generalspeaking

Intractable, Unforgiving, Relentless

Many both inside and outside Israel would argue that there are no 'legal' West Bank settlements. A rejoinder to that might very well be a reminder that when the United Nations proposed Partition and Israel accepted with great alacrity, the Palestinians rejected with huge acrimony. Of course the matter did not end there; the Palestinians were persuaded by their dreadfully aggrieved state that 'their land' would soon be returned to them.

The combined armies of the Middle East marched on Israel time and again for that purpose.

Since that time the Palestinians have made themselves the world's perpetual refugees, amply funded by the international community to live in 'refugee camps' which are in fact, bustling towns, villages and cities with quality-of-life. When opportunity arose to sign peace treaties with Israel that would lead to a state for the Palestinians alongside that of Israel, their leaders, time and again, pulled back from the brink of solving the unending war with Israel and the 'refugee' crisis.

After the 1972 Six-Day War, when Israel again prevailed and took possession of Jerusalem, the Sinai, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights, the settlements began their geographical outreach with a gradual encroachment upon the land meant exclusively for the Palestinians' new country. That old adage, "To the victor goes the spoils", served history and most countries who did inflict their will either by offence or defence, when victory meant possession.

But not in Israel's case. When Israel signed a peace treaty with Egypt, however, it returned the Sinai, and withdrew its citizens from the geography returned to Egypt. And years later, in a unilateral move, Israel withdrew its settlers from the Gaza Strip and left the territory to the Palestinians, hoping to pacify the situation, but as history attests, Hamas had other plans.

The poisonous relations between two Palestinian factions; Fatah and Hamas, where the political arms of both comprised the Palestinian Authority, collapsed in violence. The result perhaps inevitable given the vicious enmity between many Arab and religious factions within the world of Islam and tribal-culture heritage.

The United Nations and most countries that are part of the United Nations all reject the presence of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. They are less concerned with the occupation and settlement of the Golan Heights, since that is a matter between Syria and Israel. Gaza was once an Egyptian possession, the West Bank and Jerusalem, were casually ceded/overseen by Jordan.

Israel's secular Jews live within Israel itself. A large contingent of its ultra-Orthodox Jews live in east Jerusalem, the contested portion of the Old City which the Palestinians insist must become their Palestinian capital. East Jerusalem is also considered by the United Nations to be 'occupied' land, and that the 'settlements' there are illegal, hotly contested by the Palestinians.

The final apportioning - or not - of Jerusalem will certainly be a piece of the final package of the peace settlement if it ever occurs. And the disposition of the 400,000 settlers who live in the West Bank as well. It would make eminently good sense for Israel and the Palestinians if both are serious about finally signing a peace treaty paving the way for a sovereign Palestinian state, for each to come to an agreement that would see a land swap.

Israel exchanging majority-Arab-inhabited land for majority-Israeli-inhabited land in the West Bank, and vice versa. But while it makes sense, it isn't something that the Palestinians, when a treaty was being considered seriously, and not being held ransom to pre-conditions, seemed enamoured of.

The sincerity of the Palestinian Authority, in any event, in its willingness to come to a bargaining table and an eventual settlement with Israel is in question. Given its different messages delivered to the home audience on the one hand, and the international community on the other.

At home, the Authority's Mahmoud Abbas speaks of the Palestinians' right to take back ownership of the entire geography, with the dissolution of the State of Israel. Hamas's message is similar, but they aren't hiding under the apron of the United Nations; they engage directly in violent attacks against Israel. What one hopes to accomplish by stealth plus violence, the other attempts by direct violence.

Relations between Jews and Arabs have sunk to an all-time low, in the wake of one Intifada after another, and nothing concrete resulting from a series of almost-successful peace talks. And just to demonstrate that imbecilic bellicosity is not monopolized by one group completely, Israeli settlers who have defied the Israeli government by insisting on establishing themselves without government license, have become a violent threat.

A threat toward Palestinians, toward the Israeli Defence Forces which have been tasked to remove them from the West Bank and to destroy their unapproved settlements, and toward both the Israeli government and the prospects of future peace. Religious fanatics, irrespective of what religion it is they represent, have much in common with one another.

They are not reasonable, they are excitable and convinced of their exceptionalism.

It is reprehensible that Palestinian hoodlums seek to destroy Jewish monuments and historic places sacred to Judaism, and inexcusable that among them exist those who have taken heart by the Palestinian Authority's injunction to them to 'resist' the 'occupier', and who do so by vicious, bloody attacks.

It is no less reprehensible when Israeli settlers take it upon themselves to deface and to burn mosques. And to attack Palestinians.

Labels: Conflict, Israel, Palestinian Authority, Terrorism, Traditions

posted by Pieface @ Friday, December 16, 2011