An Honest Question

JERUSALEM — In a prior post, I wrote that Israel should withdraw from the West Bank completely and remove the settlements there. But now I’m having second thoughts.

Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon, and Hizbollah moved in and started firing missiles into the northern part of the country. Israel withdrew from Gaza, and Hamas took over and started firing missiles into the southwestern part of the country. Following these results, why should Israel even think about withdrawing from the West Bank and giving East Jerusalem to the Palestinians? I’m looking for a reason, but I cannot think of anything.

This entry was posted on 9 April 2008 at 5:06 pm and is filed under Hizbollah, Islam, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, Politics, Religion, The Middle East. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “An Honest Question”

  1. migdalit Says:
    9 April 2008 at 5:22 pm

    Dear Samuel,

    I have been looking for exactly the same reason for months now and couldn’t find one nor could I find anybody at palestinian internet-forums that would explain it to me until I understand it. But if you come across the answer let me know ’cause I just don’t like what I see without that reason …

    - Migdalit

  2. Eric Says:
    13 April 2008 at 6:06 pm

    Dear Samuel/Migdalit,

    In answering your question, the narrative that your propose (Israeli concessions provoke further terrorism) is insufficient to understand Palestinian actions. Rockets are continuing to be fired from Gaza because the area is under a complete political and economic lockdown by Israel and Egypt. While the occupation is technically over, this blockade has resulted in complete economic stagnation that forces the majority of the population to live in poverty.

    I argue, (and perhaps I’m naive in this belief, but I don’t think so) that if people are allowed to live their lives with dignity and hope then most people will do so in peace. The occupation in the West Bank and the blockade of Gaza is a daily reminder to the Palestinians that they lack both. If Israel and the US would allow the Palestinians to build a state of their own instead of sabotaging said nation-building (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1204546391346) then I believe that this conflict could have some resolution.

    -Eric

  3. Anonymous Says:
    14 April 2008 at 1:18 pm

    Eric,
    You are neive in that belief. Poverty is not a “root cause” of anything. The people who treat the Palestinians the worst is the Palestinian leadership and the other Arab nations that use the Palestinian people to make war cheaply on Israel. As a Syrian gov’t minister once said, “we are going to fight israel to the last Palestinian.” The Palestinians have a state, it is called Jordan. But the PLO fucked that up by trying to overthrow Abdullah in 1973. In my view, the Palestinians are treated quite well by the Israelis who should run them out of the West bank and Gaza. How many peace offers have the Palestinians made?

  4. migdalit Says:
    14 April 2008 at 2:54 pm

    Dear Eric,

    I am afraid you got me wrong.
    What I am afraid of is, that little people who dare to speak are in fact working towards peace and some kind of “fair” solution between the Israeli and Palestinian people but they won’t settle for any one but the Jews leaving Israel or being killed to the last child.

    Yet I still hope and will never give up hope that there are people within the Palestinian community who won’t have their children killed when firing at civilians - either their own or the Israeli ones - and dares to speak up until there are enough people speaking up to get rid of thei corrupt gov’ts of both Gaza and the West Bank …

    - Migdalit

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