@Tripeandonions second time you have made me laugh aloud this fine Sunday. I think in real life we would drive each other mad and have some very animated discussions.
For those interested on an alternative to Tripeandonions history lesson here is mine….obviously there’s lots out there and everyone should go off and do some reading and researching:
After the Holocaust, the UN had a division Israel 56% and Palestine 43% NEITHER side accepted this.
In some circles historians agree that Israel publicly agreed the UN plan but this was disingenuous as the founders of Israel made it clear that they would actually take as much Palestinian land as possible.
I ll let those of you who are interested find out who said: “A Jewish state on only part of the land is not the end but the beginning. … The establishment of a state, even if only on a portion of the land, is the maximal reinforcement of our strength at the present time and a powerful boost to our historical endeavors to liberate the entire country.”
1948 you have the Nakba where 700,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled, and 500 Palestinian villages were destroyed. Which shows that the statement made above was the plan all along.
In 1956, Israel joined with France and the U.K. to invade Gaza and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Eisenhower government kicks up a fuss and Israel leaves. administration.
In the 1967 war, Israel once again takes over Sinai and Gaza, as well as the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights in Syria.
After the 1973 Arab-Israeli war Israel returns the Sinai Peninsula but thinks that’s them generous enough and hold onto everything else.
All though some want us to believe that the Arab world want the Jews to not exist and for there not to be an Israeli state this is not true there were various leaders from Syria, Egypt and Jordan who understood the importance of the Jews having a homeland but this had to be with a fine balance with the Palestinians.
Look at this statement in 1949 from the same person from my first quote to the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations “sees no need to run after peace. The armistice is sufficient for us; if we run after peace, the Arabs will demand a price of us: borders or refugees or both. Let us wait a few years.” and later on“With the passage of time, the world would get used to Israel’s existing borders, and forget about U.N. borders and the U.N. idea of an independent Palestinian state.”
Come 1949 there’s a meeting in Switzerland and the Arabs say Israel having 78% is not workable but should be 56% and that refugees should be allowed to go back to their homes. Surprise - Israel rejects this.
Someone from the US writes, “There never has been a time [during negotiations] when a generous and far-sighted attitude on the part of the Jews would not have unlocked peace. … As an advocate of the new state I hope they come to it eventually. Otherwise there will be no peace in the Middle East.” Very wise delegate from the US, predicting the future.
1964 and enter onto the stage the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. The PLO for peace wanted 22% of Palestine (made up of Gaza and the West Bank) Come 1976 the U.N. Security Council said ISrael “withdraw from all the Arab territories occupied since June 1967.” All bar the USA on the Security Council voted for this. Israel said no and the USA vetoed it.
Come 1982 Israel invaded Lebanon and Zeev Maoz said there one of the aims of this action was to get rid of the PLO and so Palestinian nationalism.
1988 PLO accepts Israel’s right to exist in both peace and security. Israel says thanks but with none of the same courtesy for a Palestinian state.
1993 we have the Oslo Accords which were just words with nothing concrete about a Palestinian state and peace- Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin says clearly “We do not accept the Palestinian goal of an independent Palestinian state between Israel and Jordan. We believe there is a separate Palestinian entity short of a state.”
2000 “I did not have sexual
relations with that woman Clinton” has a meeting with Arafat and Israeli PM Ehud Batak. Palestinians accept the 22% of historic Palestine as their land but PM Batak (would definitely win a negotiation task on the Apprentice) said nope instead offering them 3 disconnected areas with the Israelis occupying and controlling border with Jordan. To think that Arafat didn’t accept this great offer, shame on him! Just think an Israeli negotiator: Shlomo Ben-Ami “Camp David was not the missed opportunity for the Palestinians, and if I were a Palestinian, I would have rejected Camp David as well.”
2001 change of scenery we are now in Taba in Egypt. Both sides are talking it’s a few weeks before Israeli elections, the Israelis leave the stage and terminate discussions.
Enter to the stage Ariel Sharon who doesn’t want a Palestinian state and thinks talking is over rated and so doesn’t restart peace talks.
Many years later the honest President that was Bill Clinton’s wife comes onto the stage and carries on the false narrative that the Palestinians didn’t want peace.
It is now 2002 and Saudi Arabia thinks they will have a go at proposing peace and come up with Arab Peace Initiative asking for
an agreement along the standard lines that were known for decades: Israelis to withdrawal from the occupied territories, a fair division of Jerusalem, and “a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem.” 22 members of the Arab League endorsed it, as did the 57-state Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Israel. PM Sharon ignores it.
Exit stage: Sharon has a stroke and Arafat dies.
Enter onto stage right wing and proud PM Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas. Again US rhetoric the Israelis make a wonderful offer to the Palestines but does horrid Palestinians reject this offer. Behind the scenes PM Olmert who is just as honest as President Clinton is under investigation for bribes and resigns.
Enter onto stage another honest and peace loving Israeli PM Netanyahu.
Behind the scenes you have Hamas.
1997 Hamas leader Khaled Mashal offers a 30 year ceasefire and negotiations with Israel. Israel doesn’t respond but attempt to spice things up by trying to assassinate Mashal in Jordan.
2004 Hamas’s religious leader calls for a 10 year ceasefire with Israel and a return to pre-1967 borders but Israel assassinated him.
2006 Hamas wins the elections over the PLO. PM İsmail Haniyeh writes to President George Bush: “We are so concerned about stability and security in the area that we don’t mind having a Palestinian state in the 1967 border and offering a truce for many years.”
President Bush doesn’t respond.
2009 Efraim Halevy (side note for those who are interested Efraim is a beautiful name which means fruitful and productive) who used to head Mossad, writes Hamas had seen that “its ideological goal is not attainable and will not be in the foreseeable future,” but “Israel, for reasons of its own,” was not interested in peace talks.
In this same year a think tank in the US
Institute of Peace, reports repeatedly that Hamas had “sent repeated signals that it may be ready to begin a process of coexisting with Israel.”