Re Pals, Israel, and solutions:
Fundamentally, the problem with your line of reasoning is that it punishes the Pals for the misdeeds and shortfalls of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, etc. Since the Pals had no part in the decisions made by the leaders of those countries, they can't be held responsible for their outcome. This is one of the top two fallacies, regarding the Palestinian problem.
It should be obvious to anyone with even cursory understanding of the era, that the Arab leaders of the time could not care less about the Palestinians and were simply after expanding their own country's territory at the expense of the Pals. In fact, one Arab leader (arguably the most decent Arab leader in the modern times) said as much. Abd al-Karim Qasim, the Iraqi leader at the time, described the plight of Palestinians as being caught between 3 thieves, one foreign and the other two family (i.e. Jews, Egyptians, and Syrians). His suggestion was for all the Arab countries to recognize the state of Palestine and support that nation in its struggle against Israel. His suggestion was met with fierce opposition by Egypt and Syria who obviously had no interest in an independent Palestinian state and wanted the land for themselves.
Ironically, Qasem's suggestion was also the best solution for the Israelis. Israel should have long ago unitarily created a *viable* Palestinian state and settled its issues with it. Except of course that Israel was more interested in a land grab as fast as it could and had no interest in anything else, including justice towards the Pals. That greed was very shortsighted, as evidenced by the current problems and how Israel is now moving towards a two state solution (albeit while kicking and screaming).
These are simple facts that are self evident to anyone not emotionally invested in the issue (read objective observer). Personally, if the US had not planted itself as an integral part of the problem, I could not have cared less. The issue should be for the Pals and Israelis to solve and others should stay out of it...but sadly this has not been the case.
Nonetheless, it is silly to ask why the Pals want to go back or why they don't move out of Israel's doorstep. If the Jews can reclaim the land after thousands of years, I think it is fair to expect the Pals to stick around and fight for at least a few hundred years.
While we are on the topic, I think the idea of Israel is long dead. The world is moving towards cooperative zones. From EU to AU (African Union) to CIS to SEA to NAFTA to even SCO (albeit in a fetal state at the moment) the world is forming larger blocks. Within one or two generations, there will be less than a dozen unions that for practical purposes will be Super-National Confederations. Exactly which union will Israel be a part of? Add to this the inherent problem of the battle of secularism and religion that will only divide Israel further (you really can't have it both ways. The problem starts with integration of "half-Jewish" families into Israel and will get worse from there on).
Israel has only 3 choices: (1) the creation of a viable Palestinian country. This will certainly require relocation and repartitioning of Israel as the Palestinian territory will have to be contiguous for it to be viable. Selling this plan in Israel will be very hard. (2) Israel can move towards secularism and create a real path towards gradual integration of Palestinians into it. This, imo, is their best choice. But again, giving up the Jewish nature of Israel will be a very hard sell and Israel will likely resist it until it is too late. (3) A variation of the "Final Solution" to the Palestinian Problem. Jews not named Nadine and the rest of the world will strongly resist this.
So there are no easy solutions, but whoever said life was easy. Take your pick of the above three and run with it.
later,
ST
off for another week. |
