Palestinians & First Nations no Different From Anyone Else

[TheNewTeddy]

OK, but what does Israel do now? Drive the Palestinians into the Jordan? According to Israel, the Palestinians driving them into the Mediterranean would amount to another holocaust. Wouldn't the same logic apply to the reverse?

I doubt the Israelis want the Palestinians among them a la Kurds in Turkey. Look at the problems of the Kurds in Turkey, about to get worse with the situation in Syria and Iraq. Same with the current policy of creating Palestinian Bantustans on the West Bank - bound to create pockets on continuing festering resentment.

Israel's best hope is a 2 state solution. Personally I would favor Israel doing so unilaterally if necessary. Close the settlements, retreat behind some version of the pre '67 border, no right of return and in this case I would support Israel being fairly aggressive about Jerusalem. It might not lead to peace immediately, but would certainly remove victim status and support from the Palestinians.

Israel needs to either

A - Annex the west bank and Gaza, making all Palestinians Israeli Citizens

or

B - Set the west bank and Gaza free, making it the new country of Palestine.

Weather or not they redraw the boundaries of the west bank and Gaza in the interim matters less than them doing one of these two things and doing it very very soon.

[jbg]

Since the creation of the UN it's been agreed by all states that you can't annex territory from another. The end of WWII also saw the creation of the modern human rights era, and marked the end of colonialism as countries began preparing nations for independence.

Except that it wasn't Israel that started the fighting. The minute Israel declared independence the Arabs invaded. Are you saying that war is "heads I win tails you lose? The "end of colonialism" was more the result of the former colonial masters being broke, occupied during the war or defeated as a result of the war. None of these countries were "prepared for independence" in the way Canada or Australia were.

Israel shouln't have to pick up and leave, but they shouldn't be building settlements either. What they've tried to do over the last 50 years is akin to colonialism, and it's BS. Not to say the Palestinians are angels either. Just because other countries annexed & colonized others throughout history doesn't make it right. Split the territory 50/50 and be done with it.

Split which territory 50/50? There is no indication that the Arabs would ever, under any circumstances, agree to any territorial split.

There is a huge difference between Pals and FNs

When the "whiteman" came over to this continent, they did 3 different things.

The Iberians had sex with them (the FN)

The French allied with them

And the English tricked them into signing crappy used car land transfer deals.

To which you have to add smallpox. The land lost over 95% of its FN inhabitants. Does 5% of the former population get 100% of the land?

The Pals meanwhile faced the same fate as the Kurds, or the Baluchi, etc. They lost a war at some point, and have no homeland. Look at a map of Poland from 1920, and look at one from today. The whole of Poland just shifted 100 miles over due to war. Germany got smaller. Look at a map of Ireland from the year 1000 and look at one from the year 2000. Somehow, nearly a million Scotsmen appeared in Ulster. What happened to the Pals is no different than what happened to other groups in Europe. In fact, the only difference is, in Europe, everyone apologized about the wars, while in the middle east, they all want a mulligan.

Exactly. And the world is prepared to give them one. Since the enemy is only a bunch of Jews. Edited September 3, 2012 by jbg

[jbg]

Israel's best hope is a 2 state solution. Personally I would favor Israel doing so unilaterally if necessary. Close the settlements, retreat behind some version of the pre '67 border, no right of return and in this case I would support Israel being fairly aggressive about Jerusalem. It might not lead to peace immediately, but would certainly remove victim status and support from the Palestinians.

Israel would love your support for Israel behind 198-67 borders but I doubt that the world would give Israel any more support than it has now. The Jews are just not well-liked compared to the "Palestinians".