Arabs and the occupied territories
Time and time again we hear "Arabs" talking about their view on an end to the Middle East issue (by that i mean the Palestinian/Israeli conflict). They say that this end will only come when Israel withdraws from all the occupied territories. The "occupied territories" here are those lands taken by Israel during the six-day war in June 1967. Israel has already left Egypt's Sinai peninsula, so we are left with the Gaza strip, the West Bank and Syria's Golan Heights (which have already been directly annexed into Israel and i will not talk about right now)
Israel's legality, in my opinion, is based on the 1947 UN partition plan (which Arabs vehemently opposed). During the 1948-49 war Israel took over those territories earmarked for a Jewish state and then some, declared its independence and then waited for what the Arab world would do next.
So what did that Arabs do? They did not create a Palestinian state on the remaining Palestinian lands under their control, they did not withdraw their forces from the West Bank and Gaza, they actually took them over. Egypt basically "administered" the Gaza strip and Jordan directly annexed the West Bank Those actions effectively destroyed any chance for a real and internationally recognized Palestinian state.
What the hell were they thinking? The king of Jordan decided to pursue some old, grand Hashemite vision of a unified Arab state, under Hashemite leadership of course. So why didn't he then invade Saudi Arabia to regain his ancestoral lands that the Al-Saud took over with British help?
The Arabs refused to give any of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees living in god-forsaken camps any kind of legal recognition, the Arabs refused to give those Palestinians in the Gaza strip and West Bank any king of independence, the Arabs simply refused to compromise.
Then June 1967 came along and the last remaining parts of "historic" Palestine were lost and still Arab leaders refused to comromise. It was not until the late 1980's that King Hussein finally ended the legal links between Jordan and the West Bank. To this day, the regime in Syria refuses to compromise on anything. When will the Assad dynasty realize that you can only dictate your terms for negotiation if you are in the position of strength, which Syria surely is not in?
Wasn't Jordan's saying that the West Bank was part of Jordan also saying that Jordan and Palestine were one and the same? Wasn't this a recognition of what some far right Israelis and their American supporters say that a Palestinian state already exists in Jordan?
What the hell were they thinking?
If that is what the Hashemites were thinking then they have no right to complain about the situation in the West Bank and Gaza, no right whatsoever. They did to the West Bank what Israel has done to the Golan Heights.
To this day the Arab world refuses to compromise.
They refused to compromise when the 1947 plan would have given them a not-so-bad part of Palestine. They refused to compromise when they had the West Bank and Gaza. They refused to compromise when they had the chance at some form of negotiations following the 1973 war (when Jewish settlements were still few). The refuse to compromise when talk is about the remnants of the West Bank.
I am sure they will continue their nice little policy of refusal until there is nothing left to compromise about.
I am no defender of Israel, on the contrary, i have serious questions about the basic legality of the state of Israel itself, but legality, as we all know, is quit different than reality.
Let the Arabs refuse, let the religious fanatics work themselves into a frenzy, let the terrorists blow themselves up, let them scream.
No one is listening.
Israel's legality, in my opinion, is based on the 1947 UN partition plan (which Arabs vehemently opposed). During the 1948-49 war Israel took over those territories earmarked for a Jewish state and then some, declared its independence and then waited for what the Arab world would do next.
So what did that Arabs do? They did not create a Palestinian state on the remaining Palestinian lands under their control, they did not withdraw their forces from the West Bank and Gaza, they actually took them over. Egypt basically "administered" the Gaza strip and Jordan directly annexed the West Bank Those actions effectively destroyed any chance for a real and internationally recognized Palestinian state.
What the hell were they thinking? The king of Jordan decided to pursue some old, grand Hashemite vision of a unified Arab state, under Hashemite leadership of course. So why didn't he then invade Saudi Arabia to regain his ancestoral lands that the Al-Saud took over with British help?
The Arabs refused to give any of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees living in god-forsaken camps any kind of legal recognition, the Arabs refused to give those Palestinians in the Gaza strip and West Bank any king of independence, the Arabs simply refused to compromise.
Then June 1967 came along and the last remaining parts of "historic" Palestine were lost and still Arab leaders refused to comromise. It was not until the late 1980's that King Hussein finally ended the legal links between Jordan and the West Bank. To this day, the regime in Syria refuses to compromise on anything. When will the Assad dynasty realize that you can only dictate your terms for negotiation if you are in the position of strength, which Syria surely is not in?
Wasn't Jordan's saying that the West Bank was part of Jordan also saying that Jordan and Palestine were one and the same? Wasn't this a recognition of what some far right Israelis and their American supporters say that a Palestinian state already exists in Jordan?
What the hell were they thinking?
If that is what the Hashemites were thinking then they have no right to complain about the situation in the West Bank and Gaza, no right whatsoever. They did to the West Bank what Israel has done to the Golan Heights.
To this day the Arab world refuses to compromise.
They refused to compromise when the 1947 plan would have given them a not-so-bad part of Palestine. They refused to compromise when they had the West Bank and Gaza. They refused to compromise when they had the chance at some form of negotiations following the 1973 war (when Jewish settlements were still few). The refuse to compromise when talk is about the remnants of the West Bank.
I am sure they will continue their nice little policy of refusal until there is nothing left to compromise about.
I am no defender of Israel, on the contrary, i have serious questions about the basic legality of the state of Israel itself, but legality, as we all know, is quit different than reality.
Let the Arabs refuse, let the religious fanatics work themselves into a frenzy, let the terrorists blow themselves up, let them scream.
No one is listening.
posted by Caliph at 6:38 AM
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