Netanyahu, in the forward of his excellent book, "A Durable Peace", discusses a visit with the president of China in which it was pointed out to him [Netanyahu] that the Jews and China had long histories in common. Netanyahu added to that, India, and went on to ask how many Chinese there were, and the answer was 1.2 Billion. How many in India? A billion. How many Jews? 12 million.
He talks about the jaws of his hosts dropping. Jews comprised about 10% of the Roman Empire, and by his figuring, there ought to be 200 million Jews today, yet there are 12 million. After the president asked him, "Why is that?", Netanyahu explained that the Chinese kept their homeland, as did the Indians, but the Jews were dispersed around the world as a result of a series of "calamities". It is a good point.
These people simply want back what they view as rightfully theirs. It is a hard problem to solve primarily because there are third parties constantly stirring the pot.
The settlements are a bogus issue; Netanyahu recognizes that temporary peace has little value; the outward expansion of settlements can be curtailed any time a peace agreement is reached. But he would be foolish to curtail the expansions first; he is a great negotiator and understands that to do so would be untenable. I don't think he would ever give up the currently inhabited areas; but all that has to happen to stop the expansion is for the Palestinians to show good faith, which they haven't. Every day this crap continues it is going to get that much more difficult for any kind of lasting peace agreement to happen. |
