dave@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Sherman) (01/01/84)
The difficulty that I, and many other Jews, have with Tim Bray's
description of the "Palestinian problem" is the implication that
all Israel has to do is hand over the West Bank and the Palestinians
will live there happily ever after. Quite apart from my religious
objections to giving up land which is much more a part of historical
Israel than Tel Aviv or Haifa, I do not believe the Palestinians would
settle for that. From 1948 to 1967 they could have had whatever state
they desired on the West Bank, and only had Jordan to argue with. The
fundamental objection of the Palestinians is to the *existence* of
Israel. That obviously doesn't give us much room for discussion.
The U.N.'s partition vote in 1947 proposed two states, one Jewish and
one Arab. Please remember which side refused to live in peace. And
please remember that the PLO's convenant calls for the destruction of
the State of Israel.
Dave Sherman
Toronto
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{allegra,cornell,decvax,ihnp4,linus,utzoo}!utcsrgv!davetbray@mprvaxa (01/05/84)
x <-- USENET insecticde Eli Posner (utcsstat!rao) quotes Herzog to the effect that the correct application of one day's oil revenue would solve the "Arab Refugee" problem. I would like to make the following points, and pose a question. 1. Since when has an issue rooted in politics and nationalism ever been solved by the application of money? 2. The problem is a Palestinian refugee problem, not an Arab refugee problem. People who do not understand the difference are not qualified to pontificate about the Middle East. 3. Yes, the Palestinians could have all been assimilated into the various Arab countries where they ended up, with a certain amount of effort. And the Jewish people could have been assimilated in Europe and Asia as well. Neither shows any sign of happening. Neither group desires assimilation. 4. Given that the oil-rich Gulf states (and some POOR Arab states !!) have spent buckets of money on Palestinian relief projects, and that the technical and mangerial elite of the Arab oil and banking business is contains a high proportion of Palestinians, it is fair to conclude that several YEARS worth of oil revenue has gone, and will continue to go, to the Palestinians. But it won't be spent on assimilation. This is the sort of of blinkered thinking that holds back progress on the difficult, but essentially soluble, Middle East situation. My question - I would like to hear from some of the strongly pro-Israel people on the net their opinions on the Peace Now movement. I have always thought that they present some of the sanest thinking going going on in the Middle East. Tim Bray ...decvax!ubc-vision!mprvaxa!tbray