ISRAEL AND THE SO CALLED "PALESTINE"

 

HOW MANY TIMES WERE THE PALESTINIANS OFFERED PEACE SETTLEMENTS?

About 20 times.

Following is a list of the major peace offers, proposals, gestures and opportunities presented to the Arabs/Muslims by both the international community and the State of Israel going back as far as 1919, but all have been rejected by the Arabs/Muslims:

1919: Arabs of Palestine refused nominate representatives to the Paris Peace Conference.

1920: San Remo conference decisions, rejected.

1922: League of Nations decisions, rejected.

1937: Peel Commission partition proposal, rejected.

1938: Woodhead partition proposal, rejected

1947: UN General Assembly partition proposal (UNGAR 181), rejected.

1949: Israel's outstretched hand for peace (UNGAR 194), rejected.

1967: Israel's outstretched hand for peace (UNSCR 242), rejected.

1978: Begin/Sa’adat peace proposal, rejected (except for Egypt).

1994: Rabin/Hussein peace agreement, rejected by the rest of the Arab League (except for Egypt).

1995: Rabin's Contour-for-Peace, rejected.

2000: Barak/Clinton peace offer, rejected.

2001: Barak’s offer at Taba, rejected.

2005: Sharon's peace gesture, withdrawal from Gaza, rejected.

2008: Olmert/Bush peace offer, rejected.

2009 to present: Netanyahu's repeated invitations to peace talks, rejected.

2014: Kerry's Contour-for-Peace, rejected.

How often do the Arab/Muslims have to reject offers of coexistence before the world understands that the only way to end the Arab-Israeli conflict it for the rest of the world to tell the Arab world, for once and for all, that Israel is NOT going to “go away”, and they had better learn to accept it?

The common denominator of all the offers, proposals, gestures and opportunities noted above has been the requirement of the Muslim-Arabs to accept the RIGHT of the State of Israel to be, to exist as the sovereign nation-state of the Jewish people. This, clearly, they refuse to do since their commitment has been, all along, the demise of a sovereign nation-state of the Jewish people on ANY parcel of land defined by international law "the national home of the Jewish people".

So, what are some reasons why Israel has not been able to achieve peace with the Palestinians, even though they have made concessions in the past?

Let’s look at them:

There are three main reasons why Israel has not been able to achieve peace with the Muslims.

The first is that it has to achieve peace with each Muslim country and terrorist group separately.

Second is that Israel has made it easy for Palestinians to live in Israel. As long as Palestinians can live and work in Israel with only minor inconveniences there is little incentive to pressure the Palestinian leadership to change. This is a clear indication that the extreme accusations against Israel are untrue. If Israel was wiping out the Palestinians (genocide), starving them, making them homeless, etc. there would be pressure within the Palestinian community to negotiate at any terms.

The third and most significant is that there is great utility in maintaining the current situation. Muslim countries can convince their populations that Israel is a threat to keep their people mollified. The terrorist organizations, UNRWA, the media, and NGOs, all have a vested, financial, interest in not seeing a peace agreement between Israel and the Muslims. Foreign countries (largely European) can use activities in Israel and attacks on Israel to placate their Muslim residents.

Obviously the concessions made by Israel in the past that keep coming up in the media and other anti-Israel groups, are insufficient to counter the benefits accrued by the various groups that would be required to make peace or to promote a reasonable peace agreement. A recent example of this is the failure of the Peace Through Prosperity plan that would have resulted in another Palestinian state with new infrastructure, industries, schools, hospitals, and universities, due to its requirement that all spending and funds be audited and accounted for.

Palestinians remain split between Hamas and Fatah. 

Remember that Hamas totally rejects the two-state solution and the peace process. Hamas wants a war to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamic welfare state. Hamas is sponsored by Iran, whose stated national goal is “the total annihilation of Israel.”. You ain't gonna find any Hamas person willing to talk peace.

Fatah, on the other hand, is not going to return to the peace negotiations because they will not negotiate for a peaceful independent Palestine that doesn't include Gaza.

Looking at everything that’s been happening from the time Israel declared it’s independence to the numerous times Israel has offered peace and land to the Palestinians only to have them rejected peace settlements again and again, which would have granted them even more land than that granted under the Oslo agreement, and they have stated that they want Israel gone, I think the answer is they do not want peace at all.