Abbas, Trump and Middle East Peace

 

Well, here we go again. Once again down the primrose path to oblivion. All you needed to do was listen to Palestinian Protagonist Abbas’s message at the Trump and Abbas Press Conference to hear the lies, distortions and false temptations followed immediately behind with ensconced demands blended in behind misdirection and pure blather. Trump spoke like any and every American President since William Jefferson Clinton with the requests couched as if they were demands for Abbas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to cease with their incitement and to end their payments to terrorists commensurate on the numbers of Israelis they murdered, maimed, disfigured, hobbled for life or merely injured and to make the Palestinian people ready for peace. Abbas promised all that and so much more providing the Arabs get what they demand as the only solution for peace, no Israel and every Jew dead. The key words were snuck in here and there throughout Abbas’s meandering and he spoke in Arabic thus making the denial that he never said what the translator interpreted as they misrepresented his meaning. Most of us have watched this dog and pony show numerous times with each President since 1993 and the ill-fated signing of the Oslo Accords. The best part is to simply take Mahmoud Abbas’s actual words and interpret their actual meaning as he defines them, not necessarily as others will read hopes of their own into them.

 

 

 

The most pernicious statement was amongst his initial barrage where Abbas called for, “a comprehensive and just peace based on the two-state solution, such matter would give a great impetus to the Arab peace initiative and the other initiatives, international initiatives,” which calls into account any number of questionable scenarios. The most glaring item is his reference to the “Arab peace initiative” which is a piece of work in itself based loosely on the original Saudi Peace Plan. Both of these plans call for resettlement of any Palestinian Arab desiring such inside of Israel which would likely result in anywhere from five to over eight million Palestinian Arabs moving into Israel where Israel would also be required to provide them with housing commensurate with their family dwellings as they recollect them to have been, likely they all came from very wealthy families who held estate like holdings. Further, they would still also receive compensation for their years as refugees as if this was Israel’s fault and not their Arab brethren who refused to allow them to leave the camps. And the final sword into the heart of this plan is the instant citizenship these Arabs are presumably entitled to such that at the next election the Jews would play the sheep living with a pack of wolves all voting on what’s for diner. This has been treated by many in Europe as a great plan, but then Europe has yet to ever have proven they have had Israeli interests in mind. President Obama also showed a preference for this plan. Do I even need to comment? The Arab world loves this plan, as it does not even require an Arab invasion to conquer Israel.

 

Abbas was not finished, as he also believes, “I also believe that we will be able to resolve the issue of the refugees and the issue of the prisoners.” The issue of the refugees is obvious as we covered that as part of the Saudi or Arab peace plan above. The prisoners have another wonderful solution if you listen to Abbas. Israel simply empties their prison system of Arab criminals and drops all charges granting them complete amnesty. Israel is to ignore those who are in prison on multiple murder charges as well as terrorism charges because they only did that because they did not have their own state. This would include those from before the Six Day War when the entire idea of Yasser Arafat and the PLO was the destruction of Israel and to murder Jews. These were hardened terrorists as were those from the Second Intifada such as Marwan Barghouti, a five-time murderer and terror planner responsible for far more. He is serving five life sentences plus a few decades on another terror related charge. But Israel is supposed to free him with absolutely no fears that he won’t return to his terrorist activities because Abbas promises. Perhaps this might be a good time to mention that Abbas has yet to keep a single promise he has given to the Israelis, Americans or anytime he claimed he would end incitement and prevent terrorism by disarming terrorists. He actually allows terrorists to be his officers for the PA Security Forces.

 

 

Another winner is the Abbas statement for a settlement for, “a Palestinian state with its capital of East Jerusalem that lives in peace and stability with the state of Israel based on the borders of 1967.” Abbas knows full-well that Israel has annexed Eastern Jerusalem making the city whole and that the only thing Israel may find agreeable would be having a PA parliament building in the eastern suburbs of Jerusalem but not to returning to the 1967 lines where Jerusalem was cut in two and the entirety of the Temple Mount and surrounding areas were beyond the reach for Israelis and parts of West Jerusalem had to be abandoned as sniper fire made walking in these areas impossibly dangerous. Further, Israel cannot accept the pre-Six Day War borders as to return to those would invite another all out Arab assault as soon as they could straighten out Syria as they would require the Syrian territory to assault the Golan Heights. They would want Hezballah freed from the Syrian War to also launch tens of thousands of missiles and rockets into Israel in the opening hours; Iran would require Syria as a launching ground for their tens upon tens of thousands of missiles they would launch from such close proximity in addition to likely close to one hundred thousand missiles launched from Iran herself; plus they would require overthrowing President Sisi in order to have Egypt add a southern front and one of the best trained and largest Arab armies to the fight. Their final hope would be to include Turkey in such a manner that Turkey could claim that Israel had attacked them shooting down innocent Turkish planes flying innocently over the Mediterranean Sea. The fact they were flying in excess of Mach-1 heading southeast from Cyprus and Israel intercepted them within five miles of the Israel border would be completely inconsequential, they were out on practice maneuvers and the fact that they were carrying full bomb loads was part of the exercise. This way Turkey could then demand NATO support in her life or death engagement with those Israelis dragging Europe and hopefully the United States into the war against Israel. Did we mention they also would need to wait for a different American President, say maybe Elizabeth Warren (aka Pocahontas)? Should Israel be forced to return to the 1967 lines (borders) then Israel would need one of the greatest miracles of all history right up there with the splitting of the Red Sea (we do not believe the reconstructionist history which claims the Jews waded through the marsh called the Sea of Reeds) and numerous others which are recorded in the Torah and throughout the Bible.

 

Abbas included the idea, “that will also lead the Arab and the Islamic countries to have normal relations with Israel based, as stipulated in the previous Arab summits,” which interestingly all include reconfirmations of the Arab League’s initial precepts made during the Khartoum Conference where the Three No’s were formulated; No peace with Israel, No recognition of Israel, No negotiations with Israel. With this out of the way, they then continue to discuss what things they should release so the world will believe that they want peace with Israel and not Israel in pieces. The Arab League has ever since 1922 decided that the only solution they can permit is no Jewish State is to exist on Arab lands. Abbas has regularly referred to every inch of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea as a Muslim WAQF, a holy ordained and unyielding Islamic holding that can never be permitted to be under any other control other than Islamic. This means Israel could exist only if it bent before Islam and permitted the Muslims to rule over it as completely their lands and the Jews having no claims, rights or permission to reside except as Dhimmi until such time as they would be demanded to convert or die. Even when offered half the lands by the United Nations on November 29, 1947. The Arab League chose to refuse the offer from the General Assembly and instead declared war upon Israel the morning in which she became a nation, May 15, 1948 on the Gregorian calendar. Their position is and always has been and will continue to be consistent and everything else is a ruse.

 

Abbas told one whopper of a lie when he stated, “Mr. President, it’s about time for Israel to end its occupation of our people and of our land after 50 years. We are the only remaining people in the world that still live under occupation.” Really, the only people to still live under occupation. I bet the people of Tibet would love to know that China has returned their lands to them and the people of Cyprus to know that the Turkish forces have returned to Turkey. Then there is that little problem of Moroccan forces still holding large swaths of Western Sahara and the difficulties between the Sudan and South Sudan. These are just a few of others who are under real and oppressive occupation and do not have anywhere near the semi-autonomous rule enjoyed by the PA not to mention Hamastan in Gaza with is veritably a nation with very bad relations with both its neighbors, Israel and Egypt. Then there are the Kurds and the Yazidis whose homelands have been erased by the ravages of history who would love to have their homelands restored and those in the Crimea, Western Ukraine or Georgia who are under Russian control and would probably love their freedom to be returned despite what the world is told by Russia and friends. We could continue but it would be like beating a dead horse, nothing is going to move any further, point taken.

 

The real question, though, is not what whoppers and lies did Abbas pass off as diplo-speak. The question is how much did President Trump swallow and how often did he instead simply swallow hard instead of calling Abbas out as a liar and a cheat right then and there? Amongst our friends, we are hoping that President Trump does not get caught up in the art of the deal and forget to look where the deal leads. We are hoping that President Trump will enter this entire Middle East barn fire with his eyes wide open and his ears pricked up listening for even the shifting of the sands because the art of the deal in the United States is very different from the art of the deal in the Middle East. It was here where the idea of let the buyer beware originated and we might recommend that President Trump take some time out and read T. E. Lawrence’s diaries as well as Winston Churchill’s unabridged “The River War.” These two English officers, statesmen and astute viewers of the human condition were amongst the most adept at describing the difference between the Muhammadan and Arab cultures and those of Western civilization and put it in succinct and plain easily understood prose. Neither minced words or wasted time on niceties. Both would provide President Trump with information, which nobody could claim, was coming from some Republican, right wing, crazy as both of these men were historians and philosophers in their own ways and both had many an opportunity to observe about that which they wrote. The President should go into any discussion with Mahmoud Abbas forewarned and thus forearmed. If President Trump is willing to push things to the point where Abbas would have to decide whether to continue and actually make peace or flee much as Arafat had done in Paris when facing an actual peace deal which he proposed and Israel accepted, then Trump would understand that Abbas is playing games trying to get another American President to grant him money for nothing and more land for free. Thus far, he has gotten the money for nothing; let us pray he does not also get his lies rewarded with more land for free.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

My Sympathies and Concerns for My Tel Aviv Brethren

 

Like all Israelis and Jews worldwide, my sympathies go out to family, friends and those who knew the young soldier mercilessly murdered at a Tel Aviv train station just as they go out to the family, friends and those who know the innocent young lady mercilessly slaughtered at a ride-stop located in Gush Etzion, which is within Samaria. Both of these young Israelis who represented the epitome and strength of the hopes of a nation and their people will be avenged and their lives celebrated by the continued persistence and eventual vindication and liberation of all of our sacred homelands. There was one disturbing item about the reactions of some to these two related and identical threats to the Israeli people and nation. That was the appearance of initiations that these two deaths were somehow different and that the soldier being murdered in Tel Aviv was somehow a greater threat to Israel than the other which occurred beyond the 1949 Armistice Line and thus was just one of those events which we must suffer because of the ‘occupation’. Truth be told, the Palestinians are no different than the Egyptian, Jordanian, Syrian or Iraqi peoples as they are all Arabs with the same culture, language, religions, lineage and histories and the idea of a separate peoples known as the Palestinians did not come into existence until 1964 when they were manufactured out of whole cloth. One does not have to believe me as the following quotes will show.

 

First Quote) In a March 1977 interview in the Dutch newspaper Trouw, Zahir Muhsein, a member of the PLO executive committee, admitted, “The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct ‘Palestinian people’ to oppose Zionism.
For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan.”

Second Quote) Auni BeyAbdul-Hadi told the Peel Commission in 1937. “There is no such country as ‘Palestine’; ‘Palestine’ is a term the Zionists invented!”

 

That put aside, there is no reason for any Israeli, or any Jew for that matter, to place any iota of a difference between Israelis within or outside the 1949 Armistice Line as it is only the demand that any future Palestinian state the Arabs manage to wrest from the body of Israel be free from any Jewish presence that makes the existence of Jews beyond that line of any importance. Further, if one takes the Palestinian stated intentions at the continuously expressed word then Tel Aviv is just as much a part of ‘occupied Palestine’ as is all the lands of Judea and Samaria. It is their definition of all the lands from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea as being all of ‘occupied Palestine’ that makes everything within that definition, and not just Judea and Samaria, part of their reason for violence and terror war against Israel and why Mahmoud Abbas and every other Palestinian leader refuse to agree that any peace accord made with Israel, despite it granting them lands for their presumed purpose of self-determination and independence, will signify an end to their violence and acts of terror in making war on Israel until the entirety of their lands are liberated. It also does not matter to them that the only truly occupied lands do consist of Judea and Samaria and are occupied by them just as it was occupied previously by Jordan and not only do the Palestinian leadership understand that truth, as do the rest of the Arab leadership, the rest of the Muslim leadership, the whole of the European leadership, the whole of the United States leadership, the whole of the Canadian leadership (and at least their government acts on that knowledge and for which I would like to thank them as they deserve the thanks from every Israeli, Jew and lover of Israel), the whole of the United Nations (including all of its various tentacle agencies, courts, conferences, rapporteurs, committees, and other entities) and the majority of educated people worldwide. The sole reason that this exceedingly established set of facts does not quiet the arguments for the liberation of the ‘Palestinian homelands’ is due to the overriding desire to undo what so many, especially the European powers who attended and ratified the San Remo Conference findings and conclusions, across the globe believe to be the greatest error in judgment ever committed by seemingly intelligent people when they made the promise in treaty and obligation to return the ancient lands of the Jewish People to its rightful owners with particular attention to the established fact that between the time of the Roman dispersal of the leaders and armed Hebrews to the ends of their empire to the present time no nation had ever claimed these particular lands to be their sovereign lands nor had any nation or interest named Jerusalem to be their capital city. That is the ugly little and unspoken secret at the heart of the entire effort to make a ‘Palestinian state’ out of the body and ancient heartlands of the Jewish People. This also makes Tel Aviv just as much of ‘occupied Palestine’ as it does Hevron, Shechem (aka Nablus), Beit-El and all of the rest of the lands of Judea and Samaria (aka West Bank, the name given these lands by Jordan when annexing them to remove their traditional and Jewish related original and historic names) are despite the apparent desire by some in Tel Aviv to try and differentiate between those places outside the 1949 Armistice Lines (the Palestinian plans step one) and those lands within the 1949 Armistice Lines (the Palestinian step two) with nary a real difference should the Palestinians ever achieve their true goals.

 

Additionally, there is another truth which is often ignored between times when the northern border of Israel is seemingly relatively quiet with only the occasional disturbance such as exchanges of fire between the two sides, an explosive device being detonated in attempts to murder IDF or other passing Israeli vehicles or the probing infiltrations testing the IDF response times and severity. This truth is the claims by Hassan Nasrallah and other Hezballah spokespersons that the Galilee is an area which Hezballah is capable of taking with a minimum of effort and that the IDF is incapable of preventing as the Galilee is presumably part of Lebanon and also rightfully the southern lands of Syria of which Lebanon is only an autonomous part. This claim to the Galilee is identical to the claims to all of Israel by the Palestinians, completely false and attributable to titles granted the regions between Turkey and Egypt. These general names for this land mass include but are not limited to Syria, Greater Syria, Syrian Province, Judea, Israel, Samaria, Transjordan, Jordan, Palaestina (Roman name mistaken pronunciation of the Jews main historic enemies, the Philistines), Assyria, and Canaan as well as simply being a province within such empires as Babylon, Greek, Roman, Persian, Ottoman, Zengid, Hamdanid, Byzantine, British, French, Egypt, Hittite, Mongol and Caliphate. Despite all of these empires and names given this small area in the Middle East, only the Jews ever claimed Jerusalem as their capital city which was true even under the title of Judea. Despite the historic facts, the leader of Hezballah, Hassan Nasrallah, has made claims and restated his claim recently for the annexation of the Galilee by right of military conquest to the fertile valley of the Galilee once his forces have routed the Israelis. Needless to say, the real target of Nasrallah is not simply the Galilee but to all of Israel even to include the areas currently under semiautonomous control of the Palestinian Authority and probably Gaza from Hamas as well. Before anyone attempts to correct my mention of Gaza being under the rule of Hamas and claiming it is under the unity government of the Palestinians, we all know it is ruled by Hamas and that should Mahmoud Abbas or any other Palestinian Authority leader or member desire to leave the comfort of Ramallah and visit Gaza they would need to procure the permission from the previous Hamas leaders, particularly Ismail Haniyeh, or face a death sentence and summary execution without even the semblance of a trial. Should Nasrallah once again attack across the Israel-Lebanon border, his aims would not be solely to subsume the Galilee region but to also take Jerusalem, the Negev Desert and even Tel Aviv. No Arab or Muslim force which managed to gain the advantage and defeat the IDF would stop at the Tel Aviv city limits and say, oh, wait, this is Tel Aviv which is completely separate and different from the West Bank, Galilee, Negev and every other part of Israel, it is the one place in the whole universe which is recognized as belonging to the Jews and we have no prior or false claim to which we can point as to why it does not belong to Jews so we had better leave it alone. Believe it or not, Tel Aviv in not inviolable and distinct from the rest of the lands claimed not to belong to the Jews, it is just as much a target as the rest of Israel, even my little corner here on the coast of the Galilee. We should and must mourn and defend to the best of our abilities every Israeli, be they Jewish, Arab, Muslim, Christian, Baha’i, Buddhist or other religion or identifiable origin or, as Benjamin Franklin warned the Continental Congress at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, “We must hang together, gentlemen…else, we shall most assuredly hang separately.” It applies to all of us within Israel, we too must hang together or we will hang separately.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

To Release or not to Release; the Terror Prisoner Conundrum

Israel was coerced, pressured and hornswoggled into releasing one-hundred-four terrorist prisoners, most of whom were serving life sentences for multiple murders of Israelis either through their direct actions or as planners who sent numerous homicide-bombers into Israeli central bus stations, shops, malls, restaurants, wedding ceremonies, Bar Mitzvahs, Passover Seders and other places where large numbers could be murdered, simply as a bribe to get Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority to agree to sit and talk for nine months without any guarantee of progress towards making an actual peace agreement. Even from the beginning of this round of the peace process there were comments from numerous Palestinian Authority spokespersons even including the actual negotiators who openly stated that they were not negotiating to reach any agreement but were only pretending to actually negotiate in order to attain the freedom for as many terrorists as possible before they would walk away from the table. The other running commentary came mostly from the mouth of Mahmoud Abbas also from the very beginning of the talks demanding that the Israelis also be forced to implement a building freeze despite turning down that choice in favor of the terror prisoners release over any other concessions from Israel. What is of further note is that this time, just as in every previous situation when the United States, the European Union, the United Nations or any other source decided to sponsor another round of peace talks, the only concessions demanded were forced from the Israelis and the Palestinians refused to agree to negotiations unless Israel met certain preconditions. Of real interest is that the Palestinians have never offered or been forced to make a single concession since the initial implementation of the Oslo Accords. The Palestinian Authority have yet to even meet the main demand they agreed to in the original agreement where they had promised to alter their charter by removing the demand to destroy Israel as the state for the Jewish People. To their credit, the Palestinian Authority did agree to appoint a committee to rewrite that section of their charter when the United States sent some monitors to assure that the agreement was fulfilled. They never did form that committee but the American observers left satisfied the demands to change certain parts of their charter would be met. So much for trust but verify. So, where do the current talks sit, one might ask.

 

The release of the one-hundred-four terrorist prisoners was arranged to be accomplished in four stages throughout the negotiations. Israel has released three sets with the last group to be released near the end of March. Each release has spawned great celebrations by the Palestinian Authority giving the released terrorists a heroes greeting. As a bonus for their terrorist acts the released terrorists were granted positions within the Palestinian Authority where those who committed the greater acts of terror receiving sentences over twenty years being rewarded with higher paying positions while all others receive a lesser amount. Some of the reports have put the salaries as high as $4,000 per month, a salary equal to a rank of general in the Palestinian Security Forces. The salaries are in addition to bonuses given to the released terrorists with some receiving as much as $50,000 while one terrorist, Issa Abed Raboo, will be receiving $60,000 as his bonus. Who says terrorism does not pay? These salaries are even higher than the amounts paid to the terrorists’ families and the terrorists while they were held in Israel. The Palestinian Authority is claimed to be paying as much as $46,000,000 in terrorist salaries to those in Israeli prisons this year alone.

 

For the past six weeks barely a day goes by without Mahmoud Abbas, one of the Palestinian negotiators or high level Palestinian Authority spokesperson demanding that the Palestinians walk away from the table as soon as Israel releases the final set of terrorists. Some even demand they end their ruse now and stop negotiations immediately. Such calls are always met with a reassuring and calm Abbas claiming the moderate mantle promising that the Palestinians will stay the course until every Palestinian terrorist has been released. Abbas freely states regularly that he is only waiting for the last group to be released unless the United States can force Israel to agree to release more terrorist prisoners including Marwan Barghouti and also implement a building freeze throughout Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, then he claims he will extend the negotiations for as long as the release of the additional terrorist prisoners are being freed. The Palestinians Authority has released numerous statements for their public to consume claiming that they have made a complete mockery and collapsed the idea of Israel imposing a life sentence for murdering Jews by forcing the terrorist releases. All of this does beg the question as to why would the Israelis release the last set of terrorist prisoners knowing that doing so will only result in the Palestinians walking out of the negotiations and there is no possibility of any gains to be made towards a real peace? The sole reason that might make sense is that should Israel withhold the final release, then the Palestinian Authority could leave the negotiations claiming that Israel refuses to take the necessary steps to reach a peace agreement. But is that reason enough?

 

Well, that is where everything really enters the theater of the absurd. As was hotly argued were comments, more like threats, made by United States Secretary of State Kerry aimed at Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israelis stating, “Failure of the talks will increase Israel’s isolation in the world. The alternative to getting back to the talks is a potential of chaos. I mean, does Israel want a third intifada?” Just this week a European Union delegation urged Israel to release the long term terror prisoners as doing so was essential to continuing the peace process and moving it forward. The head of the European Union delegation Emer Costello was quoted demanding, “We believe that the release of prisoners… is central to the peace process.” He also stated, “I think there is an acceptance on both sides, even with the members of the Knesset that we met (knew the) importance of the prisoner issue.” I would love to have the list of the Ministers of the Knesset with which the European Union met. I have a pretty good idea that almost none were from Likud, Jewish Home or even Tzipi Livni herself as she was quoted from her Facebook page clarifying that, “”In order to advance serious negotiations, we will all need to take decisions and prove we are determined to reach an agreement and real peace. That burden of proof is also on the Palestinians’ shoulders. Accordingly, we will examine the issue of the prisoners, meaning that the key to the cells of the Palestinian prisoners is also to be found in the hands of Abu Mazen (Abbas) and the decisions he will take in the coming days.” So, where does that leave Israel going forward?

 

The Israeli leadership will need to weigh what the repercussions would be if they refused to release the rest of the terror prisoners without an actual agreement signed and completed with the Palestinian Authority. Prime Minister Netanyahu might add to the offer the release of Marwan Barghouti and a number of other highly prized terrorist masters should an actual and lasting peace with Israel recognized in the agreement as the home for the Jewish People and an end to the claims of Palestinian refugees’ “right of return.” The result of such actions is easily predicted. Mahmoud Abbas backed by a chorus of other Palestinian Authority spokespeople and accompaniment by the United Nations, European Union, various European governments’ heads of state, Secretary of State Kerry and President Obama at a minimum all condemning Israel and expressing their full understanding for the implementation of a third intifada of terror and murder against Israel and demanding that all civilized nations place sanction on Israel immediately. Where this becomes completely ridiculous is that even should Israel release the last group of terrorists and the Palestinian Authority walk away from the talks the very next morning, within a week, ten days at most, I can predict what the world’s news reports and the entire gauntlet of above noted leaders will all be declaring; Israel destroyed any possibility for peace in the Middle East as they refused to release the remaining terrorists they have been holding in their prisons and insist on continuing to build more housing for Jews in the occupied territories. It is necessary that the world’s leaders take measures to implement policies that display their dissatisfaction and anger over Israeli reluctance to make the necessary compromises for peace. Mahmoud Abbas offers the best possibility for peace and the time is right that peace could be accomplished if only Israel would take the necessary steps. Abbas will meanwhile be complaining about how he was ready and willing to continue the negotiations if only Israel would be reasonable and meet their obligations for peace.

 

The claim we have heard from President Obama is that everybody knows what the formula is for peace and that is the 1967 Lines (actually the 1949 Armistice Lines) with mutually agreed land swaps (if permitted by the Palestinians) with the Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem (cutting the Israelis and all Jews from accessing the Kotel (Western Wall) and Temple Mount (the holiest place on Earth for Jews) and all of the Old City (the historical capital since King David declared Jerusalem as his capital in the tenth century BCE) and some consideration for the Palestinian refugees. Nobody seems to have any difficulty with this solution and think it reasonable. All one need do is remember back to just after the Six Day War when Israel has routed three Arab Armies which had massed on her border and waged war forcing Israel into a defensive war. The actual start to the war was forced by both Egyptian and Syrian troops massed on Israel’s northern and southern borders and all shipping through the Red Sea blockaded by Egypt which was casus belli thus the actual start to the state of war. Within hours of hostilities starting between Syria and Egypt against Israel and upon hearing the Egyptian and Syrian reports of their great and glorious ongoing victory and ignoring pleadings from Israel not to believe the lies, Jordan chose not to believe the Israelis and joined in what they expected would be the destruction of Israel. History recorded a nearly unimaginable victory with Israel routing the Egyptian armies, pushing back the Syrian armies and defeating the Jordanian army. Israel, when hostilities stopped at the insistence of the United Nations, Russia, United States, much of Europe and numerous Arab nations (funny how whenever Israel’s enemies are gaining on the field of battle there is silence but if Israel has the advantage the world screams STOP!) Israel held the Golan Heights, the Sinai Peninsula, Judea, Samaria, and all of Jerusalem (the West Bank). The agreement hammered out was United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 (S/RES/ 242) passed on November 22, 1967 was very carefully crafted with great pains to use exact wording such that Israel was to return some, but not necessarily all or even near to all) the gained territories from her defensive war that had been imposed upon Israel. Technically, under International Law, since Israel was the victim of three aggressor nations, Israel did have the right to keep every inch of the lands she had gained. Of course, as has been proven repeatedly, when it comes to Israel the laws, international and otherwise, seem to never quite apply as they would with any other nation. Still, Israel was required to return parts of the land and retain those lands Israel determined were required to provide for safe and secure borders. Most of the world at that time presumed that Israel would likely return most of the Sinai Peninsula and retain the Golan Heights, Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem and Gaza. So, what exactly was that solution that everybody knows is the necessary result of the negotiation between the Palestinians and Israel? When the United Nations passed their resolution there was no mention or even the inkling of an idea of a Palestinian people, let alone a nation of Palestine, there was Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Sure, there was the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) which was formed in 1964, three full years before there was any “occupied lands”; I prefer, like many, to call them disputed lands. What was the purpose of the PLO? Their charter called for the eradication of Israel and the liberation of all the lands from the Jordanian border to the Mediterranean Sea, and that Jordanian border included half of Jerusalem and all of Judea and Samaria (West Bank). The PLO, and thus the so-called Palestinians, made absolutely no claims on Judea, Samaria or East Jerusalem and had stated that once they had liberated all of Israel they planned on joining it to Jordan, the actual and original Palestinian State. My how the world has twisted and contorted everything in the years since November 22, 1967. Those were simpler times when people spoke of such things as right and wrong and sometimes I wonder, when did everything run off the rails and become so twisted and the values we held disappear without even a trace of what we once held so dearly.

 

Beyond the Cusp