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branford

(4,462 posts)
3. Israel didn't occupy the Palestinian territories from until 1967.
Sat Jun 11, 2016, 12:46 AM
Jun 2016

They were controlled by Egypt and Jordan, and even after 1967, relations between other Arab states and the Palestinians has ranged from terrible to outright war (Black September).

If your point of reference is truly 1948, you're denying Jews the right of self-determination and believe Israel's existence is negotiable. This, by most standards, is antisemitic.

Not only does your apparent perspective infantilize the Palestinians and denies them free agency, it absolves them any responsibility for anything. If your response to shooting civilians and thousands of rockets intentionally launched into cities (and the inevitable joyous street celebrations in the territories that follow) is little more than a list a set of pro forma Palestinian grievances, you are indeed an apologist for terror.

Whether you like it or not, the Palestinians are represented by Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Both organizations are anti-democratic and corrupt human rights abominations, with the PA looking only slightly better in comparison, and whose vocal territorial claims refer to matters well before 1967. Particularly after Gaza became an even worse hell for both Israelis and the Palestinian inhabitants after the full and unconditional Israeli withdrawal (under noted right-wing Likud Prime Minister Ariel Sharon!), why would or should Israel make further concessions and incur additional indeterminate risk under the current state of affairs? Besides the Gaza withdrawal, Israel also withdrew from the Sinai after it's peace with Egypt and Jordan. Israel has established multiple precedents demonstrating a willingness to concede territory for peace. The Palestinian record of delivering peace and security has not been nearly as established.

If you care about the Palestinians, you should focus your attention on demanding they get their own house in order. That will be the quickest and most assured means of resolving this decades old conflict. Other similar groups such as the Kurds have managed far more under worse and longer circumstances, and without the billions of aid, yet they and others have managed to build generally functioning civil societies. Is there something fundamentally wrong with the culture of most of the Arabs in the Middle East, not just the Palestinians, that is incompatible with democracy, human rights, modernization and general prosperity?

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