When speaking of the Arab/Israel conflict, politicians often speak of a “two-state solution;” that the present State of Israel should be divided into two parts: A Jewish state called Israel and an Arab state called “palestine.” Doing that would finally bring peace after 70+ years.
Sounds reasonable, right?
The thing is that it has already been done. The problem is that no one wants to recognize this fact. The proof lies in the history.
Historical Fact 1) On November 2, 1917, under the direction of the King and Parliament of the United Kingdom, Arthur Balfour (Britain’s Foreign Minister) stated the UK’S support for “the establishment in palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” This is called “The Balfour Declaration.
Historical Fact 2) After World War I, out of the ruins of what once was the Ottoman Empire, the League of Nations (predecessor of the United Nations) created the Mandate for Palestine, and awarded it to the United Kingdom to administer. The Mandate, for Palestine, consisted of the lands currently recognized as Israel and Jordan. The Mandate for Palestine (also called “Mandatory Palestine”) was created in July 1922. Due to the Balfour Declaration, the entire territory of Mandatory Palestine was promised to the Jewish people for a national home.
Historical Fact 3) The British took 2/3s of Mandatory Palestine and awarded it to the Arabs in July 1921 and the Emirate of Transjordan (now called Jordan) was thus established.
These three historical facts were subsequently forgotten, and Mandatory Palestine was (conveniently) considered only the Israeli part.
One thing to remember is that Jewish National Funds were used to purchase practically every square millimeter of land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea.
Historical Fact 4) A plan to partition Mandatory Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state was suggested by the United Nations on November 29, 1947. This plan was accepted by the Jews and rejected by the Arabs.
Historical Fact 5) On May 14, 1948 the Mandate for Palestine was terminated, the British left the region, and Israel declared itself an independent country. On May 15th five adjacent Arab countries invaded Israel, thus beginning the first Arab/Israel War. This war ended on March 10, 1949. Ultimately, Israel won this war, but Jordan captured Samaria/Judea (AKA “the West Bank”) and occupied it until …..
Historical Fact 6) … the end of the Six Day War (June 5, 1967 – June 10, 1967). Once again Israel was attacked by it’s Arab neighbors, and once again Israel prevailed only this time Israel liberated Samaria/Judea (including East Jerusalem) from Jordan and also took the Sinai peninsula, Gaza and the Golan Heights.
Question: Does Israel “occupy” the West Bank?
Answer: No. The West Bank belonged to Israel (and in fact was purchased from wealthy Arab land owners between 1901 and 1945 via the Jewish National Fund) prior to the Arab/Israel War of 1948. The Six Day War liberated that land, and restored it to Israel.
Historical Fact 7) Israel withdrew from Gaza, displacing 9000 + Israeli citizens living in 25 settlements within Gaza. All IDF forces were also withdrawn, thus Gaza became an independent country adjacent to Israel. On January 29, 2006 the people of Gaza elected Hamas (a terrorist group) to be their government.
Historical Fact 8) The Hamas government of Gaza began a campaign of terror even before Gaza was granted it’s independence. The first rocket attack occurred on March 5, 2002 against nearby Kibbutzim, Ashdod, Beersheba and Tel Aviv. Over 20,000 rockets have hit parts of Israel between 2002 and 2014. Subsequently, Israel developed the Iron Dome defense technology, which has thwarted the worst of the rocket attacks. When one of these attacks occurs, the IDF attacks Gaza, seeking to destroy military targets. A major problem for the IDF is that Hamas stages it’s rocket attacks from Hospitals, Schools, Mosques and civilian residential areas.
During the period March 2002 until October 7, 2023, Israelis built shelters both in their homes and in all public buildings. Stringent measure’s have been put into place in order to protect Israelis from attacks and naturally, the IDF retaliates as mentioned above
All that changed on October 7th, 2023. Hamas launched an attack on the villages and kibbutzim closest to the border of Gaza. They murdered 767 civilians, and 376 IDF (some of whom were brutally ganged raped and/or tortured before being killed, and some were infants and toddlers who were beheaded). 240 hostages were taken back to Gaza.360 festival attendees (all civilians) were massacred at the Supernova Music Festival at Kibbutz Re’im.
Predictively, the IDF responded, and attacked Gaza en-masse. We don’t know how many civilians have been killed by the IDF, or by mis-fired Hamas weaponry. We can’t trust the Gazan medical authority (it’s run by Hamas), we can’t trust UNRWO (it’s mostly staffed by Hamas and many of them participated in the invasion on Oct.7th). But the IDF has a reputation for warning civilians in fire zones that they are coming, usually by dropping leaflets from the sky and/or robo-calling civilian cell phones. So any innocent killed is a victim only because either A) they failed to get out of the way, or B) they were forced by their Hamas masters to stay put.
WAIT!
I’ve gone way off track for this missive. This was supposed to be about how the two state solution already exists. One thing is for sure, none of the atrocities I have outlined above would have happened if the Arabs had been allowed to immigrate and become citizens of Jordan back in 1946. Another point, if the UN
For more of my insights regarding Israel and “Palestine,” click HERE.
