E. Chaters, there have been 100 MM refugees created by various conflicts in the world during the last century (and 5 MM or so Afghan refugees, I believe in the last 10 years). If you grant a "right of return" to the "Palestinian Refugees" you open the door to worldwide destabilization. Right wing Germans will lay claim to Silesa and East Prussia (now parts of Poland and Russia), to Alsace Lorraine of course, now French, and millions of Greek will lay claims to parts of Turkey, and of course, American Indians will lay claim to Manhattan. You got to do the best that can be done once you are faced with a given set of conditions. The "Palestinians" have no more rights to Palestine than Hashemite Kingdom has rights to Jordan (The Hashemites are actually a Saudi tribe). You may want to read a little about the state of that area of the world around 1850, deserted, desolate and abandoned. Yet, the "Palestinians" of today, are there, and their plight should be addressed. They had an excellent offer on the table in 1947, they turned it down and engaged in an aggressive act of war (not just the Palestinians, but the surrounding Arab nations, and Trans Jordan with the best trained and best armed fighters backed by the British army) to try and negate the partition. They had an Islamic (but not Arab) Turkish control for 600 years, as you stated, and never wanted a state of their own, they had Arab control (The Jordanian occupation) over them for 20 years, and never sought a state then, now they are under Israeli control and they want a state. And Guess, what, only the Israeli are willing to offer them a state, so what do they want now? They want the whole thing. Well, no nation (and today, right or wrong, Israel is a nation) can be asked to commit suicide, it is against the UN charter. They had a fantastic offer for a state from Barak and they thought that they can get a better deal by engaging in terrorism for a year now. I believe that the essence of international policy is and should be, never yield to terrorism, never appease an aggressor, if you yield once, you set yourself up for constant blackmail.
Zeev |
