The One Jewish state solution

Thhis is an unpublished letter in response to an op-ed in the National Post. Ambassador Said Hamad’s op-ed, like many of the writings of his fellow travelers, both Jewish and non-Jewish, is well written but his argument is based
on both wrong facts and gross omissions of information. Despite the repetition of theories and desires based on historically incorrect information, the truth remains and must be repeated clearly in order to understand the problems of Israel and its supposed expansionism.

Israel is not an occupier of Palestinian territory. The West Bank or Judea and Samaria was illegally annexed by Jordan in 1950 and then won in a defensive war from Jordan in 1967. It never was “Palestinian territory” because Palestine is not now nor has it ever been a recognized state. For the last 1000 years Jews and Arabs have lived peacefully together in Jerusalem, Hebron, and the other smaller cities. The area was ruled by Turkey. Most of the land was owned by landowners who lived in Syria or Turkey. Until the arrival of substantial numbers of Jews in 1900, it was a very poor, unpopulated, desolate, mostly ignored area of the world. Then, when Jews began to immigrate there in larger numbers, the situation and the attitudes changed. Arabs also began to immigrate in large numbers because jobs opened up with Jewish immigration. After the first world war when the whole middle east was taken from the Turks and arbitrarily divided into countries, the area called Palestine was assigned to be a homeland for Jews. Pursuant to the San Remo Agreement of 1920, Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) became, under international law, Jewish lands with the Arabs who live there entitled to no political rights. Arabs have no rights under the 4th Geneva Convention because Judea and Samaria are Jewish lands and you can’t occupy your own land. In addition the 4th Geneva Convention applies to occupied lands of different states and Palestine has never been a recognized state. Lastly, although the Canadian government has not changed the Foreign Affairs Department website, the information there is obviously outdated since our Conservative government changed Liberal “neutral” policy. Canada is no longer neutral and a follower of the U.N. majority. It is a strong independent force for good in many areas, including the Middle East
Now I suggest the following omissions. The Israeli government has not claimed Judea and Samaria, not because it was not theirs, but because they didn’t have the population to fill the land. Ambassador Hamad knows full well that a right of return of thousands of “refugees” would swamp Israel and destroy it as a Jewish homeland. He also knows that the Constitution of Fatah, the government of the West Bank contains statements that their
prime objective is to destroy Israel. The same statements are in Hamas’ constitution. Lastly, as everyone knows, since Israel left Gaza and it has been entirely controlled by Arabs, Gaza has been a continuous source of violence and aggression against Israel. A peaceful solution, other than peace by destroying Israel, therefore will not come fromgranting a right of return, nor from Israel leaving Judea and Samaria. As Arab objectives are not to form a peaceful country but to destroy Israel through war, land grants, or terrorism, peace will not come soon to the Middle East.