The situation in the territories is entirely different. Roughly one million Arabs live in the West Bank, many in crowded cities and refugee camps. Most of them are located close to Israeli cities such as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. It is important for Israel that the West Bank not fall into the hands of hostile neighbors. Territory is Still Vital in the Missile Age Saddam Hussein's ability to lob missiles into Israel during the Gulf War has led to suggestions that Israel's demands for defensible borders are unrealistic.
History shows, however, that aerial attacks have never defeated a nation.
Countries are conquered by troop occupation of land. A recent example of this was Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, in which the latter nation was overrun and occupied in a matter of hours. Though the multinational force bombed Iraq for close to six weeks, Kuwait was not liberated until the Allied troops marched into that country in the war's final days. Defensible borders are those that would prevent or impede such a ground assault. Israel's return to its pre 1967 borders, which the Arab states want to reimpose, would sorely tempt potential aggressors to launch attacks on the Jewish State-as they did routinely before 1967.