If there's one thing about human beings, they are the last animal you want to back into a corner. All the Intifadas carried out against Israelis has resulted in few Israeli deaths vs a lot more Palestinian deaths. Since the late 80s, Israel has suffered less than 2,000 civilian causalities. That may change now Anybody with common sense knows this, but neo-cons types and the millions of Americans who tend to be influenced them don't seem to realize this. If there's one thing about human beings, they are the last animal you want to back into a corner. All the Intifadas carried out against Israelis has resulted in few Israeli deaths vs a lot more Palestinian deaths. Since the late 80s, Israel has suffered less than 2,000 civilian causalities. That may change now. The Time article about a-political Israelis hanging out on the beach with the good life, feeling unconcerned, and due to the Wall not even meeting a Palestinian from one year to the next, was interesting. This is sort of what an Israeli friend tells me when she takes the family back to Israel for a family vacation. She always tells me how great it is over there and "it is not like how you think with all the violence" etc. I didn't know whether to believe her or not.
You are completely ignoring reality. The status quo has been attained by being unethical - allowing the settlers to run free and untouched. Everyone should act ethical NOW is a very convenient position for you to take. FYI, choice A will not continue to exist. Either by international or terrorist force, choice A will only exist for another few years. You also speak of settlements as if they are normal. I remind you that your thinking has led to the death of hundreds of millions of humans through the two world wars. No country will remain subjugated to another willingly - eventually, natural forces will take over and manifest themselves in the form of violence. Your ignorance is appauling. Israelis living the good life is a temporary situation in this decades-old mess. This has not always been the case and will not always be the case. Choice a, Choice B, Choice C. Only one is ethical. Are you asking what I'd do or what the Palestinian Authority would do? Because I don't care what the Palestinian Authority would do. I know that I wouldn't anally rape millions of people, and I wouldn't sit in an armchair thousands of km's away supporting it.
I don't grant your premise that they are being unethical. I believe it will continue to exist for the foreseeable future. The Palestinians certainly have no chance to change it, and I don't believe that any outside force is going to change it either. Countries take land. They have since there have been countries. It was not the cause of World War I. It was the cause of World War II, but not on the scales we are seeing in Israel. Neither has anything to do with the present situation, because the Palestinians do not have allies that counterbalance Israel. It was those alliances that turned regional issues into World Wars. Without those alliances, the wars would not have become world encompassing. Actually, it has been the case through most of their history. Israel is a first world nation with all of the modern conveniences. They have been involved in a few wars, much like the United States has, but in general the average person is just living their life. Mortality numbers in Israel are very similar to those in the United States. Death from terrorism is not a major factor, has not been, and never will be unless there is some sort of NBC attack. It would be like worrying about drowning in the swimming pool. All of the terrorism by the Palestinians over decades has amounted to something on the order of 2000 people killed. Even if you only amortize that over 10 years, that is only 200 people per year. A nation of millions is not going to be gripped with fear because 200 people are killed each year. They are far more likely to be killed by their diet than by a Palestinian. No one is anally raping anyone.
I would say that they do have a right to the land. It was won in the course of the 1967 war, a war that was not started by Israel. Israel already gave the majority of the territory they gained back. They can decide how much or little of the remainder to give back. The British created a joint Arab/Jewish state with power sharing. At the time the land was largely unused and was predominantly an inhospitable desert. The Arabs did not like the situation. The Jews did not like it. They both took a number of measures to change the situation, culminating in the state of Israel being granted independence and the war that followed immediately. Israel won, the Arabs lost. Before and after the war, Arabs were welcome in the state of Israel. Many chose to leave before the neighboring Arab armies arrived. They were not allowed to return as if nothing happened. That is hardly an anal rape. That is called the consequences of their actions. Well, we can agree on one thing, the Palestinians are powerless. Given that, I don't see why Mathloom thinks that the good times in Israel are a fleeting thing.
In 1947 there are 1.8 million living in Palestine 2/3 Arab 1/3 Jew, Arabs got 44% of the land. Jerusalem would be controlled by the UN. Almost half of the population would be non Jewish in the Jewish State, by the end, the West Bank, what would have been the Arab State, will become 100% Arab and the Jewish lands will become 80-85% Jewish. We created a country where it wasn't wanted to appease those suffering in Europe. As terrible as those atrocities were, how is it fair to then force the Palestinians out of their homes, or force them to live in a Jewish State. I see how you see it, they tried to make things work, they didn't, they fought for it, they won. I see it as, they didn't have the right to make demands in the first place. They should have been content with being a joint, cooperative country that wasn't going to persecute them for their faith. The British are mostly to blame for this, imo. They promised the Jews things in the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence then reneged in the Sykes-Picot agreement, so they felt they were entitled to the land after this and it was downhill from there. It's simply imperialism for the Jews to come in, create a country, take over their lands, through war as you said, and then confine the natives to 2 camps... It's imperialism handed down from the British to the Jews.
Fleeting is relative. 25-50 years from now, the world will be a much different place. The Palestinian issue is at the heart of the problems in the Middle East as well as fuel for Islamic extremists across the globe. Due to the failure of liberalism in the region, developments in the Cold War that further exacerbated the socio-econ problems in Middle Eastern countries, widespread anger at problems like unemployment and illiteracy, and a crisis of identity and orientation within traditional Islamic groups in an increasingly globalized and 'free'/secular world, many Muslims cling to the Palestinian issue and use it as a vessel for their own frustrations. China and India will play a much greater role in this century. The massive transfer of wealth to the East since the late 90s, our diminished standing abroad since 9/11, all have ensured that our current unipolar policy of supporting Israel whatever the cost cannot last. Both the new emerging superpowers have critical need for stability in the Middle East, namely because of hydrocarbon resources, and they will not tolerate the annoyance that is Israel today out the reasons that have been mentioned. Israel's ability to act with impunity relies on US power which from a historical POV is fading fast. Therefore, it behooves Israel to take the peace process seriously - not apathetically - for in the new world of Chindia, it will become irrelevant. Btw, your understanding of the history of the region is a bit one-sided. Read Kimmerling's The Palestinian People, Dr. Beit-Hallami's Original Sins, and Schoenman's The Hidden History of Zionism to get a more objective perspective.
Wow, you sound like Palestinians did in the early 40's!! Awesome. Taking land has happened, just like domestic abuse has happened and will continue to happen. Saying something has happened or continues to happen is a silly argument to put forward, and it won't cover up your indifference to unethical behavior.
