Why would you expect them, or anyone in their position, to offer as much as was offered (not by Israel but by the countries imposing the partition plan) in the 40s.
Because there was a dispute between the Zionists and the Palestinians in the 30s. While the dispute was never settled to the satisfaction of either side, it was agreed that trans Jordan would be split between Israel and Palestine in a particular way. When Israel became a separate nation, she honored those boundaries established prior to her independence. Subsequently, Israel annexed the WB, Gaza, the Sinai and the Golan Hts during a war not with the Palestinians but with her neighbors. That war has been over for decades and she's returned the Sinai to Egypt. Why should she withhold the Palestinians' land from them and why shouldn't she honor the original boundaries?
Trans Jordan was split between Jordan, Israel and the Palestinians. Jordan, Israel and Egypt took over what was to supposed to be Palestinians territory.
It 1948.....it was only Jordan. The Arabs convinced the Palestinians to hold out for more land. The war of 1948 was to get more of the land back for Palestine. The Arab nations bordering Israel thought they would make short shrift of Israel. They were very wrong.
When Jordan and Egypt controlled the West Bank and Gaza there was almost no push for a Palestinian state on those territories.
They were always pushing; however, many of the Arab nations were just getting their own independence and were dealing with their own internal issues. By the end of the 60s, most Arab countries had been independent for a while and that was when the next big push came.......the 1967 war.
Then Egypt and Jordan went to war with Israel and Israel took over territory that Egypt and Jordan had controlled, and had used to stage attacks against Israel.
The Sinai Peninsula is the Egyptian land Israel occupied after the 1967 war.
Why should she withhold the Palestinians' land from them and why shouldn't she honor the original boundaries?
The original boundaries include not only the West Bank and Gaza but strips of territory throughout the internationally recognized boundaries of Israel.
I don't understand. The only international land under the UN partition proposal of 1947 was Jerusalem.
Israel would be impossible to defend. Even if Israel's army was as big as the American army the only way to defend the territory would be to go on the offense.
That's BS. One half of Israel is surrounded by water. The other half is Palestine to the east, desert to the south and the mts to the north. Israel is very defensible.
It would be like asking the US to give up over 40% of American territory to a "Native American/Indian" group if that group was hostile to the US and to Americans,
BS......its not like that at all. None of Palestine was Jewish land until the early 20th century. The Hasidic Jew does not even believe Israel should have been created in this fashion. They believe if there was to be an Israel, God should be the one to intervene, not the UN.
Isreal occupies the land that since 1947, was always intended as a Palestinian state. The analogy you describe would be apt if the Israeli Arabs were given the 'right of return', one of the issues of the peace negotiations that Arafat pushes. Right of return would allow the Palestinians that fled Israel during the 1948 war to get their original property back, or be compensated for the land Israel confiscated after the war.
had a strong history of terrorism and was ruled by a corrupt and untrustworthy dictator, while at the same time Canada and Mexico where enemies of the US (and had more power relative to the US then Canada and Mexico actually have). Americans would not seriously entertain such an idea and you have to look long and hard to find an Israeli that would entertain the idea. Also even if Israel did give up all of that the terrorism might still continue, in fact it might get worse because terrorism would have been seen to be successful and the new boundaries would make it harder to exercise any control over terrorists.
Many Israelis entertain the idea all the time.......Sharon is not typical. He got elected almost as a fluke. Many Israelis favor the land for peace proposal that was developed under Rabin and reinstituted under Ehud Barak.
ted |
