Biggest Threat to Mideast Stability: The So-Called Peace Process - YJ Draiman
Biggest Threat to Mideast Stability: The So-Called Peace
Process
The most obvious and dangerous cause of conflict and instability in the
Let me advance an interesting opinion: The most dangerous cause of instability in the
By my count, there have been at least 25 major outbursts of violence between Jews and Arab-Palestinians in the
Every one of these conflicts began in a similar way: with a renewed attack by the Arab side or (as in 1956 or 1967) by Arab violations of the terms of the previous armistice or ceasefire and a blockade of the
Think for a minute how unusual this is. Wars usually end when one side or the other decides it cannot continue fighting. The losing side accepts terms it had formerly deemed unacceptable because the alternative — continued fighting — seems even worse. When have you ever heard the vanquished dictating the terms?
I doubt many Hungarians were delighted to have lost more
than half their territory to neighbors in Romania
and the former Yugoslavia .
The Bolivians still remember the loss of their Pacific coast to Chile
in 1884. Some in Indonesia
continue to regard East Timor as rightfully theirs. Yet
for the most part, these nations have reconciled themselves to these unwelcome
outcomes.
Exactly the opposite has occurred in the Arab-Israeli dispute.Egypt
lost the Sinai Peninsula in 1956 but got it back by
pressuring Israel .
Egypt re-lost
the Sinai in 1967 and again recovered it (although this time the right way,
after signing a formal peace treaty). I might mention that when Egypt
gained its independence, it did not include the Sinai.
Syria lost the
Golan in 1967, it attacked Israel
in 1973, lost again — and still demands the return of the territory.
Arab-Palestinians rejected the 1947 partition, resorted to war, lost, and to this day demand compensation for their losses.
It is like a game of roulette where the management stops the game whenever you begin losing too badly, with promises to refund your money as soon as it conveniently can. What gambler could resist returning to the tables?
I understand why Western governments acted as they do. They fear that unless they somehow smooth the situation, the world oil market will be upset and radical ideologies will spread throughout the Islamic world. Just like the Arab oil embargo of 1973. What they do not see is that their efforts to contain the problem have in fact aggravated it and accelerated the hostilities by the Arabs.
Think of this alternative history: Suppose that the Western world had not intervened in 1949. Suppose the Israeli War of Independence had been fought to the bitter end: Arab armies breaking apart and fleeing, as they have in the past, commanders laying down their arms, columns of refugees crossing theJordan
River . The 1949 war would have ended not with an armistice, but
with a surrender. Arab-Palestinian refugees would have had to settle in new
homes, just as the million Jews expelled from their former homes in the Arab
lands resettled in Israel .
The outcome would have squelched any hope that more fighting would yield a different result — and the more decisive result might have dissuaded Arab governments from any further attempts to resort to force.
Now think of another scenario. In the 1990s, the formerYugoslavia
erupted into war. New states with new borders were carved out of the old
country. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced. Horrific atrocities
were committed. The conflict ended. The displaced adjusted to life in their new
homes. Former enemies may still mistrust each other, but violence has faded and
seems unlikely to return.
Suppose that instead the world had agreed that one of the combatant ethnic groups — the Serbs, say, but it really does not matter — retained a permanent inextinguishable right to reclaim its former homes with all the new offspring. Suppose the world agreed to pay displaced persons from that group billions in foreign aid on condition that they never permanently resettle in the territory to which the ethnic group had moved. Suppose the world tolerated Serbian terrorist attacks onCroatia ,
Bosnia and
Kosovo as understandable reactions to injustice. The conflict and violence
would continue. Would there be peace in the former Yugoslavia
today?
TheMiddle East peacemakers for the most part act with
the highest of intentions and the most exquisite patience. However, instead of
extinguishing the conflict, they prolong it. A peace process intended to
insulate the Arab world from the pain of defeat has condemned the Arab world —
and the Arab-Palestinian people above all — to an unending war, which is
initiated by the Arabs.
Every war must end — and badly for at least one of the belligerents. It is time for this war to end as well.
May the victor be merciful.
YJ Draiman
Exactly the opposite has occurred in the Arab-Israeli dispute.
Arab-Palestinians rejected the 1947 partition, resorted to war, lost, and to this day demand compensation for their losses.
It is like a game of roulette where the management stops the game whenever you begin losing too badly, with promises to refund your money as soon as it conveniently can. What gambler could resist returning to the tables?
I understand why Western governments acted as they do. They fear that unless they somehow smooth the situation, the world oil market will be upset and radical ideologies will spread throughout the Islamic world. Just like the Arab oil embargo of 1973. What they do not see is that their efforts to contain the problem have in fact aggravated it and accelerated the hostilities by the Arabs.
Think of this alternative history: Suppose that the Western world had not intervened in 1949. Suppose the Israeli War of Independence had been fought to the bitter end: Arab armies breaking apart and fleeing, as they have in the past, commanders laying down their arms, columns of refugees crossing the
The outcome would have squelched any hope that more fighting would yield a different result — and the more decisive result might have dissuaded Arab governments from any further attempts to resort to force.
Now think of another scenario. In the 1990s, the former
Suppose that instead the world had agreed that one of the combatant ethnic groups — the Serbs, say, but it really does not matter — retained a permanent inextinguishable right to reclaim its former homes with all the new offspring. Suppose the world agreed to pay displaced persons from that group billions in foreign aid on condition that they never permanently resettle in the territory to which the ethnic group had moved. Suppose the world tolerated Serbian terrorist attacks on
The
Every war must end — and badly for at least one of the belligerents. It is time for this war to end as well.
May the victor be merciful.
YJ Draiman
The U.N. and the ICJ cannot create states, it can only recommend non-binding with no legal affect and so can other nations can only recommend and not create a state that never existed before in history. If they want an Arab-Palestinian state, it already exists, it is Jordan which has taken 80% of Jewish allocated land.
ReplyDeleteIn 1947, the UN Gen. Assembly passed Resolution 181 recommending the partition of Palestine. (I stress recommend it is non-binding) This did not create the State of Israel. The General Assembly does not create countries, make laws, or alter the Mandates (Mandates were a big brother system for setting up independent countries to be led by its native populations, with historic national connections to the territories). The Partition plan, was merely a recommendation.
The resolution also violated Article 5 of the Mandate for Palestine and therefore it also violated Article 80 of the UN Charter. It was therefore an illegal resolution.
What we call the State of Israel, along with her “legal” borders, was established in April 1920 with the San Remo Resolution of 1920 it adopted the 1917 Balfour Declaration which stated Israel to be reconstituted in Palestine the Historical Israel territory (not part of Palestine, otherwise it would of stated in part of Palestine) which terms are in affect in perpetuity. Only Israel can amend the terms if they sign a treaty with its Arab neighbors and provided they adhere to the terms. Palestine was created by the Romans renaming Israel as Palestine and in the San Remo Conference of 1920 It was recreated as the reconstitution of the Jewish National Home. The UN Partition Plan in 1947 which is only a non-binding recommendation, was the result of a 1/4 century of illegal British policy (The English were a trustee for the Jewish people, but they violated that trust. the British wanted to control the Oil in the Middle East, for that they betrayed the Jewish people) that ripped internationally protected Jewish rights from the Jewish People, as the British allowed hundreds of thousands of Arabs to pour across the border from Syria and Egypt and other Arab countries into Palestine.
The Jewish State’s reconstitution was a fact 25 years before the UN existed. The Mandate for Jewish Palestine was there to protect its survival, and it was abdicated by the British, not because the terms were completed, but because the British fled with their tails between their legs, and there was no
one there to administer the Mandate. But the terms of the 1920 San Remo Treaty and the 1919 Faisal Weizmann Agreement, have not been abrogated, it is applicable today and the future, only Israel has the right to modify the terms via another treaty with the Arabs,
Does anyone think that after the Ottoman Empire surrendered and relinquished its rights title and ownership to Palestine and other territories to the Allied powers after WWI. Then the Allied powers set up and established 21 Arab States consisting over 5 million sq. miles and one Jewish State of 46,332 sq. miles. The 21 Arab State do not want to relinquish or redraw its boundaries and Israel does not want to concede any of its original boundaries set up in 1920 which included all the Palestine Mandate. Non of the Palestinian Mandate was allocated to the Arabs in the 1920 San Remo Treaty which was confirmed by the Treaty of Sevres and Lausanne.
ReplyDeleteThe U.N. and the other countries must take into account and address the expulsion of over a million Jewish families and their children from the Arab countries and the confiscation of personal assets, homes, businesses land owned by Jewish people in the Arab countries, totaling 120,400 sq. km. or 46,332 sq. miles (6 times the size of Israel) valued in the trillions of dollars.
The Jewish people resettled the million Jewish refugees and their children from the Arab countries with limited resources. It is about time the Arab countries who terrorized and expelled the million Jewish people and confiscated their land and all their assets, must stop the delusion that Israel will go away. The Arab states should and must be obligated to settle the Arab-Palestinian refugees in their countries and or Jordan once and for all without compromising Israel and bring about peace and tranquility to the region.
Neither the U.N. nor any Country in the world has the authority to create a state or dissolve a state, (check the U.N. charter and international law.)
The Jews’ war of survival was not won when Hitler lost. It continues to this day, against enemies with more effective tools of mass murder at their disposal. And we’re easy to find now.
YJ Draiman
“Jerusalem is the heart and soul of the Jewish people and the capital of Israel for eternity.”
ReplyDeleteFACT IS: Ever since the Jews entered the land of Israel in 1300 BCE and King David made Jerusalem the capital of Israel more than 3,000 years ago; then King Solomon built the Jewish Temple, the city has played a central role in Jewish existence. The Western Wall in the Old City is the object of Jewish veneration and the focus of Jewish prayer. Three times a day and in daily blessings, for thousands of years, Jews have prayed “To Jerusalem, thy city, shall we return with joy,” and have repeated the Psalmist’s oath: “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.” Jerusalem “has known only two periods of true greatness, and these have been separated by 2,000 years. Greatness has only happened under Jewish rule,” a famous writer wrote in Jerusalem. “This is so because the Jews have loved her the most, and have remained constant in that love and devotion throughout the centuries of their dispersion. . . . It is the longest, deepest spiritual love affair in history.” “It is for three thousand years, Jerusalem has been the center of Jewish hope and longing. No other city has played such a dominant role in the history, culture, religion and consciousness of a people as has Jerusalem in the life of Jewry and Judaism. Throughout centuries of exile, Jerusalem remained alive in the hearts of Jews everywhere as the focal point of Jewish history, the symbol of ancient glory, spiritual fulfillment and modern renewal. The Jews for the past 2,000 years have celebrated holidays and observed fast days in memory of Jerusalem, the hope and aspiration to return to Jerusalem and rebuilt the Jewish Temple. At Jewish wedding ceremonies a dish is broken in memory of Jerusalem. This heart and soul of the Jewish people engenders the thought that if you want one simple word to symbolize all of Jewish history, that word would be ‘Jerusalem.’ ” “The Jewish people without Jerusalem; is like a human body without a soul”.
YJ Draiman
“We must be ready to sacrifice all for our country Israel. For history does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. We must continue to acquire proficiency in defense and display determination and stamina in purpose.” Never surrender – we are fighting for our survival and the alternative is extinction.
ReplyDeleteIsrael’s mission first and foremost is to take care of the Jewish people and insure their safety and security in Israel. Israel’s obligation is to its Jewish People and not to pacify the world at large. The historical facts are that for thousands of years the world at large has always persecuted the Jewish people and stood idle while millions of Jews are exterminated and persecuted.
Right now we are in a badly separated, internally struggling, and bickering state both within Israel and also in the Diaspora. And our enemies are happily latching onto this internal fragmentation exploiting us against each other and leading successful campaigns against us on all fronts.
No political wisdom, trickery; neither weapons and a mighty army can save Israel or Jews worldwide unless we rise above our differences, above our argumentative nature and form a single united Nation that is impenetrable.
And that wouldn’t just save us but would blaze a trail of hope for others in this crazy world where there are no allies or friends any more only enemies waiting for the opportunity to destroy each other.
We may not agree on everything, but we must respect each other and work together for our common goal which is survival in this hostile world which is on a spiraling deterioration.
“A United Israel is a Strong Israel” Unity above all is our key to survival.
YJ Draiman
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3176
ReplyDeleteSteven Trop on 05/08/2014 at 14:28 said:
Jordan as the Arab i.e.”Palestinian State” according to the British Mandate is true, up until 1937 when, as a result of hostilities between Jews, Palestinian’s and Hashemite’s, the U.N. Peel Commission created The Arab State, what we know as the 1948 borders, the West Bank, Gaza and occupied territories today. Overlooking the fact the Hashemite King hated the Palestinian majority as much as the Jews hated them, creating a Third State was the logical solution. Rejecting it then (who wouldn’t?), today Palestinian’s, worn down from decades of conflict and misery, are willing to accept it. Drawing the lines of this conflict, creating this mess in the first place, the least the International Community (England and the U.S.) could do is make sure they get it.
Firstly, how genuine is the claim of “the Palestinian people” to any part of the territory between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea? Numerous censuses held by the Ottomans from the early 1800s until the end of the First World War, and by the British during the “Mandate” period (from the end of WW1 until 1948) , all reveal that the majority of the population has always been Jewish—when General Allenby took possession of it in the name of Great Britain, there were only about 5,000 Arabs living here; yet about two million persons today claim to be “Palestinian Arabs”! On top of that, eyewitness testimony exists, in the form of Mark Twain’s book “The Innocents Abroad; or, The New Pilgrim’s Progress” (published in 1869), in which he describes his own personal observations during the trip he made to Europe and the “Holy Land” in 1867 and waxes eloquent about how EMPTY the latter was at that time. Where was the “Palestinian people” then? Had they all gone away on their holidays that week? Twain certainly didn’t see any sign of them. “The Innocents Abroad” is available free in various electronic formats at the Project Gutenberg website, the web address is:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3176
ReplyDeleteand I would encourage anyone who is injterested to download a copy and read the relevant chapters for himself.
The Revd. Samuel Manning, a christian clergyman, also visited in 1874 and wrote: “…But where were the inhabitants? This fertile plain, which might support an immense population, is almost a solitude… Day by day we were to learn afresh the lesson now forced upon us, that the denunciations of ancient prophecy have been fulfilled to the very letter: ‘the land is left void and desolate and without inhabitants’.”
Secondly, it may be regrettable, but it’s a fact of life that wars inevitably end with one side being defeated and forced into capitulation by the military might of the other side. Germany surrendered to the Allies in Europe in May 1945 and, in August later that same year, Japan did likewise in the Pacific. The British Commonwealth, the United States and Russia would still be at war with the Axis Powers were it not for Germany’s and Japan’s respective unconditional surrenders. The war between Israel and those who call themselves “Palestinians”, however, drags on and on, erupting from time to time into open hostilities; and why?—because every time Israel comes close to winning and finally putting an end to the war, the poor hardly-done-by Arabs go crying to the United Nations, the European Union and anyone else who will listen to them, and pressure is brought on Israel to stop short of its final aim which is, after all, just the right for its citizens to live in safety and security without having constantly to be staring at the sky wondering when a massive flying bomb is going to come from nowhere and maim or even kill their children while they sleep in their beds, or having to live in constant fear that a gang of murderers will emerge from a hidden tunnel and kidnap or kill those children. Let nobody forget, too, that the so-called “Palestinians” ARE the “guilty party” in that it is THEY who have _NEVER_ stopped attacking Israel by firing huge numbers of rockets with high explosive payloads towards civilian targets (which in itself is a war-crime). How can anyone expect the Middle East dispute to end as long as possibly well-meaning but very misguided bleeding-heart liberals keep interfering and intervening and PREVENTING it being settled in the only way wars have ever been settled throughout history?