to worry: If Gaza were ever allowed to become this utopia for religious minorities, the U.S. and the UK, EU, UN and Gulf States (Qatar is just an outpost for the U.S.) would destroy it -- just as they are trying to do with Israel and until ISIS started acting up, Kurdistan. (They would much rather have a non-functional, multi-ethnic Iraq than a thriving Kurdistan.)
ReplyDeleteBesides, all of these religious minorities hated the Jews every bit as much as the Muslims -- and when the Jews in Egypt, Iraq, and Syria were the scapegoats, these dear people had no problem in going along with popular sentiment. In fact, I read that the Copts at one point were more anti-Semitic than the Muslims! The Copts in Israel hate the Jews and Israel. The lone Yazidi man in Israel said he was told all kinds of horrible things about the Jews --- by his fellow Yazidis I presume?