I take issue with some of your points
Reader comment on item: The Palestinian-Israeli War: Where It Came From, and How to End It

Submitted by Greg (United States), Mar 22, 2006 at 18:30

Daniel:

Let's not forget what was originally intended to be the Jewish Homeland, namely ALL of British mandated "Palestine." First, more than 75% of it was carved out and handed to the Hashemite family to become Trans-Jordan. THAT should have been given to the Jews. But, since it was not, it became an Arab-Palestinian state. There is absolutely no justification for giving Palestinians -- Arabs by any other name -- yet another state! They have Jordan and 70 percent of Jordan's population is comprised of Palestinian Arabs.

So, my point of contgention is that, in no way, shape, or form should Israel have given any land back to Jordan after it declared war on Israel in 1967, and likewise, the West Bank should not be given away either. No other country has ever given back land stolen from it during wartime except Israel. Same goes for Gaza and the Sinai. Israel could have annexed these regions after the 1967 War and both Jews and Arabs would have been better off for it.

Oslo did a lot more damage than you listed. It allowed an unrepentant terrorist (Arafat) and his fellow criminals to build a totally new Palestinian society predicated on the extermination of Jews and elimination of Israel as part of an elaborate fairy tale about Historic Palestinians and martyrdom. Every Palestinian since Oslo who donned a belt of explosives has Arafat to thank.

If Palestinians are suffering, it is because their Arab bretheren have made them suffer by not absorbing them into their country. Tiny Israel absorbed over 800,000 Jews from all over the Middle East, and yet, not one Arab country -- other than Jordan -- made any concerted effort to relocate Palestinians. Arabs want them to stay in refugee camps until Israel is wiped off the map. It is the Arabs who prevented Israel from finding homes and jobs for them.

This will continue until Arab countries are forced to accept refugees and treat them like brothers, and not like dogs. Instead of Israel giving up more land, it needs to take some back. It needs to halt the illegal building of Arab settlements, too.

Palestinians have to be made to face the truth -- that there is no such thing as a historic Palestine, that the land they claim is their own belongs to Israel, and they are living there thanks to the graciousness of Israel and the Western World.

We have allowed Palestinians and Arab countries to dictate Israel's future when it should be Israel's decision. Palestinians and Arabs have to experience a total paradigm shift in terms of how they see themselves, vis-a-vis Israel, and the rest of the non-Muslim world.

The future of Israel is definitely tied to Islamicism, because Israel prevents their caliphate from being established throughout the Middle East. They have Mecca and Medina. They have no claim to Jerusalem.

Sharon was wrong on disengagement, but right on making the Palestinian population suffer for choosing terrorism. The problem is that they have not suffered enough to the point where they are desperate for peace.

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