By WARREN MANISON, UCI —
It should be obvious that a Two State solution is an impossibility. In one way or another, separate states with Jews and Arabs living side by side in peace, has been proposed and rejected by the Arab people. From this we should learn that 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 includes Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, in effect, eliminating a free Jewish state of Israel. We can either recognize these FACTS and accept the impossibility of a Two State Solution, or we can continue making the same mistake and incur additional anguish and turmoil.
Jewish rights to the land, given the name Palestina by the Romans 2,000 years ago, are irrefutable. Biblical and historical Jewish rights were established 3,500 years ago. Legal rights were established unanimously by the World Community after WWI at the San Remo conference of 1920. The area was legally established as the homeland of the Jewish people. In 1922 the 51 member countries of the League of Nations unanimously endorsed these rights and charged the British with their implementation. Britain established the state of Transjordan on 77% of the total land of Palestine 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.
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 2,000 and again in 2,008, Arabs, now calling themselves Palestinians, were again offered a Two State Solution and in both cases, refused the offer. In effect, there have been four attempts at a Two State solution and all have failed.
It is crystal clear there is one overriding factor preventing resolution of this struggle – refusal by Arab entities to recognize and accept a Jewish State of Israel in what they consider to be their Islamic area of the world. Prime Minister Abbas has stated any number of 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:
1) BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) of companies and universities doing business in Israel.
2) Labeling Israel as an apartheid state;
3) Calling for a boycott of the sale of goods produced in Israel
4) Attempting to prevent Israeli professors and professionals from participating in international forums and speaking at universities.
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 refugees, (estimated to number more than 5 million), and establishing the indefensible 1947 Armistice Line as the de facto border between the two states. Abbas has appointed the religious leader of the Palestinians, the Mufti Muhammad Hussein who repeatedly calls for the death of all Jews, no matter where.
The irony of accusing Israel of being an apartheid state is ridiculous compared to the apartheid that has been practiced on Palestinian Arabs for 60 years in surrounding Arab countries. They fled the fighting that followed the invasion of the nascent Israel state in 1947 by 5 Arab armies. Since then, 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 were forced to flee Arab nations and were absorbed within Israel and western countries.
What does this mean? Why has nothing been done to help these true victims of Apartheid? These poor souls are being used as pawns for continued hostility toward a Jewish state re-enforcing the suspicion the issue is the existence of a Jewish state of Israel. Their situation is intended to elicit sympathy for the “poor” 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 the Two State Solution can accommodate the totality of all Palestinians, including those at refugee camps as well as those working 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 more than 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 areas and expanded governmental institutions.
A second possible solution is more difficult to define and implement. The history of the majority of most Arabs calling themselves Palestinians, began in the 1930s. The British Administrator of the British Mandate reported that they could not count the countless tens of thousands of Arab immigrants flooding into the Mandate area seeking economic opportunities. (One example is the Yasser Arafat family who entered from Egypt at about that time.) The majority of currently known Palestinians are descendants of this inflow.
A starting point might be these two possible solutions. At the same time, Islamic scholars need to blunt the hatred emitted by religious leaders like Mufti Muhammad Hussein. To continue on the same path is to invite more hostility, more bloodshed and continued apartheid of the so-called refugees in these same neighboring countries.
Historical Background
1) Jerusalem was established as the Capitol of the Jewish People 3,500 years ago by King David
2) On April 24, 1920, at the San Remo Peace Conference, the Supreme Council of Allied Powers met to divide the conquered Ottoman Empire. Five victorious nations were given world authority to transfer legal title to Palestine to “the Jewish people in the Diaspora.”, incorporating the agreed upon Balfour Declaration. This title has never been revoked. The five countries, victors in WW 1 were Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States.
3) On July 24, 1922, the League of Nations recognized “the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country…” This was unanimously ratified by all 51 member nations.
4) In November of 1947, U.N. Resolution 181 proposed a partition plan. This plan was accepted by Israel, but rejected by five Arab nations when they immediately invaded the newly recognized Jewish State of Israel, rendering the plan null and void. This Arab attack on Israel created a refugee problem that for 64 years has been perpetuated by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) with significant funding provided by United States taxpayers.
5) Between 1948 and 1967, Jordan occupied parts of Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, desecrating and destroying both Christian and Jewish religious sites and barring Jews from access to their historic homeland.
6) In 1967 Arab armies again attacked Israel. Jordan invaded Israel. Israel successfully fought a defensive war regaining Judea, Samaria and reuniting Jerusalem. Egypt lost the Sinai Peninsula when it joined the battle and was driven back across the Suez Canal.
7) In 1979, Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula in return for a Peace Treaty and the hope that this would lead to peace and acceptance of Israel as a Jewish State. A peace treaty with Jordan was also signed.
8) In 1994, the Oslo Peace Process was initiated. In 2,000, a Two State solution was proposed by Israel. The Palestinians were offered 94% of Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem as a State of their own. They refused and started an Intifada that resulted in the deaths of thousands of Israelis.
9) In 2005, Israel evacuated the Gaza Strip in the hope of encouraging a democratic government and to demonstrate that peace is possible with Palestinians. The subsequent takeover by Hamas terrorists points to failure of the basic premise that the “land for peace” and “2-state solution” concepts can solve the Arab-Israel conflict.
10) In 2008, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert offered a peace plan leading to a Palestinian State. It was rejected.
11) To this day, Freedom of Religion in Israel guarantees that all faiths can practice their faith freely. Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites are controlled by leaders from each faith.
Excellent biblically, historically, these facts, become credible facts, because there are warranted to the relevent degree of coherent certainty, which simply cannot be refuted by anyone, period!