[Jerusalem Post] Evelyn Gordon - It is hard to decide which aspect of Mahmoud Abbas' recent "ethnic cleansing" accusation is more worrying: what it reveals about him, or what it reveals about the world's willingness to tolerate the vilest slanders against Israel. If Jerusalem's Arabs are facing ethnic cleansing, then Israelis are surely the most incompetent ethnic cleansers in human history. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics and the Jerusalem Institute of Israel Studies, Jerusalem's Arab population grew 266% between 1967 and 2006 (the last year for which figures are available). That is almost double the Jewish population's growth during those years (143%); consequently, the city's ratio of Jews to Arabs shrank from 74:26 in 1967 to 66:34 in 2006. During the second intifada, the Arab population in the city rose from 208,700 at the end of 2000 to 252,400 at the end of 2006, an increase of 21% in six years. But more importantly, how can you trust the good faith of someone who has no qualms about accusing you of one of the most heinous crimes in the modern lexicon without even bothering to check his facts? Almost certainly, however, Abbas does know the facts. This was nothing less than deliberate incitement against Israel.
2008-03-21 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive