Daniel J. Pipes

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20/20 hindsight, but NOT next time

Reader comment on item: Obama and Israel, Into the Abyss

Submitted by Frank Adam (United Kingdom), Jul 24, 2009 at 03:48

Dear Daniel Pipes,

By asking for the "right of return" Abbas and Erekat have torpedoed their own statement that there can be no peace without dismantling the settlements - as if imputing there will be a peace if they are evacuated; because even if they are evacuated there will still be no peace without "right of return" and as the Arabs have as much right of return as the Volksdeutsch to Sudetenland or Warsaw, or Hindus and Sikhs to Lahore; there will be no peace anyway by Arab insistence (on right of return)
so there is no need to talk settlements.

Ref the latest argument in detail about East Jerusalem (Shepherd's Hotel, Shimon HaTzaddik, etc) it is evident that Israel in its own surprise at the '67 victory was kind, expecting peace talks there and then, and so long term considered weak for leaving the waqf on the Har HaBait and not treating the Arabs as Arabs would have treated Jews.

With 20/20 hindsight Israel in '67 should have immediately turfed out every Arab living in originally Jewish property. Every Israeli making a speech should mention these two points and claim Israel is a decent state while the Arabs are simply wily as ever.

After thirty years in ward politics (not quite Tammany heeling) it is never too late in politics so, as the Arabs think they are on a US roll they will push too far into an explosion quicker than anybody expects. It is only a matter of time as under the Mandate riots and under "motormouth" Nasser, so Israel should be ready to arrest every Moslem Arab living on ex-Jewish property in Jerusalem and when the bang comes deport them to Gaza.

What is clear is that three generations after 1948 the Arab World has ingested their myths and hatreds about Israel so deeply that they will never get rid - so why bother not to tread on their toes as long as it is not bragged in the manner of the woman who discreetly puts her weight on her stilletto heels by way of "physical" when needed?

Yours,
Frank Adam


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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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