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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: zonder who wrote (49966)	10/7/2002 12:30:39 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Respond to of 281500

Do you really not get my point? Then you are probably one of the few people who do not see there is something wrong with the phrase "occupied territories". I think the term "abandoned territories" would be more appropriate... For Jordan no longer claims the West Bank, thus Israel is no longer "occupying" their territory. And if Jordan has "abandoned" its former territory in order to be able to arrive at "peace" with Israel, then the disposition of that territory is really more for Israel to decide than it is for Jordan. (of course, reality is not quite that "cleanly defined").. But in effect, Jordan wanted peace more than it wanted to rule the West Bank in a manner than co-incided with Israel's security concerns. So they dumped the West Bank on the Israelis to decide, forcing a whole new set of negotiations to begin.. One that advanced a new independent state rather than the return of conquered territories in exchange for peace. Jordan effectively said.. We don't want the West Bank back (Since Arafat is a greater threat to the Hashemites than the Israelis).. So we're granting it self-determination. So now the Israelis are confronted with an international fait accompli, that gave them peace with Jordan, but left them with a voiciferously hostile Palestinian presence, urged and supported by other muslim states, to continue violence against Israel. A continuation of the Arab-Israeli War by proxy in the form of a "war for independence" via "intifada". So the Israelis agreed eventually to permit the formation of a wholly autonomous Palestinian Authority.. A government to replace the Jordanians with whom Israel had priviously negotiated with. And the Israelis helped to train and arm their police force, with hope (by most) that it could lead to a Palestinian entity (state or autonomous region) that could guarantee Israel's security.. But no... Arafat launches more Intifada, and Hamas and PFLP, both of which aim for the utter destruction of Israel, wage war against them... All because Arafat isn't getting what he thinks he deserves quickly enough.. He wants everything and delivers nothing (like security and cracking down on extremists). I believe the evidence is pretty substantial that Arafat never truly believed in dealing in good faith with Israel (hence taking direction from Iran and Iraq)... And while the same argument could be made against SOME reactionary Israelis, there was sufficient support for peace and a palestinian state in Israel that the Palestinians might have had their state far earlier. But were I the Israelis, I would be LOATH to just say "Oh.. Jordan has given you Palestinians self-determination??.. Ok.. here's your state... have fun".... "But if you threaten us by attacking or permitting foreign troops on your soil, we'll kick your @sses too and force you back to ... uh.. hmm.. where would we force you to??" Thus, the reason the Israelis have a vested interest in ENSURING that no Palestinian state is used by those hostile foreign interests who constantly threaten to destroy Israel. So perhaps you might wish to widen your perception of the situation, rather than merely accepting a perception the media and activists have created for you.. The term "occupied terroritories" is VERY MUCH a misused term. And while you're at it, may be you'll begin to wonder why the Israeli-Palestinian turmoil receives far more than it's share of media coverage, while genocides occuring in Africa and other parts of the world rarely stir more than temporary interest from journalists (or the UN)... if that.. The key to resolving the Palestinian matter is a peaceful and mutually beneficial manner is to take the struggle out of the spotlight by eliminating those governments who have a vested interest in perpetuating it.. And that includes Arafat's, Iraq's, Syria's, and Iran's (which will likely occur on its own). Hawk