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David Potter is a veteran paratrooper of the 82nd Airborne Division and served through two enlistments, including the war in Grenada, and is trained in aviation electronics and computer networking. Today, from his home base in Louisiana, he drives trucks and takes prides in the "made in Israel" products he delivers throughout the United States.
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By David Potter
January 19, 2005
Those who say that there is no comparison between modern day Israeli settlers and American Indians may know Jewish history -- but they probably know little about the history of these native Americans.
Both groups of people are indigenous to the land they inhabit. Although Arabs now claim the land of Israel, they had little or no interest in it until after the creation of the Jewish state. The Jewish settlers in Israel are settling the original homeland from which their people were long ago expelled.
But there are many ways in which Israeli settlers compare to the American Indian.
Both groups of people were offered large tracts of land. Both groups were told they could stay on this land until the end of time. Both groups later had this promise taken from them by government decisions.
In the case of the American Indian, the reservations where you find them today are not the reservations they were first given. In the beginning, they were given lush fertile valleys and plains; that were filled with wildlife and other natural game.
In 1825 the US government moved 30 different tribes from the East Coast, to the Kansas Territory. These tribes were historically referred to as "immigrant Indians," because they were asked to give up their homelands and immigrate to the new region.
They were told they could stay there forever.
That promise, of course, was broken; and today only four small reservations exist in East Kansas; a remnant of the 30 different tribes that once lived there.
In a similar manner . . . .
Prime Minister Sharon once asked large groups of Jews to immigrate to the territories; to include Gush Katif, Hebron, and the Western Bank. To sweeten the deal, he offered large cash subsidies to immigrants; especially young married people -- in order to encourage growth in these settlements.
There was a difference, of course: the Jews went voluntarily, and the Indians were removed by force. But both people were given land, land which is about to be taken away.
From these historical facts -- there is an ominous warning of the future.
The deportation of Indian tribes in 1825 created a historical precedent for the deportation of all Indians. Soon there was a call to deport even the largest of tribes -- the Cherokee people. In the 1830s, only a few short years after the removal of the first Indians, the Cherokee tribes were removed by force from the state of Georgia.
And they were not -- as Hollywood claims -- groups of nomadic people.
By this time they had adopted many of the white man's ways. They owned land, they engaged in agriculture, and raised livestock. Many of them also lived in houses, as opposed to the teepees of another era. Their women wore satin dresses.
But one by one, their rights were taken away from them, in a manner that is not too different from the settlers of Gush Katif. Their land was confiscated, they were told they had no rights in court, no freedom of speech; and it was illegal for them to speak out against the government.
And so the deportation plans continued . . . .
The Cherokee tribes were removed by government soldiers, and forced on a thousand mile journey.
They called it The Trail of Tears.
Many thousands of people died on this journey, to what is now the state of Oklahoma.
And although this was a very tragic period in American history -- there are lessons to be learned from it. When one group of people is deported -- however small -- other groups are not far behind.
While the residents of Gush Katif will be much better treated than these people of another era -- if this deportation plan is carried through -- there will be a trail of tears of another kind. It will be a trail that is filled with broken promises and dreams, of broken hearts and desires.
And like the deportations of another time -- it will set a historical precedent for the future.
There are already calls -- it seems -- to remove all of the settlements.
According to recent reports, the deportation of Jews from Judea and Samaria - and also parts of Jerusalem -- may be next. While these new reports are unconfirmed, a dangerous historical precedent is already set.
History teaches us that when one group is at risk -- all are at risk.
Do not let Gaza become your trail of tears.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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