When Israel did a similar pullout of Southern Lebanon in 2000 (previously established in the early 1980's to halt artillery shelling and terror raids into Northern Israel), you would have expected the Arabs/Palestinians to take Israel's pullout at that time as a movement toward peace, and reciprocate.

But instead, it was the beginning of the Intifada (or "uprising"), done with a belief that Israel's withdrawal was a sign of weakness, which simply encouraged further intimidation and terrorism of Israel, to try and force Israelis from the West Bank and Gaza as well.

Regardless of any token lip service by Palestinian leadership otherwise, the Palestinian goal was and remains the complete annihilation of Israel.
In Yasser Arafat's words: "To drive them into the sea".

So I don't have any confidence that withdrawing from Gaza will bring Israel any goodwill from the Arab side.

~

Regarding Israel's lands being "taken from" Palestinians, and the need to "restore" a Palestinian homeland: as others here have already said, there never was a Palestinian homeland.

The region was a largely unpopulated and undeveloped backwater of the Ottoman Empire from 1516-1918, largely a trade route that people traveled through on their way to somewhere else (the Ottoman Turks fought on the side of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I, and lost, and their Ottoman territories, all except for Turkey itself, were divided between the British and French Empires. What are now Israel, the occupied territories and Jordan, became a British colonial region called "The British Mandate")

Jewish settlers arrived in Jerusalem and the surrounding region in the late 19th/early 20th century, forming settlements, and developing desert lands into fertile farms and other industry (what was then called "the desert miracle")
No one even thought to settle there or develop the land before the Jews arrived. The economy developed by the Jews drew Arabs into the region seeking work.

When Israel was given its independence by the U.N. in 1947, and war began on Israel (its war of independence) Egypt seized the Gaza area, and Jordan seized and annexed the West Bank.

Quote:

( population statistics, from National Geographic, July 1972 issue: )
.
British Palestine, 1922:
Jews: 84,000
Arabs: 557,000
.
British Palestine, 1947:
Jews 609,000
Arabs: 1,076,000
.
State of Israel, post-independence, 1948:
Jews 879,000
Arabs: 140,000
( the other Arabs that had been in Israel, fled before the 1947-1948 war; these non-combatants were not driven out by the Israelis, and ended up permanently in refugee camps in West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and surrounding nations. The 20% of Israel's present-day population, Arabs who did not flee and chose to remain in Israel, are citizens of Israel, and vote in Israeli elections )
.
State of Israel, 1971:
Jews: 2,561,000
Arabs: 404,000
(Arabs in occupied West bank, Gaza and Sinai: 1,000,000 )








State of Israel, 2000
Jews: 4,900,000
Arabs: 1,200,000


Quote:

( From TIME magazine, April 22, 2002:
Palestinian population in occupied territories and surrounding nations: )
.
Quote:


Gaza:
total Palestinian population: 1,022,000
853,000 of them refugees (460,000 of these in camps)
.
West Bank:
total Palestinian poprulation: 1,545,000
608,000 of them refugees (163,000 in camps)
.
Jewish settlers in West Bank and Gaza combined:
214,000


.

other neighboring countries:
Lebanon: 383,000 refugees ( 215,000 of these in camps )
.
Syria: 392,000 refugees ( 110,000 of these in camps )
.
Jordan: 1,640,000 refugees ( 288,000 of these in camps )




Israel (due to relentless invasions and terrorism from these neighboring areas) in the 1967 war annexed and continues to occupy the West Bank and Gaza.
(It should also be pointed out that Israel captured these areas in the 1956 war and immediately gave them back. But since they continued to be used for continued terrorism and war on the Israeli state, Israel elected to keep them after the 1967 war).

Israel began settlements in the West Bank and Gaza in the late 1970's, a policy which I don't agree with. Israel should eliminate its settlers and move them back into Israel proper. Military annexation of these areas I agree with the necessity of. But not settlements, which equates to colonization of the West Bank and Gaza.
If Israel did so, I think it would eliminate the one area of Israeli policy that cannot be argued to be defensive and necessary.

But I'm sure others would disagree with my assessment of Israeli settlements.

~


Here's a link to a series of maps, that really help to visualize the history of Israel, from the days of the Ottoman Empire up through each stage of Israeli/Arab conflict up through 2000.

http://www.jajz-ed.org.il/100/maps/ottoman.html

There is a separate map for each significant event, that you can follow chronologically.

I find these maps tremendously helpful in visualizing Israel's sometimes complicated partitions of land, and the nature of invasions from neighboring Arab countries. They are far less complicated when you can visualize them.

And with the formation of Israel in the 1947 partition, it is quite clear that a holy war in the name of Islam was declared, in the accompanying text, quoted from Arab leaders.

Last edited by Dave the Wonder Boy; 2004-04-24 4:05 PM.