Published in the Miami Herald, Sunday, November 9, 2014. June Neal is a PRIMER-Connecticut spokesperson.
This we know: you don't shake on a deal when the other guy has his fingers crossed behind his back.
Uri Dromi's Oct. 31 Other Views column, Bibi should not let relations with U.S. deteriorate further,
calling for Israel to adopt the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, is
dangerously naive because he assumes Israel has a trustworthy peace
partner. Israel does not.
The Palestinians
have had decades of opportunities for an independent state and they
rejected or sabotaged them all, from the1937 Peel Commission to 2008,
when Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered to cede almost all the
West Bank and to share Jerusalem.
That's 77
years. The Arab response? Five major invasions of Israel, intifadas,
suicide bombers, point-blank murders of innocent Israeli citizens, rock
throwing, and rockets smuggled through Gazan tunnels and fired on
Israeli civilians.
The
Initiative calls for a complete withdrawal by Israel back to the 1967
lines. Remember, Israel regained the West Bank only after successfully
defending itself against Arab invasion and it maintained control as a
buffer zone against future attacks. The future would prove Israel's
wisdom. In 2005, when Israel withdrew every Jew from Gaza, the
Palestinians turned it into a launching pad, sending thousands of
rockets into Israeli civilian areas. Imagine an independent Palestinian
state abutting Israel's border, where it takes a plane only two minutes
to get from the Jordan rift to Jerusalem? Where Iran or any terrorist
group can set up base?
The Initiative calls
for adherence to UN Resolution 194, which the Arabs have twisted to
meaning allowing the return of millions of refugees. But that's not
what it says. Compensation is generalized to all parties. Israel didn't
cause the Arab refugee problem; the Arabs fled when Israel was attacked
by seven Arab nations and it is they that should provide compensation.
Indeed, when hundreds of thousands of Jews had to flee for their lives
from their homes in Arab countries, only the infant State of Israel
helped.
From 1948 to 1967, Egypt controlled
Gaza and Jordan controlled the West Bank. Not Israel. Where was the
demand for a Palestinian state then?
As for
sharing Jerusalem, the Old City is already divided into four sections,
with a Muslim quarter. And all week, there has been violence at the
holiest site in all Judaism, the Temple Mount, the Jew's ancient capital
which predates the Dome of the Rock by hundreds of years. It is now a
danger zone for Jews to visit, while Arabs pray unimpeded at their
mosque.
The Arabs have shown they have no intention of living peacefully with the Jewish State. Fingers crossed behind their backs.
June S. Neal
Delray Beach
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