The real interest in the attached letter is the claim that Bush will not enforce historical boundaries for Israelis, tantamount to awarding the occupied territories to them.
The Green Line was the truce line of 1949 agreed at the end of the Israeli War of Independence in 1948.. None of the Arab states recognized it, just as none of them recognized Israel, right up to the moment that Jordan invaded in the Six Day War. All Jewish owned property to the east of the Green Line was seized by Jordan and all Jews expelled.
After Jordan lost the West Bank in the Six Day War, naturally the Green Line became a sacred "internationally recognized border", a "historical border", etc. Naturally, the Israelis don't feel quite the same, particularly the ones living in places like the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, a place that had been continuously inhabited by Jews (save brief periods after Roman expulsion decrees and Crusader massacres) for about 3000 years.
Nonetheless, the Arabs could have gotten all the West Bank back for a peace treaty - in 1967, or even in 1973. But their motto was "no recognition, no negotiation, no peace".
Now it's over 35 years later. Conditions have changed all around. Any new settlement will reflect new conditions. |
