Another Gaza?

Another Gaza?

The last paragraph of a Dec. 23rd letter “Which borders?” presented an incredibly naive suggestion in the following question: “Why don’t they (Israel) go back to the original Palestine borders that Harry Truman supported instead of the 1967 borders on the land that [Israel] captured?” Well, soon after the 1967 war, Israel did offer to return this captured area as part of a negotiated agreement that would resolve various long-standing issues including the Arab and Jewish refugees and the establishment of normal diplomatic relations where none had existed from the time Israel declared its independence. Unfortunately, the Arab League, consisting of Arab members that had attacked Israel in the 1948 and who had prepared to attack Israel in May 1967, responded to this Israeli offer by declaring their policy of no negotiation, no settlement, and no peace with Israel.

In 1973, the Arab League ostracized Egypt for its involvement in the U.S.-sponsored peace agreement with Israel. This agreement included the returned of all Egyptian territory and the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In 2002, Saudi Arabia unilaterally promised Israel an unspecified offer of normalization in the future only after its return to the pre-June 1967 borders.

Shortly after Israel returned Gaza to the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, the elected representative of the Palestinian, ousted the Palestinian Authority and began its almost daily attack on Israelis. Although the world has been silent to these attacks, it has freely expressed its outrage toward Israel’s efforts to stop these hostilities. In light of the above history, Israel, at a minimum, is trying to assure that the Palestinian state will be effectively demilitarized to assure it does not become another Gaza.

Could it be expected that future suggestions would be credible?

Marvin Elmowitz
West Caldwell

read more: