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Much Pressure on Israel
Will Barak be able to preserve his country's
security?
Unrelenting pressure is being applied on Prime
Minister Ehud Barak to make ever-more-dangerous concessions to the Palestinians.
What we have seen so far is only a foretaste of what is going to be demanded
from Israel in the so-called "final status negotiations". What
follows are some areas in which demands will be made and pressure will
be applied.
What are the facts?
Land for Peace. The whole concept is absurd. Never in the
history of the world has any nation returned lands to those who have attacked
it. Even so, in line with the Camp David accord, Israel has yielded the
vast Sinai to Egypt. It has yielded Gaza and about 40% of the "West
Bank" to the Palestinians. Over 90% of the Arab population of the
territories is under the control of the Palestinian Authority. What else
is expected of a country that occupies only a fraction of 1% of the lands
occupied by the Arabs? And shouldn't land for peace work both ways? Shouldn't
the Arabs give up some land to get peace? Or why not just simply "peace
for peace"?
A Palestinian State. Israel could not survive if
Judea/Samaria (the "West Bank") were in unfriendly hands. And,
especially in light of the experience since the "handshake",
during which time more Israelis were killed by Palestinian terrorists
than in any comparable previous period, there can be little question of
the enduring hostility of the Arabs. The "West Bank" mountain
ridges dominate the narrow waist of Israel, in which over 70% of the Jewish
population, 80% of its industrial base, and the most important military
installations are located. The Palestinians would not need an army to
make life in Israel impossible. Moveable Katyusha rockets would dominate
the area. Israel needs to keep strategic control of the "West Bank",
without which it would not be defensible.
Return of the "Refugees." Population transfers
have occurred throughout history. In 1923, Greece and Turkey agreed to
a resettlement of 2 million Greeks and 800,000 Turks; in 1945, the resettlement
of 3 million Germans from Poland and Czechoslovakia was arranged. Following
the collapse of its North African empire, France accepted close to 1.5
million people. More than 12 million(!) Muslims and Hindus were exchanged
between India and Pakistan. Israel has recognized this historical necessity.
But the "Arab Nation", with its enormous wealth and vast under-populated
lands, has stubbornly refused to face facts. Instead of allowing the Palestinians
who left Israel in 1948 (and their descendants) to be integrated into
their societies, they have, for the past fifty years, kept them in miserable
"refugee camps" and have encouraged them to plot vengeance and
terrorism. Return of these people to Israel, including Judea/Samaria (the
"West Bank") is impossible. Neither Israel nor any Palestinian
entity could absorb them. There is not enough land and not enough water.
It would be as unthinkable as for those 3 million Germans to return to
Poland and the Czech republic or, for that matter, for the 800,000 Jews
who fled or were expelled from the Arab countries to return to their original
homes.
Jerusalem. Before the end of the 1967 Six-Day War,
no claims to Jerusalem being a Moslem holy city or the capital of any
Arab country were asserted. But for over two thousand years, Jews have
been living in Jerusalem and they have been the majority population since
the 19th century. Why should they give up their capital, their holy city
as far back as memory goes or even any part of it? The Moslems
have their holy cities, Mecca and Medina, and they have 22 Arab capitals.
There are important Arab cities in the "West Bank", under full
control of the Palestinian Authority. But Jerusalem is and will remain
the eternal and indivisible capital of the Jewish State.
These are the most important issues that Ehud Barak and
his government will have to confront in the final status talks. As to
Jewish "settlements" in the "West Bank": Netanyahu
has made clear that Jews have the right to live in any part of the land
of Israel, all of the land west of the Jordan River. And why not? How
is it possible that 160,000 Jews living among 1 million Arabs in the "West
Bank" should be an obstacle to peace if over 1 million Arabs live
within the "green line" of Israel? They don't have to fear for
their lives and nobody considers them an obstacle to peace. By standing
firm and resolute, by not yielding to pressure from any source, domestic
or foreign, and by not allowing Israel to be strategically weakened, Mr.
Barak will have earned the trust of Israel and the world and will bring
peace with security, shalom batuach, to Israel and to the entire Middle
East.
This ad has been published and paid for by
Facts and Logic About the Middle East
P.O. Box 590359
San Francisco, CA 94159
Gerardo Joffe, President
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