It seems to me that any hope for peace
November 22nd, 2006 | by Craig R. Harmon |will have to address this. (see also this BBC report). I understand that I don’t have all the facts. For example, Israel says that at least some of this land was sold by Palestinians who then denied selling it for fear of being branded as collaborators. I have no way of resolving that issue or of proving who is right. It would seem to me that if proper sale was made, there would be a written record of the sale that could be verified but what do I know. I do know that this leak will probably mean that more Israeli settlements will have to be dismantled and returned if there is going to be peace between the Palestinian people and Israelis. That’s going to be politically tough for any Israeli government to do.
It sounds like this land was simply taken and settled against not only international law but against Israeli law as well. It may have been occupied originally to establish a buffer against terrorist attacks but then deliberately settled by moving Israelis onto Palestinian owned land.
As I say, I don’t pretend, from my room in rural Indiana, to know who’s right here but Israel has some ’splainin’ to do after this report. Even if Israel is right, though, even if all of the land mentioned in this report were either properly purchased or never actually owned by anyone, it is clear that the Palestinian people consider it to be theirs and aren’t going to stop their warfare against Israel while these settlements remain.
Solutions? I see only two. Either (1) pull up stakes on the settlements and relocate the Israelis out of the occupied territories, (2) purchase the property from Palestine at a mutually agreeable price or (3) face further terrorism. I guess that’s three options but the third is no solution.
Even if (1) or (2) were done, though, there would still be the question of refugees and their right of return.
Establishing a Jewish nation on land occupied by Arabs was not the brightest idea man ever came up with.
18 Responses to “It seems to me that any hope for peace”
By Paul Watson The Cranky Brit on Nov 21, 2006 | Reply
Craig,
You missed out option 4) Kill ‘em all and let God sort ‘em out. Probably falls into category 3 as well as far as viability goes.
Option 2 sounds like it should be feasible, but the problem I can see is who does the negotiating?
Nice to be able to agree with you on this issue for a change.
By Craig R. Harmon on Nov 21, 2006 | Reply
Paul W.,
Yes, you’re right. (4) is a hypothetical possibility but not a viable one, as you say. There are too many of ‘em to kill them all. It seems to me that if Israel killed all the Palestinians, every Muslim in the world would become a Palestinian.
Negotiating #2 would be a problem. The U.S. is too tainted as an ally of Israel to be acceptable to the Palestinians and I’m not sure what nation would be acceptable to both sides. Switzerland, perhaps.
By Dusty on Nov 22, 2006 | Reply
Damn, I couldn’t find one thing to disagree with you on Craig..just broke my heart.
I do think the history of the Jews played a part in setting them up where they are currently.
By Jersey McJones on Nov 22, 2006 | Reply
Darn… Paul beat me to number 4! Well, here’s number 5) all Israelis pack up and move to Texas. That’s fixes everything - Israel, Palestine and most of all TEXAS!
JMJ
By Dusty on Nov 22, 2006 | Reply
Jersey..that wouldn’t be fair to the Jews dude. Although TX is a dry desolate place..similar to Israel, I just don’t see them enjoying BBQ which is hardly ever Kosher.
By Steve O on Nov 22, 2006 | Reply
::light bulb::
How about we chop off the hands of the israeli lobby and get them out of our pockets and then grow some balls and make them comply with every single UN Resolution dating back to the 1960’s.
That would be a start!!!! Secondly we withhold every single one of our tax dollars from them until they comply thoroughly. Better yet, we stop funding them all together. They do not need our money but they sure as fuck need our military!!!!!!
Israel is no more of a strategic value then South Korea is. They are an artifact of the cold war!!! Lets just admit that we no longer need them as a chess piece against Russia and cut them loose!
By Dusty on Nov 22, 2006 | Reply
I can go along with that Steve O.
By Paul Watson The Cranky Brit on Nov 22, 2006 | Reply
Steve O,
Just to be fair, most of te Arab regimes are also breaching their obligations under the main resolution 242 which require them to make peace with Israel. Now, we can get into chicken and egg arguments about who moves first, but both sides have to be leant on (or more realistically beaten about the head with a 2 by 4 until they start making sense) to get peace that lasts more than five minutes.
By Steve O on Nov 22, 2006 | Reply
PWTCB, Agreed! But our blatant “turn the other cheek” policy with Israel has got to stop. Not one more British or American drop of blood should have to fall for Israel’s faulty international policies.
I believe Israel has a right to exist under the framework laid out in the 60’s beyond that basically they have every right to be blown up and shot at.
We can no longer sustain their unwillingness to co-exist.
By steve on Nov 22, 2006 | Reply
We’ve got this half Siamese cat. When she shuts her eyes, it’s like her face totally disappears. She falls asleep standing up a lot. Been sitting here ten minutes admiring her beauty. I think she is waiting for me to pour a bowl of cereal. Who knows…
Where were we….
I think we’re just spinning this Israeli conflict into the dirt. No one will ever be happy because the situation is totally fucked to begin with. I say we kick both of them out. Call it the “unoccupied” territory and move on. Charge admission to Christians that want to go to Jerusalem and call it a day.
By Doc on Nov 22, 2006 | Reply
O my. Such bloodthirstiness; chopping off heads and things.
AFAICT, we are at war with Islam. Israel is the enemy of our enemy, regardless of any other considerations, altho’ historically we have good ties with them, so I’d say they’re our friends like the Aussies and the Brits. So I will tend to support those who support Israel. Couldn’t care less about UN resolutions; sorry ’bout that. The resolutions of a thoroughly corrupt organization which we should jettison? Nah.
What we should do is acknowledge that a state of war exists between us and every nation or group (including the so-called ‘Palestinians’; just Arabs, folks, that’s all they are) that teaches their kids that America is the Great Satan, and in which large groups danced in the streets after 9/11, including our ‘buddies’ the Saudis, etc. Throw in North Korea for good measure. Call on them to surrender. If they do, do for them what we did for the Japanese: reform their society such that they no longer teach their children that they are divinely appointed to rule the world. If they refuse, give them 2 weeks to evacuate. Then lob a tactical on their capitol. Should take one, maybe 2 of these, then they’ll all surrender, since Muslims and Commies don’t have the ‘death-before-surrender’ thing the Japanese had; they respect superior firepower.
Or we could just wait until they nuke Manhattan, then do it.
By tos on Nov 22, 2006 | Reply
Craig-
More posts like these are a guarentee to make it out of the side bar.
By Craig R. Harmon on Nov 22, 2006 | Reply
Wow! Great discussion, people. Sorry I haven’t got the kind of time I’d like to respond to you all. Thanks to whoever sent this post to the front page. Much appreciated and comment on. I’ll be back later.
By Dusty on Nov 22, 2006 | Reply
We aren’t at war w/Islam, we are getting hit upon by terrorists who, rightly or not, hate our asses. Islam isn’t the enemy. To say we are at war w/Islam is saying we are at war w/all Muslims..that ain’t true and you know it.
The bible, if taken literally, has a lot of hate-mongering and killing in it too.
By tos on Nov 22, 2006 | Reply
Great theme song for this blog!
against.wav
By Dusty on Nov 22, 2006 | Reply
Tos..your linkage doesn’t work..Have a Happy thanksgiving btw
I am thankful for all the fuckwittery here at BIO
To all the regular posters/commenters..have a very enjoyable Thanksgiving/Football day!
By tos on Nov 22, 2006 | Reply
I don’t know man it was working before,Oh well,Happy Day all you Turkeys,lol!
By tos on Nov 22, 2006 | Reply
You can copy it and paste it in your address bar,if you want.