Posted on 02/02/2003 11:43:17 AM PST by SJackson
In the nearly 36 years since Israel seized the West Bank, a basic question has never seemed to be posed, much less answered: Why can´t the Palestinians live under Israeli rule?
Sure, an independent Palestinian state may one day become a reality, and for practical purposes such a state might serve Israel´s needs as much as that of the Palestinians.
This is more than a rhetorical question. If the Arabs scoff at living among Israelis, will they be content to live next door to them?
Many supporters of Israel believe that the Arabs are seeking the destruction of Israel and want a Palestinian state as a staging area for the next step toward that end. It is evident that many Arabs are motivated by this goal.
So, it is important to understand why the Palestinians need their own state. It doesn´t make sense. After all, Jews comprise 2.4 percent of America´s population against a Christian spread of at least 80 percent. However, we in America are satisfied living here. Jews like myself vote and participate in the political process. Many Jews succeed beyond their wildest dreams; there are poor Jews; and probably most of us are part of the struggling middle class. We face prejudice, but there are also legal avenues to combat discrimination. The majority religion - Christianity - does possess a heavy influence here, but most Christians and Americans of other religions or no religion are fair, treat us with respect and make us feel welcome.
In fact, our Christian neighbors often come to our aid in times of need. On one occasion when a synagogue was vandalized in a Philadelphia suburb, many non-Jews were out in force to clean up the mess. When a Jewish family was terrorized during Hanukkah in another Philadelphia suburb, their neighbors bought menorahs and placed them by their windows in a show of solidarity.
Arabs and Muslims who live in America likewise participate in the system and many thrive. Unlike their brethren 7,000 miles away, they haven’t asked for an Arab state here.
Surely, Israel must govern all its citizens equitably and with justice - whether they are Jews, Muslims, Christians or part of any other group. And clearly, the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank should not be living under such deplorable conditions. However, the Palestinians as a group created many of the circumstances that led to such a tragic situation, and their leaders in the territories and other Arab nations have done little to help.
Do other groups living in Israel and its territories seek their own state? I haven´t heard of that from the Druse or Greek Orthodox.
Israel was not founded for the sake of hosting any particular religion. Jews as a people needed a homeland as a refuge from 2000 years of all forms of abuse, which culminated in the murder of six million of our brethren. Yes, it is a Jewish state, but wholly in an ethnic sense - not a religious one.
There are already 22 Arab states which occupy a large chunk of the modern world, while Israel and its territories comprise a tiny piece of real estate. Jews who lived in Arab states were exiled after 1948 and many were absorbed by Israel, yet the Palestinians have been treated as pawns by the rest of the Arab world.
If Palestinians are any different from the rest of the Arabs, why did Yasser Arafat say during the 2000 negotiations that he represented one billion Muslims? What distinguishes the Palestinians from the rest of the Arabs?
For demographic reasons alone, Israel may eventually need to enter into a two-state arrangement. Yet, on the basis of pure merit, I honestly don´t get it. The question must still be answered: Why do the Palestinians need an independent state?
If the Palestinians want a state so badly I would suggest they go live with their terrorist friends the Saudis. The Jews have been kicked around for thousands of years, killed in massive numbers, and still the world doesn't feel they've 'given' enough. You give Palestinians a 'homeland' (which it really isn't considering they're just other Arab nationalities claiming to be Palestinians, they've already got homes) and the next thing you'll see is the Palestinians calling for dissolution of Israel
It's hard to see why, the world is perfectly willing to accept most everything else Israel gets away with.
If that's the case, why are there more Jews living outside Israel than will ever live there? Furthermore, why are they increasingly migrating to places like Germany and Austria? Furthermore, are Jews the only people who have suffered abuse in the last 2000 years? Or is the author suggesting they are the only ones who matter?
The US is actually increasing aid to Israel at the same time it makes these meaningless statements about halting settlements or cutting down on assassinating 10 year old rock throwers isn't it?
How's that for real world politcs?
Well, considering that just about every country surrounding Israel kicked out their Jews, why can't Israel kick out the pali squatters? They can go back home with arafart to Egypt, or back to Syria and whatever other holes from which they crawled.
They were born there. In most cases their fathers were born there and their grandfathers. I's the only home that they know, miserable as it may be, and I'm suggesting that they may not be inclined to pull up stakes and move just because you might want them to.
Palestinians are no more a nationality of people than the Oompa Loompas. The Oompa Loompas at least have the homeland that Wonka gave them.
Giving them their own state will not solve anything but make it worse. The Palestinians are determined to remove "the cancer tumor from the midst of the Arab people."
Furthermore, it isn't really Palestinian versus Israel. It's Arab versus Israel. The Palestinians are the weapon in the Arabs hand.
Widening the circle, it isn't Arab versus Israel. It's the Arabs versus the West. The Arabs see Israel as the foothold of Western Civilization on their land. That foothold has only one purpose... to further humilitate and oppress Islam. That is what this war is about.
The fact that the West sides with the Arab by forcing Israel into an impossible retreat of its rights shows the Arabs that the West will not even defend itself.
A wall won't separate Israel from the Arabs. You can't move on from an enemy bent on your destruction and extermination.
You wrote "at some point, even the Palestinians will realize thaty they have most of what they asked for." They have had it since 1993. Oslo gave them control over the 90% of the Area A. That still wasn't enough. They were given everything they wanted in 2000, their response was the intifadah.
Words are cheap in the West. When our leaders speak... most of us take it with a grain of salt because it is nothing more than political rhetoric. Therefore, IMO, we think that Arab rhetoric is just that. But, it isn't. They have proven that they will do what they say. Right now, they lack the proper weapons to take on Israel properly. But, they are ever working to gain control of those weapons.
Israel is the forward guard of this clash of civilizations. Instead of forcing Israel to retreat because the West is terrified of upsetting the Arabs, we need to strengthen Israel's hand and stand with them. After all, their fight is our fight. Remember 9/11. (not that you forgot... I know you haven't. But I bring it up to show that the conflict is the same.)
How are you going to prevent this? Oslo called for the turning in of all illegal weapons. The Palestinians admitted they had 28,000 illegal arms in the West Bank. Only 12 were turned in.
How are you going to prevent Hizbollah from arming the Palestinians, or Syria, or Iran. The Arabs are moving with one collective motive to destroy Israel. What's a stinking international law. Nothing but a nuisance. The Palestinians are armed and will remain armed.
I think that's unacceptable and that an interim solution has to be found until such time as the Palestinians (or arabs as a whole) come to the conclusion that Israel has a right to exist in peace.
I think that right to exist is going to have to be forced on them.
Do I think the Palestinians have to be exterminated? Absolutely not! I don't think I even suggested it in my post.
What I am saying is that we are at war whether we realize it or not. The problem is not Israel nor has it ever been Israel. It is about the humiliation of Islam. That is where the fight is. 9/11 wasn't the beginning, nor will it be the end. Wars have to be fought and won. Half-measures... retreat and peace talks don't do any good when one side is not for peace but extermination.
Putting a Palestinian state on Israel's border without addressing this deep seeded seething hatred of the West by the Arabs will only lead another war. But Israel is being systematically weakened by those in the West who think if Israel gives and gives and gives that somehow the Arabs will be satisified. And the Arabs watch our attempts at appeasement and think we are weak and ripe for plucking.
Israel must be strengthened. So must the West. It is war! Declared on us by the Islamic fundamentalists whose cause and strength grows with each passing day.
No, you didn't even hint at it, and I certainly wasn't accusing you of it.
But I think there has to be some sort of resolution of the status of the West Bank and Gaza. Even if the Palestinians don't like it, we have to say, "This is it. Learn to live with it."
The limbo status of those territories ensures that it will be a continuing source of unrest and violence.
I'm not recommending that it be done today. We are in a war with Islam, and we're about to change the dynamics in a big way in Iraq. I'm even somewhat optimistic that the outcome will cascade through the entire Middle East. The ayatollas may be on the verge of collapse in Iran and that would be a huge development. The dinosaurs running Saudi Arabia could be next.
If a new environment develops, it may be possible to forge a lasting peace for Israel. It's a hope.
It's a good hope to have.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.