Not so.. AFAIK Barak agreed to dismantle the settlements at some future specified time. In fact, that was the main reason Sharon defeated Baruk in the elections. Most Israelis felt Baruk had given away too much.
Barak was in office for only a few months. The settlement issue had already been derailed when B. Netanyahu of the conservative Likud party was elected as Prime Minister of Israel in 1996. All during the 90s, the West Bank settlements continued to grow and expand. It was clear, under the Likud party, Israel had no intention of honoring the WB settlement and Jerusalum issues agreed to in the Declaration of Principles it and Palestine had signed in the early 90s. And do you know why?
As part of the negotiations, Israel wanted those settlements annexed into Israel proper. The UN Partition had already given Israel the best of everything including 56% of Palestine and now, Israel wanted 5-8% more of the land for its new settlements.
That was indeed Israels starting negotiating position. In the final draft. Baruk agree to dismantle most if not all of the settlements eventually. As for the 56%, you should realize that Israels, 56% included the Negev desert. And the most desired town of Jerusalem was to be neutral.
Like I said, in the early 90s, Barak helped develop the Declaration of Principles which called for the dismantling of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank. By 2000, that had become a joke. Just two weeks ago, the Bush administration once again called on Israel to start considering the dismantling of the settlements and what to do with the Jerusalem issue. Once again, as he has done in the past when he doesn't like what he hears, Sharon ignored Bush's request. Its unbelievable the attitude we put up with from Sharon.
Really? The Koran? To my knowledge the Koran does not discuss the partitioning of Palestine.
And I didn't say that either. I said that the Quran denounces the Jews as infidels, in certain passages.
So what........Christians consider the Jews to be infidels as well. Over and over it says in the Bible [new testament] if you do not believe that Jesus was the son of God, you are going to hell. Guess what.....the Jews don't believe Jesus was the son of God.
A lot of religions, Catholicism for instance, has offensive languages in some parts of the bible. However the church has downplayed or ignored the passages; such as " An eye for an eye"; instead emphasizing the passages of love and peace amongst men. However the hardline fundamentalist in Islam want to interpret the Quran as against Zionism; therefore they couldn't allow a Zionist state in their midst.
As early as the 1920s, friction began to develop between the Zionists and the Palestinians. During the 30's, that friction grew. Both sides were pushing for independent states.....Britian was the ruling authority. Palestine was one of its colonies. The Brits mucked things up pretty much and tensions grew. By this time, there were open clashes between the Palestinians and the Zionists.
Actually, Britian was given authority over the Palestine by mandate of the League of Nations in 1917. Britian was the predominant power in that area. Britian was to decide what to do with the former colony of the Ottoman empire, which declared bankrupty, and abandoned all of its territories outside of Turkey. Britain decided to partition Palestine after the Balfour declaration, in which UK foreign minister decided the Jews should have a homeland, and Britian controlled the mandate, and because of its historical significance to the Jews.
After WW II, things got even more messy and the Brits handed over the whole partition issue to the UN. The UN proceeded with the British partition plans but the Palestinians balked.........no surprise there. Any fool could see the split was not equitable.
You keep on trying to say the Palestinians got screwed. However Palestine wasn't ever a Palestinian state either. Over its history, Palestine was always under the control of somebody, but the Palestinians. For the last 500 yrs, Palestine was controlled by the Turks, and when the Ottoman empire collapsed, the British took over in 1917, under the auspices of a League of Nations mandate.
Yes, and was your point that Palestinians have not been screwed? They have been screwed over and over again during their history, but the best screwing came from the Zionists. They took away the Palestinian's land and formed their own state, and left the Palestinians homeless in refugee camps. I call that a major screwing.
Like it or not, the Palestinians and their arab allies lost three wars to the Zionists, and with each war, Israel claimed conquered land. To the victors go the spoils. Considering the Palestinian position, as the losers in three wars, Israel giving up 44% of its land to the losers is actually quite reasonable.
Read you timeline again. In 1948, it became clear that the Partition Plan was unacceptable. In the UN, the US recommended that the Partition Plan be suspended....all agreed but the Zionists.
However, President Truman kept insisting that it should be suspended. The Zionists ignored him. The Zionists, not the UN, declared that their independence day would be 16 May. The Partition Plan was developed by the Zionists and foisted on the British. It reserved all the best of Palestine for the new Zionist state. Its one of the biggest screw jobs in history and you don't understand why the Palestinians are pissed.
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