Van
The area of Van, where the earthquake occured in Turkey, was in fact part of Armenia, before the majority of Armenians were massacred by the Turkish military during WWI. Lake Van and the nearby (100 km) Mount Ararat were the heartland of Armenia. Now Van is inhabited mainly by Kurds. There is now an Armenian state, but it is quite reduced in size compared to its original extent. Perhaps if the Kurds ever gain independence from their colonial masters, the Turks, the Arabs and the Iranians, they will cede back to the Armenians the land that was stolen from them by the Turks. But, such events rarely happen.
This should be a warning to us Jews, why we must not cede land that is ours under international law to any other sovereignty without cast iron guarantees based on mutually agreed negotiations. Given the upheavals and instability in the Arab world and past experience of Arab agreements, we would be wise not to engage in such a foolish exercise for the much-touted, but implausible "two-state solution."
Ask yourself "why does Pres. Abbas of the PA insist that Israel stop all building on the West Bank before the re-start of negotiations"? Since he knows that PM Netanyahu cannot institute another freeze without endangering the stability of his coalition government, Abbas knows that this is a precondition that Israel cannot and will not accept. Yet, if he started negotiations then this topic would be one of the main topics for discussion. Certainly the areas of building could be agreed, once the question of borders of the Palestinian State are discussed. But, Abbas will not even enter negotiations, and meanwhile Israel and the settlers continue to legitimately build their homes in Judea and Samaria. The problem is that Abbas insists that no Jews will be allowed to live in these Jewish homelands, which is a very racist attitude. Which brings me back to Van. Armenians still long for a view of Lake Van or Mt. Ararat, as expressed in the 2002 movie "Ararat" by Atom Ergoyan, but it is not and probably will never be theirs again!
This should be a warning to us Jews, why we must not cede land that is ours under international law to any other sovereignty without cast iron guarantees based on mutually agreed negotiations. Given the upheavals and instability in the Arab world and past experience of Arab agreements, we would be wise not to engage in such a foolish exercise for the much-touted, but implausible "two-state solution."
Ask yourself "why does Pres. Abbas of the PA insist that Israel stop all building on the West Bank before the re-start of negotiations"? Since he knows that PM Netanyahu cannot institute another freeze without endangering the stability of his coalition government, Abbas knows that this is a precondition that Israel cannot and will not accept. Yet, if he started negotiations then this topic would be one of the main topics for discussion. Certainly the areas of building could be agreed, once the question of borders of the Palestinian State are discussed. But, Abbas will not even enter negotiations, and meanwhile Israel and the settlers continue to legitimately build their homes in Judea and Samaria. The problem is that Abbas insists that no Jews will be allowed to live in these Jewish homelands, which is a very racist attitude. Which brings me back to Van. Armenians still long for a view of Lake Van or Mt. Ararat, as expressed in the 2002 movie "Ararat" by Atom Ergoyan, but it is not and probably will never be theirs again!
posted by Jack Cohen at 8:43 PM
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