I used to be very sympathetic to the Palestinians.

Then the 1993 Oslo Peace Accord that both Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) signed, allowed for gradual return of the West Bank and Gaza to the Palestinians. If Palestinian terrorism had not continued, then Israel would have already returned the entire occupied territory to the Palestinians by September 2000. Arafat's complicity in the continued terrorism toward Israel all along has taken the land away from the Palestinians, not Israeli aggression. The PLO's malevolence toward Israel resulted in election of the most right-wing extremist government that could possibly be elected in Israel, because the Israeli people have become increasingly scared by the PLO's ratcheting up of the violence. An article I read in the April 8th 2002 Time issue, page 30 says that Israelis have been monitoring every telephone call and fax from Arafat's Rammallah office. And they have clear evidence that, far from attempting in any way to contain Palestinian terrorism, he is complicit in orchestrating the terrorism.

If the PLO had simply followed the agreement they signed, they would, as of early 2000, have had a free and independent Palestine. It was land for peace, but they didn't give Israel peace. So Israel pulled the plug.

Israel can be faulted for continuing to start new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. And in that sense, Israel violated the Oslo agreement as well.
I also don't like how Jews have been purchasing all the Arab land in Arab East Jerusalem, to try and drive the Arabs out by purchasing all the Arab real estate.

But I still think the Jewish settlements part of it, and other issues, could have been resolved through negotiation. After all, Israel went on with the Oslo plan even after Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1994 (by, ironically, an angry Jewish settler, not an Arab). Even after a shock like that, Israel still wanted peace.

But the PLO clearly doesn't. The PLO's founding charter says every last inch of "the former British Palestine" [in other words, all of the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza, AND all of Israel] "must be under Palestinian rule". It's not the West Bank and Gaza that the PLO wants, it's the total annihilation of Israel.

I've spoken to many Palestinians, and I think many Palestinian PEOPLE would be content to have the West Bank and Gaza. But clearly the Palestinian LEADERSHIP wants more than that, and continues to push for Israel's destruction, even as they give lip service to wanting peace and an end to Palestinian deprivation and suffering.

I really think it's only the United States who understands this. But even President Bush's support of Israel's right to defend itself is half-hearted at best, as Bush struggles to appease Muslim countries somewhat friendly toward the U.S., to prevent a total meltdown of the Middle East, and gain support for a future invasion of Iraq.

The U.S. stands pretty much alone in its support of Israel, as this article below makes clear:


U.N. PANEL BASHES ISRAEL
By Elizabeth Olson
The New York Times
Posted April 16 2002

GENEVA ยท The United Nations' top human rights body voted overwhelmingly on Monday to criticize Israel for what it called "mass killings" during military operations in the West Bank and called for Israel to withdraw its forces.

The resolution in the Commission on Human Rights was introduced by Pakistan and co-sponsored by 11 other members among the 53 nations on the commission, including China and Cuba, and it gained European support as well.

It "strongly condemns" Israel for "the war launched by the Israeli army against Palestinian towns and camps, which has resulted so far in the death of hundreds of Palestinian civilians, including women and children."

It also said the incursion included "acts of mass killings perpetrated by the Israeli occupying authorities against the Palestinian people."

The resolution passed by a vote of 40-5, with seven abstentions.

One nation, Peru, neither voted nor abstained.

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Yaakov Levy, said the resolution wrongly ignored human rights violations by Palestinians, was "one-sided and inflammatory" and was replete with "wild, inaccurate exaggerations."

The commission annually holds a separate debate about Israel, unlike other countries, but Levy said the resolution this year was particularly unfair because it "does not condemn suicide bombings and gives them a license to continue this policy of terrorism."

The United States, which normally votes with Israel, is absent from the commission this year after losing its seat in a surprise vote. It has regained the seat for next year's commission.

The five countries that voted against the resolution were Britain, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany and Guatemala. Among European countries, Austria, Belgium, France, Portugal, Spain and Sweden voted for the resolution.

Two nations, Italy and Poland abstained.

Walter Lewalter, Germany's delegate, said his country voted against the resolution because it contained "formulations that might be interpreted as an endorsement of violence."

He added, "There is no condemnation whatsoever of terrorism."

There's a noteable absence of compassion here for Israelis killed by PLO-orchestrated suicide bombers and other terrorist violence, that the current Israeli "acts of violence" have set out to neutralize.

[ 04-21-2002: Message edited by: Dave the Wonder Boy ]