Even though I fisked Maen Areikat's op-ed in the Washington Post yesterday, there were too many lies for one post. In fact, one can make an entire post from each of his lies.
One of my readers, who would like to remain anonymous, did exactly that.
Areikat said that the Palestinian Arabs were "the only remaining people under military occupation in the world."
Certainly.
Except for the Kurds, of course, the Turkish military rides the Kurds pretty hard, and they use live ammunition. But except for the Kurds the Palestinians really are the only remaining people under military occupation in the world.
And the people of the Western Sahara, of course. But the Moroccan Army makes sure that the world doesn't hear much about them. Still, they're occupied and not happy about it, so except for the Kurds and the Western Sahara, the Palestinians are the only remaining people under military occupation in the world.
And the Uyghur of Eastern Turkistan. And the Tibetans of Tibet. The Chinese pretty much bash the Uyghurs and the Tibetans if they say peep. Still, except tor the Uyghur, the Tibetans, the Western Saharans, and the Kurds, the Palestinians are the only remaining people under military occupation in the world.
And the people of Darfur, of course. It's pretty ugly what goes on in Darfur. Rape, murder, pillage, and wholesale ethnic cleansing for the sake of land theft all committed by a militia backed by the Arab government of Sudan. Better not to talk about it. Still, it's happening, so we kind of do have to at least mention it. So, except for the people of Darfur, the Uyghur, the Tibetans, the Western Saharans, and the Kurds, the Palestinians are the only remaining people under military occupation in the world.
And the people of Western Papua where they are really, really not happy about living under Indonesian military occupation. Neither are the people of Aceh, come th that, just ask them. So Except for Aceh, Western Papua, Darfur, the Uyghur, the Tibetans, the Western Saharans, and the Kurds, the Palestinians are the only remaining people under military occupation in the world.
And the Tamils of Sri Lanka. But the Sri lankan government pretty much snuffed them, in fact, maybe they don't count any more since that was the nearest thing a deliberate, calculated genocide that the world has seen this millenia. Even the omniscient Wikipedia lists them as "no longer active." Shissh, talk about mealy-mouthed. Dead! They're dead. The Sri Lankans killed them and nobody except John Lee Anderson writing in the New Yorker even cared. A few of them did survive and manage to stay in Sri Lanka, so I suppose we should count them. So except for the Tamil of Sri Lanka, Aceh, Western Papua, Darfur, the Uyghur, the Tibetans, the Western Saharans, and the Kurds, the Palestinians are the only remaining people under military occupation in the world.
And Baluchistan, and Wazirstan, you really do have to mention Baluchistan and Wazirstan because not only are they really, really pissed off by the Pakistani military occupation, lots of people die from it. And when a military occupation is killing that many people, we at least have to add them to this list. So, except for Baluchistan, Waziristan, the Tamil of Sri Lanka, Aceh, Western Papua, Darfur, the Uyghur, the Tibetans, the Western Saharans, and the Kurds, the Palestinians are the only remaining people under military occupation in the world.
And the oppressed Assyrians of Syria, and the Patani in southern Thailand, the Kurds of Syria, the Syrian Druse, the Coptic Christians of Egypt, the....
Oh, why bother?