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Originally posted by sycamore
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Originally posted by adamzion
However, as I have said before, former Israeli PM Ehud Barak made an offer to Yassir Arafat which included virtually all of the Gaza Strip, 90+% of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, <b>and</b> PA control of the Temple Mount- the holiest single site in Judaism (as compared to its being the third holiest in Islam). Arafat turned this down.
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Adam, you've mentioned this before. Now, was this actually documented by a major news source, or by the Israeli government or the Palestinian Authority? Or, is this just the word around the campfire?
Not word around the campfire. Hold on...
OK, a quick search turned out the following quote from an article in the <u>New Republic</u> by David Feith dated 9/5/2000:
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At Camp David last month, Arafat showed how costly a "final settlement" agreement would be. It is hard to overstate how extraordinary the concessions Barak offered were. According to the most credible reports, they included approximately 90 percent of the West Bank, recognition of a new sovereign Palestinian state therein, the absorption into Israel of 100,000 Palestinian refugees, the abandonment of various Jewish settlements, and, most astonishingly, the division of Jerusalem, with the Palestinians to have sovereignty over the Arab neighborhoods outside the Old City walls and more limited "control" over Muslim and Christian sections of the Old City--including the Temple Mount."
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Rewind to 1948-49. The original partition plan for the British colony of Palestine included three pieces: the independent country of Jordan (aka Transjordan- that part of Palestine which was east of the Jordan river), a Jewish state, and a Palestinian Arab one.
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I don't see the Sinai on there though...
True enough. The Sinai was captured from Egypt in a war, and returned to Egypt in the peace treaty of '77 (I believe) signed by then Israeli PM Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
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Immediately upon the partition agreement, Israel declared statehood.
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Actually, didn't Israel declare statehood on the day that Britain's mandate over Palestine expired? Was this partition agreement part of the 1947 UN Resolution?
So I believe.
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But the Sinai wasn't Israel's to begin with. Nor was Jerusalem (which was an international city) or the West Bank.
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Again, agreed. Israel captured all of the above territory after defeating surrounding Arab nations in wars, most of which were initiated by the Arab nations (one began with an Israeli pre-emptive strike on Egyptian forces which were massing for their own attack).
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In the case of East Jerusalem, Israel had agreed to sign over part of its <b>capital city</b>.
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See previous mention of Jerusalem...
Jerusalem, however, has been the Jewish capital city for millennia. Think about that. <b>Millennia</b>. That's a long time. Was it under Arab rule for most of the time since 70 AD (and the fall of the Second Temple)? Yes. But were there any attempts to make it an Arab capital in all that time? Not one, until now.
Meanwhile, Jerusalem has been present in every Jewish religious service for, again, millennia. Is this "fair" to the Arabs who lived in Jerusalem prior to the declaration of the Jewish state? No, probably not, and I'm sorry about that. But, again, neither was it fair for the surrounding Arab states to drive out their hundreds of thousands of Jewish citizens following the declaration of Israeli statehood.
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The PLO's track record and charter are crystal clear about one thing: the PLO's aim is to destroy the Jewish state. It's pretty tough to negotiate peace with someone whose sole aim is to see you disappear. And Israel isn't likely to negotiate itself out of existance, as inconvenient as this might be to the rest of the world.
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The PLO and other Arabs have markedly moved away from this stance during the 1990s, particularly since the Oslo accords. After all, Israel is now at peace with Jordan.
True enough, Israel is at peace with Jordan. But the PLO charter <b>still</b> calls for the destruction of Israel. PA textbooks show a map of Israel, described in its entirity as Palestine, and call for the destruction of the Jewish state. And don't try to convince me that Syria or Iran suddenly want to be all buddy-buddy with Israel.
There's plenty of blame to go around here, fellows. As I said before: everyone seems to be desperate to find the simple, easy-to-understand, <b>wrong</b> answer to this complicated problem.
Sigh,
Z