| Repudiating the Palestinian Claim - a letter for your consideration Bob Westbrook 6 Aug 2001 The Palestinian claim that Israel is the aggressor who is occupying Palestinian lands is one that is repeated over and over. Tragically, the Israeli government itself initially afforded vitality to this claim by acceding to the Oslo accords. By agreeing that the final status of the "territories" was to be determined by future negotiations, Israel conceded (erroneously) to the concept that the Palestinians have some valid national claim to that land. This grievous error has provided abundant fuel to the Palestinian propaganda blast furnace. For example, I recently watched a US television news program during which a Palestinian spokesperson was interviewed. It was a typical performance by one of their masterful purveyors of disinformation. He provided no direct answers of the interviewer's pointed questions, and very little substance that resembled the factual situation in Israel. In his attempts to sell the Palestinian position to the American public, he ventured a comparison of the Palestinian "freedom-fighters" to the revolutionaries who fought for American independence. His assertion was that because both groups fought for land that rightly belonged to them, the American public should understand and sympathize with the Palestinian cause. If there were any validity to this assertion, it would be dependent upon the presupposition that the West Bank and Gaza do in fact belong to the Palestinians by some justifiable principle. To support their claim for this land, the Palestinian apologists frequently refer to "international law" and the consensus of the international community. If indeed the Palestinians possess sound and valid rationale for the claim that the land belongs to them, then perhaps the spokesperson's comparison to the American revolutionaries has some merit. If they are an oppressed people fighting for their land, then perhaps the international community should sympathize with their cause. But the land is not theirs, and Israel should not have given place to even the slightest notion that it is, might be, or could be. When the Oslo discussions began, Israel made a grievous mistake by allowing the subject of the national ownership of the land to become a topic for negotiations. Israel foolishly played into the hands of the Palestinian strategy. By doing so, Israel thus conceded that there may be some legitimate claim to the land by the Palestinians. In the interim, Palestinians have run with this and successfully marketed their message to the world, the message that they are the oppressed and that Israel is the colonial oppressors. Should Israel be surprised that the Palestinians are doing this? The underlying basis of Oslo was the specious "land for peace" principle. Because Israel accepted this principle, should they be surprised that the Palestinians reject peace when they do not have the land? Israel erred by accepting this principle, and by doing so provided the Palestinian apologists with justification for their "fight for freedom." However, their "justification" is not just, for the land in question absolutely and unequivocally belongs to Israel. If we speak only of the political considerations, we neglect the primary reason and sole abiding claim that Israel has on Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, the Biblical claim. Indeed, there is a spiritual as well as a political side to Israel's foolish capitulation since 1993. The title deed for those lands, as well as all of Eretz Israel, was irrevocably bestowed upon her by God. I would daresay that every leader of Israel from Ben Gurion to Sharon has recognized, acknowledged, and proudly cited the Scriptures that declare that Israel is in the land once again because God said so. If the people of Israel are back in the land of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at all, they are back because of God's declarations to that effect. To deny this is to confer a great dishonor upon Him, who went to great lengths to make it clear that He did it. Yet those same declarations stipulate that the West Bank and Gaza (and more) are also to be Jewish property. By abandoning this axiom in 1993 in contradiction to God's stated plans, Israel has by this decision conferred upon herself in part the current difficulties. It is inevitable that God's disposition for the disputed land will be enacted. This means that the Palestinian claims will entirely be made null and void and God's declared intentions will be fully accomplished. Since this is so, Israel should begin to act accordingly upon this understanding and not upon the faulty and even treacherous principles of the Oslo accords. Which of these carries more force and staying power: Oslo, or the unilaterally enacted treaty by God with Abram which states, "To your descendants I give this land." (Genesis 15:18)? At this late date, it is too late to undo the damage caused by Oslo, but it is not too late to commence the appropriate stance. Israel should implement a new policy - a policy which takes the hard position of entirely repudiating the principles of Oslo. Israel should repudiate the notions the Palestinians have even a sliver of a national claim on the West Bank and Gaza. The international community would undoubtedly be outraged by such a shift in policy. Let them be outraged. They will be equally outraged when Israel one day annexes that land. Let them be. The Palestinians are not oppressed "freedom-fighters" struggling in a noble conquest for their own land. This errant concept was given false vitality by Oslo, and this must be rectified. One way or another, it will be. |
The Case Agianst Israel's Enemies by Alan Dershowitz 
Coming from England and particularly from the BBC, MUST BE SEEN VIDEO! ANOTHER MUST SEE VIDEO |