The EU can both right an historical wrong and provide a platform to demonstrate that Jews and Muslims give live peaceably together. How? It's simple. In 1492 the Spanish monarchs celebrated the elimination of the last Muslim kingdom in the Iberian peninsula by expelling the large Jewish community which had existed in the region for more than 1,000 years. This edict was later expanded to Portugal during the period when the two kingdoms were united. As for the Muslims, after decades of repression the last followers of Islam were forcibly expelled in 1609. In both cases the property of the oppressed minorities was confiscated.
What better way for the EU to demonstrate its commitment to peace, the utility of "soft power" and proving it is willing to "have some skin in the game" than by having the current inhabitants of the Iberian nations withdraw from the occupied territories to their historic homelands in the north in Galicia, Asturias and Catalonia and returning the rest of the peninsula to the descendants of the Muslim and Jewish communities who called it home for centuries? Here's what the new country (in green) would look like, though to represent its diversity in the modern world a new name would need to be selected.
(map from Wikipedia) Wouldn't this be an incredible gesture by the EU? Wouldn't it demonstrate its social responsibility?
Once the Muslim and Jewish communities have demonstrated they can live in peace with complete tolerance for each other THC is sure it will inspire a permanent solution to the tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.
So EU, whaddaya think?
No comments:
Post a Comment