Three lies
There are three widely believed lies that form the basis of most anti-Israel propaganda:
1. The West Bank belongs to the Arabs/Palestinians and Israel is the occupying power and should get out. I challenge anyone to produce any legal document that supports this opinion. In fact, the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) is unattributed or disputed territory since the end of the British Mandate in 1948. It was captured by Jordan but has never been under any recognized Arab sovereignty. The direct negotiations that are going on now are precisely to determine the fate of every part of the West Bank.
2. Israel has no right to build settlements on occupied land: This is not true, the land was occupied by Israel after a defensive war in 1967, but Israel's legal claim to the land predates that war and is no less than that of any Arab entity. The West Bank was part of the original British Mandate and there was no legal distinction between the West Bank and the rest of the Mandate that now constitutes Israel. As such, Israel has every right to build there and settle its citizens there. However, the longer the Palestinians wait until they come to terms with Israel the more Jews will be settled there.
3. There are now millions of Palestinian refugees who should be allowed the right of return: At the end of the 1948 war of Israeli Independence there were ca. 750,000 Arab refugees and ca. 900,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries, most of whom settled in Israel, in other words an exchange of populations. The Arab refugees have remained so-called "refugees" for several generations, while the Jewish refugees have long since been successfully integrated into Israeli society. The Jewish refugees started in camps (ma'abarot) worse than most so-called Palestinian "refugee camps." According to international law a refugee is one who leaves his/her country, so legally after 62 years there are only a handful of actual Arab refugees left. Their descendents (who are not legally refugees) should be settled in the countries where they are living. Under international law the "right of return" is a fiction.
These truths should be borne in mind by the negotiators in Washington and by the critics of Israel.
1. The West Bank belongs to the Arabs/Palestinians and Israel is the occupying power and should get out. I challenge anyone to produce any legal document that supports this opinion. In fact, the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) is unattributed or disputed territory since the end of the British Mandate in 1948. It was captured by Jordan but has never been under any recognized Arab sovereignty. The direct negotiations that are going on now are precisely to determine the fate of every part of the West Bank.
2. Israel has no right to build settlements on occupied land: This is not true, the land was occupied by Israel after a defensive war in 1967, but Israel's legal claim to the land predates that war and is no less than that of any Arab entity. The West Bank was part of the original British Mandate and there was no legal distinction between the West Bank and the rest of the Mandate that now constitutes Israel. As such, Israel has every right to build there and settle its citizens there. However, the longer the Palestinians wait until they come to terms with Israel the more Jews will be settled there.
3. There are now millions of Palestinian refugees who should be allowed the right of return: At the end of the 1948 war of Israeli Independence there were ca. 750,000 Arab refugees and ca. 900,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries, most of whom settled in Israel, in other words an exchange of populations. The Arab refugees have remained so-called "refugees" for several generations, while the Jewish refugees have long since been successfully integrated into Israeli society. The Jewish refugees started in camps (ma'abarot) worse than most so-called Palestinian "refugee camps." According to international law a refugee is one who leaves his/her country, so legally after 62 years there are only a handful of actual Arab refugees left. Their descendents (who are not legally refugees) should be settled in the countries where they are living. Under international law the "right of return" is a fiction.
These truths should be borne in mind by the negotiators in Washington and by the critics of Israel.
posted by Jack Cohen at 8:47 PM
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