Most people believe that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is too complicated to understand. After all, the two sides have been fighting for over 60 years.
In actuality, the conflict is a simple — it revolves around three basic points of contention: the right of return for Palestinian refugees, the protection of Palestinians who hold Israeli citizenship and the occupation of the West Bank and blockade of Gaza.
International law upholds the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes (UN General Assembly Resolution 194), condemns the occupation of the Palestinian territories as illegal (UN Security Council Resolution 242) and demands full citizenship and protection for Palestinian citizens of Israel (Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities).
The American position on these three points mirrors international law. Historically, presidents involved in the peace process have asked – albeit timidly – that the Israeli government adhere to these requirements, or at least start thinking about them.
Unfortunately, Israel has refused to stop settling the occupied territories with its own towns and citizens, maintains an apartheid system against Palestinians within Israel and has never allowed a refugee to return to their homes or offered compensation. The degeneration of the latest round of peace talks can once again be blamed on Israeli intransigence on these points.
The illegal settlements of the West Bank, in particular, violate the Fourth Geneva Convention, steal resources from Palestinian territory and make peace that much more unattainable. Their continued expansion under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a major source of concern for Palestinians and those involved in the negotiations.
Although it makes perfect sense for the current administration to support a UN resolution condemning these illegal settlements, President Barack Obama personally approved a US veto of said resolution last week.
Whatever the reason for Obama’s hypocrisy, it sends a clear message to those involved in the conflict. Vetoing an acceptable, non-controversial resolution against Israeli settlements proves to the world that the US will never be a fair broker for peace.
If our leaders are consistently too constrained by domestic influences to ensure fairness in the peace process, then we shouldn’t be involved at all.
Let’s stop demanding the Palestinians bend over backwards to please the Israelis; let’s stop funding the Israeli war machine, and let’s allow only those affected by the conflict to make the rules. Palestinians and Israelis will come to a much more equitable and just solution if we keep our money, and our hypocrisy, out of it.
Did the Daily Cougar fire their fact checker? Looks like the Coug will publish anything with no validation of veracity. Resolution 242 also guarantees Israel the right to secure borders. According to treaty, the 1948 armistice lines never defined ownership of territory. In fact, international law, for almost a century, has clearly stated that the land in question belongs to Israel, not to Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian land grabbers. The rest of the letter has so many distortions of international law that one must question the motives (and certainly the credibility) of the author.
how does anything you have said conflict with what's written in the article?
muddying the waters: a common response from supporters of facism
Mr. Dike?
Sammy Dike? Sounds like an Egyptian LGBT activist? Speaking of gay rights, after you march in the Gay Pride parade in Tel-Aviv, go organize one in Gaza, Ramallah, Hebron or Damascus and get back to us and let us know how it went for you.
kill yourself, bigot
Sorry people, but there will never be peace in the Middle East
you like rhymes, don't you?
Ha yeah, I guess I do……..coincidence
Let's count some errors: there is no apartheid in Israel or the disputed territories. there are no separate toilets or drinking facilities or eating counters. Arabs vote, get elected and get to sail the Turkish Flotilla. they ride the same roads I do. The Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria do not violate the Geneva Convention. They are legal by virtue of the decision of the UN's predecessor, the League of Nations, to reconstitute the Jewish national home in those areas and the fact that the territory was gained in 1967 as a result of a defensive war against Arab aggression. We steal not, among other reasons, since it is a fiction that there are "Palestinian territories" that have primacy of the Jewish historical claim to its homeland…
(cont'd)…As for a "right" of "return", that 194 also provides for compensation. But more importantly, it limited a "return" only to certain Arabs. Here's Para. 11: "Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so…". Since those refugees rejected peace by carrying on a terror campaign in the 1950s as "fedayeen" and then from 1964 began the Fatah terror campaign, 194 is a dead letter. In the meantime, let's sit on the sidelines and see if hamas and Fatah make peace.
And 194 also includes thousands of Jewish refugees who lived in the Old City of Jerusalem, Shimon HaTzaddik neighborhood (aka Sheikh Jarrah) and others in the city as well as four kibbutzim in Gush Etzion, Atarot, Neveh Yaakov, Hebron, Jenin and Gaza who were ethnically cleansed from their homes by violent Arab attacks during the Mandate period and the 1947-49 war launched by Arabs in violation of the UN decision of partition. So, we have returned.
Dana al-Kurd is right about something. The legal situation is really simple. The Land of Israel is the ancient Jewish homeland, usurped in the 7th century by Arab invaders who eventually became worse oppressors of Jews (& other non-Muslims) than the Romans were. UN general assembly res 194 is simply a recommendation as are all General Assembly resolutions on political issues (see UN charter arts. 10-14). As Y Medad states above, the League of Nations stipulated that Israel should be reconstituted as the Jewish National Home with rights of settlement throughout the country, including of course Judea-Samaria. Jews were already a majority in Jerusalem by 1853, if not earlier. They lived in the Old City which was then the whole city. As YM points out, 194 stipulates: "live at peace with their neighbours." A readiness to do so has not been seen on the part of the Fatah or Hamas.
1. What occupation? Easily 70% of the land area of the West Bank is built-up and occupied by Palestinians.
2. You're right. US should stay out of the whole business, BUT ONLY if Hamas, Fatah, Hezbollah, Jordan, Lebanon, Iran, Syria, the rest of the Middle East, Turkey, Russia, China, and all of Europe stays out as well. Oh, and the bloc of former Soviet Republics, and all of South America.
EXCEPT that's a lie. only 22% of the west bank is inhabited by palestinians. inhabited, not controlled. 100% of the west bank is controlled by israel
Care to interpret this, then?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d…
Sure looks like more than 22%.
military occupations are about control, not sheer population. that's like saying france was not occupied by the germans in WWII because most of the country was built-up and inhabited by the french.
What an amazing turn – I am over 60 years old. more than 60 years ago in England when some
did not like the fact that I was Jewish the taunt was always "Jew girl go back to Palestine" – yes, 60
years ago the Palestinians were us – the Jews. Dan El Kurd the writer says that "we have been fighting
for over 60 years "- the main point of this conflict is that somehow – cleverly – others have taken our
narrative., our historical story and made it theirs. There never was an Arab Palestinian people and
four fifths of the Land of Israel was made into an Arab State cleverly called Jordan – had it been called Palestine that might have been the end of the whole conflict.
Once again, Dana El Kurd, not stating all the facts…………… I think her agenda is evident
Sorry El Kurd, UN General Assembly resolutions do not automatically become law, but you've shown again that facts won't interfere with your rewriting of history.
Palestinians have announced that any Palestinian state would be so very apartheid that no Jews would be allowed to live within the borders. Hamas is already exercising ethnic cleansing of Christians. Why do you hold Israel to a different standard? There is nothing in Israel like the Jim Crow laws which the U.S. had in the 50's ad 60's, nothing like in Israel similar to S. Africa, nothing in Israel similar to the religious apartheid and racism in Saudi Arabia and Gaza, yet you choose to write about Israel. You have exposed not Israel, but yourself with your commentary.
I like how the only response to this article is a denial of the existence of palestinians. talk about racism.
no body seems to notice that this article complains about obama's response to a UN resolution. nothing in the article says anything new about israel. nothing even outrageous.
just wow. y'all (the commenters) have proven just how hate-filled you are.
Maybe if Dana didn't post article after article about pro-Islam/Palestine anti-Jewish/Israel discussions she wouldn't get accused of anything.
It's obvious which side YOU are on, not like there's anything wrong with picking a side, but quit trying to be the poor little victims.
i've read a couple of the articles. where is the author anti-jewish? this is just fear-mongering on your part. AS USUAL
being critical of israel, egypt, any other country etc. is not the same as being anti-jewish or anti-semitic. get that in your heads you SHEEP
JMA, you crack me up… I needed a good laugh and I got after reading your comments…. Please continue to ignore the truth, I get a kick out of it
what's untruthful about my comments? please elaborate
Read your first comment buddy……….. You'll figure it out, I trust you
lol you just don't know what to say. aw pumpkin, nice try
you know, the truth: apartheid and genocide are not only wicked awesome but also the way forward to peace
Interesting article for those commenting:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4036889…
http://www.raymondibrahim.com/8348/muslims-projec…
Apartheid?
http://www.rightsidenews.com/201003088962/life-an…
Dana, this isn't for you because it includes facts:
http://www.jcpa.org/text/apartheid.pdf
UN Resolutions are meaningless. Perhaps Al Kurd, with her concern about apartheid in Israel, can comment on the contrast with how women are treated in Iran and Gaza versus in Israel and enlighten us why her letters focus almost exclusively on Israel while remain devoid of fact.
How many Western female supporters of a Free Palestinian state would actually care to live there?
Iranian Gender Apartheid:
Mesquite,
There will never be peace thanks to Islam. Islam's prophet, Mohammed, was a warrior. His words and example, as collected in the Qur'an, Hadiths and Sunna are filled with exhortations to wage war against non-Muslims.
Israel is on the front line of this, but the Sudan genocide has been festering for forty years, Kashmir, Southern Russia, Southern Thailand, Somalia, Southern Nigeria, etc…are other front-line regions where Muslims are waging aggressive actions against non-Muslims on a consistent basis.
and how does your racist theory account for palestinian and other arab christians who are also opposed to the israeli occupation?
lololol. y'all are too much.
Everything Arafat stated is true JMA. The laws of Islam, Shariah, is a totalitarian, comprehensive, theo-political doctrine of Islam. It's as chauvinistic as you can get… And judging by your comments( and not just on this article), I get the feeling you hate discrimination
im tired of this Kurd! Lets hear something different already. Lets see her write about something else than that Middle East drama. Lets hear something positive about OUR country instead of this negative stuff in the Middle East.
-God Bless everyone and God Bless the U.S.A!