Yasser
Arafat and the Future of Palestine
By Dr. Moorthy Muthuswamy
New York
The column titled "Yasser
Arafat and the Future of Palestine" by Dr.
Nayyer Ali lacks self-examination -- a factor
that is important for Muslim development.
As the Muslim population percentage increases
Israelis are right in asking themselves whether
they have a future in that land. This has nothing
to do with Zionism. I am afraid this is a human
rights issue.
Israel is not only among the few democracies in
the region, it is also an advanced state. But
most Muslim majority states in the region are
not. It can be argued that Palestinians within
Israel’s existing borders have more rights
than most Muslims in the Muslim majority states.
Hence, a correlation between the extent of Muslim
population on one hand, and the lack of rights
and development in such states is inescapable
for that region.
In the larger context states like India too face
similar problems with a fast growing Muslim population,
aided also by infiltration from Bangladesh. But
this fact when seen in the context that in all
Muslim majority areas of South Asia, non-Muslim
population has dropped dramatically during the
last 50 years raises, serious civilization questions.
Whether it is Israel or India I don’t think
states are going to allow themselves to be demographically
overrun.
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