Reply #81: Question... [View All]

[Shaktimaan]

your saying the Arab states wanted to destroy the idea of partition.
may well be they had the desire, Israel had the ability to destroy it.

How so?

After the War of Independence, Israel had more land under her control than was allotted to her by the Partition, this is true. But she certainly did not have all of it. Israel controlled the area within today's green line... the remainder of which is now desired as the future Palestinian state. This was before '67, Israel didn't control anything in the West Bank or Gaza. It was under Egyptian and Jordanian control, had been ethnically cleansed of Jews completely and even already contained the majority of Palestinian refugees from Israel. Arabs then controlled everything that the Palestinians are now frantically negotiating/threatening/fighting to retain. There was no (Israeli caused) reason that a Palestinian state couldn't have been established there.

So what happened?

Well, as we all know, Jordan annexed the West Bank and Egypt occupied Gaza. These Arab states were unwilling to allow a Palestinian state to exist and the Palestinians were unable to challenge them. It was only after Israel gained control of those areas that the idea of them housing a Palestinian state arose, for the first time since 1949. Had Israel not done so then the two state solution would likely never have even been voiced.

As evidence of this, consider that the Palestinians did not claim the WB for Palestine until 1988, after Jordan officially renounced its claim to it. Had Jordan not renounced its claim (an act due entirely to Israel's post-67 control of the area) then Arafat would never considered it as a viable option.

So let's be clear on this. The Arabs destroyed Partition. First by rejecting it at the UN, then by attacking the Yishuv with the expressed goal of destroying it, and finally by claiming Gaza and the WB for themselves. It is ONLY because of Israel's victory in '67 that the idea of Partition was revived, giving the Palestinians a second chance for their own state.

The Arabs killed Partition. Israel resurrected it.