Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: l'illusione della pace in cambio di territori

http://www.biu.ac.il/SOC/besa/perspectives25.html
The Illusion of "Peace in Exchange for Territories"
by Mordechai Kedar
[Dr. Mordechai Kedar is a lecturer in the Department of Arabic at Bar-
Ilan University, and a research associate at the Begin-Sadat (BESA)
Center for Strategic Studies, specializing in Arab political
discourse, Arab mass media, Islamic groups and the Syrian domestic
arena. He served for twenty-five years in IDF Military Intelligence.]
For years, especially since the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference, Arab
leaders have repeated the mantra that peace with Israel hinges upon a
withdrawal to the pre-1967 border. Similar rhetoric followed with the
Arab Summit's March 2002 decision to endorse the "Saudi peace
initiative," suggesting that the Arab world's problem with Israel
stems from "occupation" of the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem. This
paper demonstrates the error of this assertion. The Arab demand for a
return of all Palestinian refugees to pre-1967 Israel remains at the
core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and this demand disguises
Arab intentions to destroy Israel.
The Palestinian Authority
During the rule of Fatah and since the rise of Hamas, the Palestinian
Authority's (PA) official position states it will not renounce the
"right of return" to greater Israel. It still remains unclear whether
the Palestinians will be satisfied with a homeland in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip following an Israeli withdrawal to the Green Line.
Palestinian insistence on the refugees' right of return, ending the
Jewish majority in the State of Israel, indicates hostile intent.
The preservation of the refugee ethos through the media and the
education system is intended to prevent concession on the right of
return. All Palestinian symbols and illustrations depict Palestine as
the land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. These
illustrations do not show the Palestinian state as Gaza and the West
Bank.
Apart from Sari Nusseibeh, whose popularity among the Palestinian
public ranks lower than that of the ultra-dovish Uri Avnery within
Israel, no Palestinian politician or leader has unequivocally
supported relinquishing the right of return. Arafat avoided signing
such a statement at Camp David in July 2000.
Syria
The Syrian regime's official message states that the Golan Heights
belong to Syria and Israel must withdraw to the 1967 borders
regardless of a peace agreement. The most Israel can expect to receive
in return for this withdrawal is quiet from Lebanon. According to all
Syrian statements, peace hinges on Israel granting "the legitimate
rights of the Palestinian people", based on "returning the rights of
all those who are entitled". These statements, repeated in Syrian
rhetoric, have a single meaning in the political lexicon: the return
of the 1948 refugees (including their grandchildren and great-
grandchildren born in Syria) to their original homes in Israel.
Today, there are roughly 350,000 people with refugee status in Syria.
The majority of these refugees were born in the country and are
descendants of the original Palestinians who left in 1948. Additional
proof of Syrian demand that these refugees return to Israel was
exemplified during the Madrid Conference. Hafez al-Assad halted the
activities of the Multilateral Committee for Refugees when he realized
the discrepancy between Israel and Syria's view of the committee.
Israel understood the committee's role as finding a solution to the
refugee problem in Arab states, whereas Syria believed the refugees
would be repatriated into Israel.
Bashar al-Assad continued his father's rhetoric, stressing the
importance of the Palestinian right of return in a speech as recent as
August 2006. In Syria's view, those who did not insist on Israel's
duty to accept the refugees – such as President Sadat of Egypt and
King Hussein of Jordan – were traitors.
Lebanon
Since 1948, each successive Lebanese government has advocated the
return of all Palestinian refugees residing in the country and has
denied them Lebanese citizenship. According to UNWRA, this number now
exceeds 300,000. Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah supported
this position in a recent speech during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war
when he accused Israel of trying to force Lebanon to grant the
refugees citizenship. Nasrallah and Lebanese politicians echo the
words of their Arab brethren; peace with Israel is conditional on the
right of return of all 1948 Palestinian refugees and their
descendants.
Political factions in Lebanon oppose the resettlement of the 1948
refugees. In order to prevent their relocation, Lebanese law prohibits
the refugees from working in 73 occupations and forbids them from
purchasing real estate, opening businesses and receiving organized
medical care. It is important to note that the Maronite Christians,
Israel's "natural allies" in Lebanon, are the strongest opponents of
granting the Palestinians citizenship, because the Maronites face
similar demographic problems.
Additionally, Lebanon's political system is not autonomous and its
Israeli foreign policy must agree with the Syrian regime. It is
unclear whether Lebanon will free itself from Syrian dictation in the
future. Therefore, the matter of refugees in Syria and Lebanon –
numbering approximately 700,000 individuals – should be viewed as a
single issue.
Jordan
Jordan signed a peace agreement without reacquiring the land it lost
to Israel in 1967. King Hussein severed the connection between the
West Bank and Jordan in 1988, ostensibly to make room for the
Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), who was then leading the
first Intifada. In return, he received "special standing" or status as
"protector" of the Islamic holy sites on the Temple Mount; a Jordanian
attempt to gain Islamic legitimacy for the Hashemite royal family.
Palestinian citizens of Jordan oppose the peace agreement signed by
Hussein because it lacks the right of return clause. Yearly
demonstrations held in the refugee camps exhibit the Palestinian hope
that they will soon return to their houses in historic Palestine. This
belief negatively impacts Israeli-Jordanian relations.
Egypt
Complete evacuation of Sinai brought formal peace with the Egyptian
government, but did not eliminate Egyptian hatred of Israel. Over the
years more than fifty agreements have been signed between the two
countries in a large number of fields – tourism, agriculture,
education, economy, industry and cultural exchange – but only a few
were implemented due to Egyptian refusal. Many Egyptians view Israel
as a Jewish, modern, liberal democracy; a foreign concept to the
Islamic, traditional, tribal reality of the Middle East. Egypt is
usually the most vociferous opponent of Israel and numerous Egyptian
initiatives aim to undermine Israel's international status. In spite
of the fact that Israel is a peace-seeking nation, Egypt constantly
tries to depict Israel as a danger to the region by drawing attention
to Israel's alleged nuclear program.
Egypt invests effort into convincing other Arab states against having
relations with Israel, and its overall attitude toward Israel was and
still is reflected by Egyptian apathy vis-?-vis the smuggling of
weapons, ammunition, explosives and terrorists to the Gaza strip from
Egyptian soil. The Egyptian media – free as well as state controlled –
is flooded with anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish propaganda, reminiscent
of propaganda by the Nazi regime. One of the most popular songs in
Egypt is sung by the popular Sha'ban 'Abd al-Rahim, entitled, "I hate
Israel".
Egyptian hatred towards Israel continues, despite the fact that Egypt
has no territorial dispute with Israel, and cannot be attributed to
occupation. Negative attitudes are perpetuated by the Islamic belief
that Jews do not have a right to an independent state, especially on
any part of Palestinian land. In addition, the prosperity and success
of the Jewish state, in comparison to Egypt, adds fuel to Egyptian
jealousy.
Conclusions
According to this view of the Middle East, most Arabs – regimes as
well as societies – prefer that the 1948 refugees remain in camps in
order to justify hatred of Israel. They ignore the fact that
Palestinian suffering is a direct function of the Arab countries'
denial of Palestinian human rights.
Relations between Israel and its Palestinian and Arab neighbors are
not dominated by the issue of disputed territory, but by the issue of
the alleged right of return. According to Arab ethos, the 68-year-old
plight of these refugees is to return to Israel proper, despite the
fact that many are not even of Palestinian origin. Western negotiators
and Israelis tend to brush the refugee problem under the table. To
them, the refugees are faceless, landless and nameless, but for Arab
societies surrounding Israel, the refugee issue is acute and personal.
Those who claim that the refugees "understand" that they will no
longer be able to return to Israel cannot explain the continued
existence of the refugee camps, and the refugees' prolonged residence
there, under disgraceful conditions and harsh neglect. Israeli
spokespeople who believe that the return of territory will bring peace
must analyze and understand what is being said in the Arab media and
on the Arab streets.
According to Arab public discourse, undermining the legal and moral
validity of the Palestinian right of return is breaking precedent and
betraying the Palestinian people and the Arab nation. In Arab
politics, maintaining the hope of return enforces its validity.
Closure of the refugee camps is perceived as an action against the
Palestinian people and their rights. Few Arabs are prepared to accept
the Israeli position regarding refugees and there is little variance
of opinion between "secular" nationalist factions and religious
Islamic groups. The handful of intellectuals who recognize the Israeli
position usually reside in Western countries, and their influence in
the Arab world is negligible.
If a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Golan and Judea and Samaria
(including Jerusalem) were to occur, Israelis would be bitterly
disappointed to discover that the main problem between Israel and its
neighbors – the problem of the State of Israel's very existence – has
not been solved, and will continue to constitute the focus of the
conflict. If Israel insists on preserving the Jewish character of the
state, peace might be unattainable. Instead of looking inward and
postulating a benign Middle East, it behooves Israel to understand its
neighbors, especially the Palestinian refugees, and the states and
societies hosting them.

 The Illusion of "Peace in Exchange for Territories"
Questo signore non deve aver letto cosa prevede il piano di pace 
promosso dalla Lega Araba.
-- 
[namib] Posso legalmente inneggiare al comunismo, ma non al fascismo.
L'una appartenenza è appunto *criminale*, l'altra no.
[tonibaruch] Purtroppo abbiamo questa legge idiota, è vero.
http://groups.google.it/group/it.politica.internazionale/tree/browse_frm/thread/3f0249225d16ae1d/9d60fe69c1a4658e

 promosso dalla Lega Araba.
oppure lo ha letto e si fa qualche domanda sulla praticabilità. Ma
sono questioni che sfuggono ai pirla. Se le pone, invece, il famoso
potere religioso ebraico.

 dalla Lega Araba.
 probabilmente lo ha letto e conosce bene chi lo ha redatto.
y 

Steven Gerrard, the Red Comet ha scritto:

Ne dubito.  I *regimi* dei paesi che hanno redatto il piano hanno 
bisogno di risolvere il conflitto forse più di quanto ne abbia bisogno 
Israele.
Questa potenziale alleanza contro il comune avversario: l'integralismo 
islamico e il nazionalismo arabo, potrebbe essere sfruttata, e non lo è.

 Ne dubito.
attenzione. Persio sta parlando di Mordechai Kedar, cioé questo qui:
Dr. Mordechai Kedar is a lecturer in the Department of Arabic at Bar-
Ilan University, and a research associate at the Begin-Sadat (BESA)
Center for Strategic Studies, specializing in Arab political
discourse, Arab mass media, Islamic groups and the Syrian domestic
arena. He served for twenty-five years in IDF Military Intelligence
(
http://www.biu.ac.il/SOC/besa/perspectives25.html
)
Ma lui, ovviamente, ne sa di più. Il pirla dalle infinite risorse.

 Ne dubito.  I *regimi* dei paesi
affascinante. Come mai le virgolette?


Osserva con attenzione come vanno la maggior parte delle cose del mondo 
e chiediti se è la competenza che le guida.
L'obiettività, l'altruismo, il rigore morale, sono merce rara, in 
particolare tra quelli che hanno potere, e senza queste la competenza è 
solo un titolo da incorniciare oppure un'arma.
Il dottor Kedar fornisce una immagine distorta della realtà, 
probabilmente perché questo corrisponde a qualche sua convinzione 
ideologica o perché è utile a qualche suo interesse privato.


 solo un titolo da incorniciare oppure un'arma.
anche perché, riconosciamolo, non si trova più parcheggio in centro e
questo dipende dal fatto che non ci sono più le mezze stagioni. I
tratti somatici degli ebrei, invece, sono dappertutto.

 tratti somatici degli ebrei, invece, sono dappertutto.
Evvai! Il marzullo gerosolimitano che ruzza come una lepre di marzo!


 A cui ho dato una risposta,
la tua obiezione è che Tizio non avrebbe letto il documento Z di cui
Tizio ha appena scritto una refutazione.
La tua obiezione è una obiezione da pirla.