Posted by Ranconteur X:
Ehud Barak did and so have countless other negotiators. One must realize that everything has to go trough a vote in Israel, so a deal reached by diplomats may be rejected by the politiciens. As far as genocide goes, doubtful IMO, the Israelis have shown restraint for decades now. Their more content with walling themselves off from the outside than anything else.The Palestinians have resorted to terror tactics in order to prevent their plight from being forgotten by the rest of the world. They know that terror is news and news, even the bad, keeps Palestine in the public eye. Israel has never bargained with the Palestinians in good faith, and Sharon has seen fit to destroy the reputation of the one individual whom the majority of Palestinians respected. Arafat no longer has the confidence of his people, and one can only wonder how soon the whole matter will come to genocide... of the Palestinian people. Should it go that far, Israel will become worse villains than any Hitler could ever be, in my mind, having passed through one Holocaust only to commit a second themselves.
To Evan Van Eyk:
Just because Arafat asked for help doesn't mean he "wanted" help. Their is a huge difference between what Arab leaders say to Westerners and what they say to their people.
As for Sharon going to the Temple Mount, why not? The Wailing Wall is there, the holiest site in the Jewish religion. The only remaining wall of the second temple of Judah. Arafat goes to the Al-Aqsa Mosque whenever he pleases. Each has a right to the religious sites.
Posted by C5:
In 1948, Israelis had a war of independence and declared themselves a nation-state. They did NOT accept the British plan. That's why they revolted against it. The Palestinians are Arabs and NOT native to this land. They come from the Arab peninsula. There were papers, such as the Balfour Declaration, the White papers and some British-Egyptian communiques on the subject between 1919 and 1945. The British promised the land to both sides, in seperate agreements. Before 1914, Palestine was under Ottoman rule. As far as Arab rule goes, they've been there (as far as I can remember) since the beginning of the first crusade when they invaded Jerusalem.Just curious (and ignorant) : how was the country of Israel created ? I mean, was it a chart signed by all countries recognizing the existence of Israel, a decree of the UN... ?
BTW, Evan you are incorrect. The Palestinians were not first in the present area of Israel. The Jews can claim ancestral heritage to the land. They did after all have a diaspora from the land over 2,000 years ago. I really can't stress this enough, if we take historical claims as paramount then the Israelis have sole rights to the land. The Arabs are "foreigners" by this assessment.