At his blog Lawrence Siskind presents a point by point rebuttal of the charges made against Israel. Here’s an example:
Israel refuses to let the Palestinians have a state of their own.
The Palestinians were offered a separate state of their own by the British in 1937, by the United Nations in 1947, and by the Israelis in 2000 and 2008. In each instance, they turned down the offer, rather than live as neighbors with a Jewish state. No wonder the late Israeli statesman Abba Eban once said: “The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.â€
The post is definitely one-sided. If I find a comparable pro-Palestinian post, I’ll link to it similarly.
My sole observation is completely tangential. I often hear it claimed that not all Palestinians support Hamas. I’m sure that’s true. However, what also seems to be true is that as of the most recent polling information from last spring a majority of Palestinians believe a two-state solution is unworkable. That would appear to differ from Hamas’s position only in detail.
It seems to me that the only path to a two state solution would have to involve driving a wedge between the Palestinian Arabs and the Islamist radicals (Hamas and all others.) But now that decades have gone by and generations have been propagandized, the odds of that happening must be infinitesimally small.
Hamas and the radical dont seem to have much purchase on the West Bank. I think Gaza is the issue. As to the article itself it has some truths but it is one sided. In both the 2000 and 2008 negotiations the primary sticking point seemed to be the West Bank settlements. Palestinians refused to accept any and Israel refused to give them up. the author wants to blame Palestinians for that but from the outside it looks like bother were at fault and neither willing to give in.
Steve
I want to thank The Glittering Eye for linking to my blog post on the charges against Israel.
I also want to add a brief response to Steve, who writes: “the primary sticking point seemed to be the West Bank settlements. Palestinians refused to accept any and Israel refused to give them up.”
It is true that Israel’s peace proposals have included retaining certain very small areas of the West Bank, whose links to the Jewish people date back thousands of years. More importantly, Israel’s proposals have included compensation to the Palestinians for retaining these areas. As the Arab publication Al Jazeera notes: “In negotiations over the past two decades, Israel has demanded that West Bank settlement blocs become part of Israeli territory in any final deal, typically as part of a land swap in which certain areas within Israel become part of a future Palestinian state.”
You’re welcome. it is my policy always to credit people I cite for their work.