ARAFAT VS. ELIJA MOHAMMAD

Mr. Elija Mohammad was the past leader of Nation of Islam 50 years ago in United States at the heat of anti-Black discrimination. Nation of Islam had a huge followers and Elija's solution for discrimination was that he wanted a separate state for Blacks in America, so they all can go there and live happily ever after. No one dared to disagree with him except his son W. D. Mohammad who was isolated because he said there are so many poor Black countries in Africa and South America, creating another one in North America is not a very smart suggestion. Elija Mohammad also wanted to change the month of Ramadan from lunar calendar to December of each year so Black Muslims in America will celebrate the New Year with White Americans at the end of month of Ramadan (Eid Fitr).

Malcolm X went to Hajj at this time and wrote back to Elija that in Mecca during Hajj millions of White, Black, Yellow and Brown people from all over the world pray together, eat together and there is no discrimination in Islam. Therefore, we must eliminate discrimination in United States instead of asking for separation and demanding for a separate state for Blacks. Also Malcolm X said we cannot touch Ramadan or Islam otherwise we will separate ourselves from the 1.5 billion Muslims of the world. Malcolm X was killed for his opinion. Elija died of old age, Nation of Islam slowly merged into the mainstream Islam under the direction of Mr. Louis Farakhan.

Martin Luther King, God bless his soul, said we are African American. America is our home. We are not going anywhere but we must eliminate discrimination in America. Dr. King was also killed but discrimination was legally eliminated. Culturally, it may take centuries to eliminate discrimination from people's heart and mind but we are on our way. This is a lesson from the history.

Yasser Arafat died after 40 years of leadership for his people Palestinians. He tried to create a state of Palestine but in the last minute he could not sign for it. He used violence to defeat violence which had no effect. Eye for an eye left lots of people blind. Like Elija, Yasser married a very young attractive girl at the end of his life. Unlike Elija, Yasser had billions of dollars in asset stashed away in Switzerland, which he could not use. He spent the last 3 years of his life in a destroyed building in Ramala. He had a vision of a secular Palestine and wanted to build a city like Las Vegas for Middle East in Ramala and to make his people rich. But God did not agree with his plan. God bless his soul: Arafat was persistent, but stubborn and ineffective. Millions of Palestinians lived in camps and died in camps with a hope of better days that never came during his leadership.

One or two state solution. President Bush proposed a two state solution, Palestine and Israel living in peace next to each other. But we are finding out there are so many poor Muslim countries in the Middle East, creating another one is not ideal and does not make much sense. Creating independent, viable Palestine is almost impossible because of roads, water system, sewer system, commerce, etc. If Palestinians continue to choose violence for violence policy they will never have an independent state next to Israel.

But we hope the new Palestinian leaders will choose nonviolence and peaceful conflict resolution policy. For peaceful Palestinian families it is much better if they are citizen of Israel rather than citizen of Palestine. Or at least we should give Palestinian a chance to choose between one or two state solution.

Peaceful Palestinian families can choose to be part of a Democratic state of Israel, or build one with no experience like Palestine and risk the chance of getting another leader like Arafat or Saddam or King Fahad. Palestinian families must choose between being part of the five most powerful nations of the world or be part of the least powerful nations of the world.

If Palestinian families get a promise of religious freedom, human right, no discrimination and voting right, they are much better off becoming part of Greater Israel than forming their own country. Currently there are two million Palestinians inside Israel proper. They have enjoyed life and prosperity in the last 40 years in Israel. Although they have been exposed to some discrimination and they hold low paying jobs like Latinos in United States, there is a hope that their second or third generation by obtaining good education can improve their quality of life in a democratic state.

Please think about this paper and let us know if you prefer one or two state solution, and why.