Israel's distortion of the "Land for Peace" process
by Ray Hanania
Some much is being made these days by pro-Israeli commentators, Israel's apologists in the West and its many anti-Arab spokesmen about the great lengths that Israel's defeated prime minister Ehud Barak went to achieve peace.
How often do they write: "Barak went further than any previous prime minister of Israel to offer more land to the Palestinians. Once again, the Palestinians have missed the opportunity of a lifetime."
Of course, since these writers never provide the whole picture, it sounds so believable. And the Palestinians look like their refusal to compromise was the cause of the current calamity and the election of rightwing fanatic and accused murderer Ariel Sharon as Barak's' successor.
But the argument is flawed, and in a very serious way. To cast it in its proper context, it should go something like this: "The Israelis have again exploited an opportunity to refuse to make peace with the Palestinians, because it has never been Israel's desire to compromise with the Palestinians. "
The truth is, the Israelis do not want to make peace with the Palestinians. They want to make peace with all the other Arab countries because they have a selfish interest in doing so.
But they do not want to return the lands they stole from the Palestinians in 1948 and again in 1967.
In order to understand the sinister policies of Sharon and his fanatic leadership in Israel, you have to understand the true premise behind the concept of "Land for Peace" which is the alleged foundation of the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
For example, the concept is premised on several United Nations resolutions, including 242 and 338. These resolutions make it clear not only that the Palestinians have a right to statehood, but that Israel must return the land it captured by military force in 1967.
That land includes the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Arab East Jerusalem. The Palestinians accept these resolutions as acts of compromise. In otherwords, the Palestinians made the first gesture of compromise in this sordid tale of Israeli deception and lies that have marked their involvement in the so-called peace process from the beginning.
Israel rejected both resolutions, which in essence declare that Israel cannot keep the land it captured by military force and it cannot expel the Palestinian civilians who live on that land. Since 1967, that is exactly what Israel has been doing, violating the terms of an international resolution by the very organization, the United Nations, that they relied on to establish their own existence in 1948.
Land for peace means that in exchange for a peace, Israel returns the land.
Instead, Israel has done everything it can to keep the land. And it has done everything it can to change the land.
And, even more insipid, the Israelis have stolen the land and forcibly expelled its inhabitants. In the processing of doing so, they even went as far as to cast the homeowners on the land as the villains.
What did Barak offer that was so great?
Well, for the Israelis and all of their media apologists and defenders, Israel decided to carve off a sliver of Jerusalem and offer it as if it was the grandest offering ever made in the history of the world.
It only goes to show how greedy the Israelis are and how deceitful they are, too.
The Israelis have controlled 75 percent of the City of Jerusalem since 1948. They stole that, too. In 1948, they were supposed to take the proposed Jewish State, but it wasn't enough. And long before the Arab Armies mythically attacked in May of that year, the Israelis had already engaged in a campaign to steal the rest of Palestine. In fact, Israel captured 10 major Arab cities that were located in the proposed Arab State BEFORE the British fled and the so-called Arab invasion began.
And, they tried to take Jerusalem by force, too. They succeeded in capturing the new sectors of Jerusalem, expelling the Christians and Muslims from those areas, but they failed to capture the Old City, which was their intended goal. When they did capture it in 1967, the remaining 25 percent of Jerusalem, they immediately began an inhumane campaign to expel the Christians and Muslims. Their first act was the destroy the Arab homes that were adjacent to the Wailing Wall and they expelled the residents. It was done in much the same manner as the Nazis stole Jewish land and expelled the true owners early in its campaigns in Poland.
So Barak was really under great pressure not to return any portion of Jerusalem. The small sliver of land he did offer was insignificant and worthless in the context of Palestinian rights to that city.
The Palestinians, in fact, had already compromised so much. The negotiating position had written off all of the lands Israel stole in 1948, including those 10 major Arab cities taken by military force prior to the declaration of their state and the so-called Arab invasion. And, it also had written off the so-called "New City" of Jerusalem which really was an extension of the Old City of Jerusalem, and occupied illegally in 1947, the year before.
The Israelis did offer to give us back parts of the West Bank. In fact, they offered it as three separate parts that were not linked to each other. This was done to protect the illegal settlements the Israelis have built since 1967, in violation not only of the United Nations -- remember, this was the agency that gave Israel its stamp of approval -- but also in violation of the Geneva Convention, which Israel does not recognize.
(The United States recognizes the Geneva Convention and we hold everyone else up to its standards, except Israel.)
The truth is that it is the Israelis who have missed an opportunity to make peace. And it is clear why. They never intended to make peace with the Palestinians, and their word is as untrustworthy as their history
(Ray Hanania is a Palestinian American writer based in Chicago and a regular contributor to MMN. His columns are archived on the web at
www.hanania.com)
Source:
by courtesy & © 2001 Ray Hanania
