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THINK-ISRAEL |
The proposed Two State solution to the Israel/Palestinian impasse is an impossibility. Separate states for Jews and Palestinian Arabs living side by side in peace in the Holy Land, have been proposed and rejected by Arabs in recent history. When one fails to learn from history, one is doomed to repeat the same mistakes at increasing cost.
It should be obvious that the Palestinians will not give up their drive to establish a Muslim State that stretches from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, a land that includes Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. In effect, the Jewish State of Israel would be eliminated. This is consistent with Islamic ideology that decrees that once land has been controlled by and/or occupied by a Muslim entity, that land is forever Muslim land — it can never be under the control of "infidels" or non-believers of Islam. The Muslim Caliphate — the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire — was that entity for 600 years until dismantled in 1923. This ideology is the basis for Palestinian refusal to accept and acknowledge the existence of the State of Israel. When we fail to acknowledge this basis for continued turmoil, we make the mistake of believing that a Two State Solution is feasible thereby incurring still more anguish and turmoil.
Biblical and historical Jewish rights were established 3,500 years ago. Jewish rights to the land, given the name Palestina by the Romans 2,000 years ago, are irrefutable. That area encompassed the land mass of present day Israel, the West Bank, Gaza and what is now Jordan. These rights were re-established unanimously by the World Community after WWI at the San Remo conference in 1920. The area was legally designated as the homeland of the Jewish people. In 1922 the 51 member countries of the League of Nations unanimously endorsed these rights. It established a Mandate placing Britain in control to administer this part of the defunct Ottoman Empire.
Britain quickly established the state of Transjordan on 77% of the total land of Palestina east of the Jordan River as a reward for Arab assistance to the British during WW 1. The area in which a future Jewish State would be established was reduced to 23% of the original designated homeland. The Hashemite Emir from Mecca, was placed on the throne as Jordan's first king. Transjordan became the modern State of Jordan in 1946. In effect, this was the first attempt at a Two State Solution. While the British Mandate was in effect (until 1948), the British admitted in reports, (e.g. Root Commission report) that the 1930s saw an immense migration of Arabs from neighboring Arab lands into the Mandate, seeking better opportunity in a land where Jews would re-establish its homeland. This fact was recognized in statements made by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 referring to these Arabs as illegal immigrant workers. In effect, a significant percentage of the Arab refugees who fled the 1948 fighting were not indigenous to the land and were first or second generation of these illegal immigrant workers.
In 1947, the United Nations partitioned the remaining 23% into two states, one Jewish — 13% of the original Mandate, and the other Arab. This was a second attempt at a Two State Solution. Jews accepted this division. Arabs did not and attacked the nascent state of Israel. In 2000 and again in 2008, Arabs, now calling themselves Palestinians, were again offered a State and in both cases, refused the offer. In effect, there have been four attempts at a Two State solution and all have failed. To this day, the Arab world is following the 1967 dictum laid down by the Arab League in Khartoum in 1964 — No Peace, No recognition, No Negotiations.
It is crystal clear there are two additional factors preventing resolution of this struggle: 1) refusal by Arab entities to recognize and accept the existence of a Jewish State; and, 2) Islamic ideology whereby Islam claims to replace both Christianity and Judaism. This ideology is the root cause of Palestinians wanting to claim eastern Jerusalem as their capitol. Why? Eastern Jerusalem contains the most holy sites in the world to Christians and Jews — the Holy Sepulcher and the Temple Mount. Jewish Temples stood on this Mount thousands of years ago. What better way to demonstrate the replacement ideology than to control both holy sites?
Prime Minister Abbas has stated many times he will not recognize nor accept a Jewish State of Israel. This has been accompanied by an unrelenting drive to de legitimize the Jewish state through heinous actions such as:
These actions seek to force Israel to make impossible political concessions jeopardizing the Jewish State. They include surrendering eastern Jerusalem, accepting the Territories (West Bank) as Judenrein, accepting the return of so‑called Palestinian refugees, (estimated to number more than 5 million), and establishing the indefensible 1967 Armistice Line as the de facto border between the two states.
The irony of accusing Israel of being an apartheid state is ridiculous compared to the apartheid that has been practiced against fellow Arabs for 60 years in surrounding Arab countries. These Arabs, now calling themselves "Palestinians" fled the fighting that followed the invasion of the nascent Israel state in 1948 by 5 Arab armies. They have languished in so-called refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Jordan, living off welfare subsistence from the U.N. They are denied citizenship, job opportunities, free movement within the country, and no political representation. By comparison, 850,000 Jews, forced to flee Arab nations, were absorbed within Israel and western countries.
Why has nothing been done to help these true victims of Apartheid? They are being used as pawns for continued hostility toward the existence of a Jewish state. Their situation is intended to elicit sympathy for an "oppressed" Palestinian people denied their supposed right to live in what they call — "their state of Palestine", from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea. This, of course, is absolutely contrary to all the legal, historical, biblical and world dictums.
It is questionable whether any Two State Solution can accommodate the totality of all Palestinians, including those at refugee camps as well as those residing in foreign countries. This question has never been addressed. There has been no analysis whether such a State, on 10% of the original U.N. envisioned state, can support the total Palestinian population estimated to number perhaps 7 million.
If the nations of the Middle East are truly interested in achieving peace, various alternatives to a Two State Solution must be evaluated. No perfect solution is possible, but two options need to be evaluated. One is resettlement of Palestinians into Jordan itself, which is now 70% Palestinian based on the original division of the land under the British Mandate. This would require world commitment and resources to develop cities, manufacturing and agricultural areas, and expanded governmental institutions. Imagine how Israel could be instrumental in assisting this process.
A second possible solution is more difficult to define and implement. The history of the majority of most Arabs now calling themselves Palestinians, began in the 1930s when countless tens of thousands of Arab immigrants flooded into the Mandate area seeking economic opportunities. (One example is the Yasser Arafat family who entered from Egypt at about that time.). This majority is not indigenous to this land but descendants of this inflow. Given the immense size of surrounding Arab nations, would it be possible to integrate these descendants into the native countries of their forefathers? Is this an option worth considering?
A starting point for resolving the Israel/Palestinian impasse might be one or both these two possible solutions. At the same time, Islamic scholars need to modernize Islamic ideology. Arab leaders need to accept the existence of a Jewish State. Incitement to violence against Jews needs to be stopped. To continue on the path of believing in a loosely defined Two State Solution is to invite more hostility and more bloodshed.
Warren Manison lives in Maryland and is the DC representative
of Unity Coalition for Israel (UCI). He writes and speaks about the
dangers of sharia law to the West and Israel. This article appeared
July 30, 2013 on the
United Coalition for Israel website and is archived at
http://unitycoalitionforisrael.org/news/?p=9627