Redundancy: Repetition of the Batttle Cry

If only ...

By Ronata Dermansky

06/01/2008

To the Editor

Why is it that the state of Israel is now commemorating its 60th independence day while a Palestinian state has yet to be realized? Why is it that 60 years ago, the first detailed plan for a two-state solution, one Arab and one Jewish, was overwhelmingly approved by the United Nations, yet only one country emerged?

The reason is rather simple and has remained unchanged for 60 years. It is the Palestinian rejection of Israel's right to exist. None can summarize this better than the Palestinian leaders themselves. On May 14, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar declared that a Palestinian state will be established on all of the land of Palestine and not only on parts of it, and that it will include the (Israeli) cities "Jaffa, Lod and Haifa." Zahar also reiterated Hamas' unwillingness to recognize the State of Israel and added "After we defeat the Zionists we will persecute them to eternity." (www.jpost.com/servlet/
Satellite?cid=1210668634777&pagename=JPost%
2FJPArticle%2FShowFull)

On the same day, the "moderate" Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas joined dozens of Palestinians in signing a document pledging to continue the "struggle" until all the descendents (about 4 million) of Palestinian refugees are permitted to settle in Israel. This declaration is tantamount to a rejection of a two-state solution since, if implemented, Israel would become yet another Arab country (in addition to the 21 Arab countries that already exist.)

In 1947, much like today, the Jewish community in the Holy Land was pragmatic, forthcoming, flexible, and peace-loving and thus accepted with open hands the U.N. Partition Resolution 181, despite the fact that the area allotted to the Jewish state was tiny (around 1/10 the area of Iowa).

By contrast, the Palestinians and the Arab countries rejected the two-state plan and demanded every inch of the land for themselves. In their extremism, they lost everything.

The Palestinians, determined to sabotage the November 1947 U.N. Partition Plan, intensified their violent attacks on the Jewish population, and following Israel's declaration of independence on May 14, 1948 were joined by the armies of five Arab countries in a vicious attack on the day-old Israel.

This military assault was literally a unified Arab attempt at ethnic cleansing of the 650,000 Jews of the Holy Land. Israel narrowly survived this onslaught but at a staggering cost in human life, 1 percent of its population, which is comparable to 3 million Americans today.

In the following decades (including 1967, 1973), the Arabs made further attempts to exterminate Israel. As a result of the 1967 war, Israel became a reluctant occupier of territories it had gained.

When for the first time in history, an Arab country, Egypt, positively responded to Israel's repeated calls for reconciliation, Israel made enormous sacrifices. She relinquished to Egypt the strategic Sinai Peninsula with its oil fields, leaving Israel entirely dependent on foreign oil.

It is doubtful whether another country would have agreed to such far-reaching concessions, which only speaks for Israel's desire to achieve peace. Several years later, Israel signed a peace treaty with Jordan.

As we celebrate Israel's birthday, let us hope and pray for the day when the two-state solution will be finally accepted by the Palestinians, and two countries - Israel and a Palestinian state - will live in peace next to each other.

Ronata Dermansky