Re: [PEN-L] Lebanon news from Juan Cole

[raghu]

Are the two statements by David Shemano below consistent? Is he contending that the Arabs (justifiably!) "prefer their own nationals" or agree mutually with the Israeli valuation that 1 Israeli life=20 Arab lives?

I agree with Louis: this is ugly stuff.
-raghu.


>> Hezbollah previously traded one Israeli businessman and three dead soldiers for 400
>> Arab prisoners. I suppose one could characterize that as the Israelis valuing 400 Arabs >> as worth one Israeli, but the valuation appears mutual.
>> David Shemano

>Obviously, the Israelis value their lives more than Arab lives, just as the Arabs value their >lives more than Israeli lives, just as every nationality values the lives of its nationals more >than the lives of other nationalities, so what is the point?  That the Israelis act like a >nation-state and prefer their own nationals?  I just don't understand the substantive point.
>David Shemano