Arab Israeli Palestinian Tragedy Blog

An update needs to be made based on events since this Paper was first presented on the Web 2 1/2 years ago. The then established Israeli trends designed to divide, weaken, and subjugate the Palestinian people have continued (and if anything accelerated): (A) Israel's creation of facts on the ground in the occupied West Bank are now very well developed with expanded Jewish settlements, interconnected Jews-only road systems (using tunnels and fencing) linking with Israel; (B) East Jerusalem (the Arab section that was to become a future Palestinian state capitol) is losing its Arab presence and now has Palestinian access tightly controlled by Israel; (C) The West Bank is now divided into several small Arab cantons separated from each other by Israeli military checkpoints restricting access by Palestinians; (D) Israel's construction of The Wall is moving well along and reduces the Palestinian's land area from 22% of Old Palestine (prior to the 1967 Six Day War) to approximately 15%; (E) Arafat's death and his replacement by Mahmoud Abbas has probably encouraged Israel to push ever harder for a "peace" settlement based on Israel's hardline terms with meager consideration given to Palestinians' welfare or their historic expectation of a future national state of their own; and (F) "Israel's campaign of assassination that the Israeli army is conducting in the West Bank and Gaza. . . ." (4)

Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip has resulted only in a larger Palestinian prison, since Israel retains full military control over the surrounding sealed borders (land, air, and sea). Palestinian access points between Gaza and the West Bank (and of course Israel) are very tightly restricted. Israel's final resolution is pending, however, and conditions are ominous. (3)

Palestinian living conditions (quality of life) in the Occupied Territories are now far more desperate than ever before. "Since 2000 the economy of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank has lost a potential income of approximately $6.4 billion and suffered $3.5billion worth of physical damage at the hands of Israel's army [IDF]." (1) The IDF, between 2000 and 2004, demolished some 4,600 Palestinian homes. Palestinian children are increasingly denied access to education and health care. "According to the WorldBank, Palestinians are currently experiencing the worst economic depression in modern history. . . ." (1) Israel's previously well hidden (to American eyes) policy of ethnic cleansing by breaking the will of the Palestinian people so that they will emigrate into surrounding Arab lands is beginning to be clearly apparent to all. However, Palestinian will shows no signs of diminishing!

This has resulted in Palestinian violence becoming more and more likely. Meanwhile the United States Administration continues to heavily fund Israel, while giving only lip service towards a peaceful solution to this multiple tragedy, e.g., the moribund Road Map. (3)

Perhaps the present dire situation will at last force a re-imagining and rethinking of the original Zionist foundation of Israel. A new world understanding may yet be forming "that real peace can be found now only in one system of law that protects everyone [Jew and Arab] equally in one land." (2) The next three to six months may well see some form of fundamental change in the historic Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

                                                                    (11th November 2005)

Reference Sources

1. "A Dubai on the Mediterranean," by Sara Roy, London Review of Books,

     Nov. 3, 2005, pp. 15-18.

2. "Quisling and Occupier," by Virginia Tilley, Ibid., pp. 16-17.
3. "Sharon's West Bank Policy Leaves Little Role for the PA," Foundation For

     Middle East Peace, Supplement Report, Vol. 15, No. 6, Nov./Dec., 2005.

4. "In Fact," The Nation, Nov. 21, 2005, p. 8.

Click below to read the Arab Israeli Palestinian Tragedy Position Paper: http://www.members.aol.com/positionpaper/A-I-P_Tragedy_Position_Paper

Click below to visit the Arab Israeli Palestinian Tragedy Web site:

http://hometown.aol.com/positionpaper/aippeace.html

Tags: arab, israeli, palestinian, conflict, tragedy, war, middle east, israel, jewish state, jerusalem, zionism, zionist, israeli defense force, idf, palestine, occupied territory, occupied territories, gaza, gaza strip, west bank, settlements, syria, golan heights, arab backlash, islamist, palestine liberation organization, plo, anti semitic, anti-semitic, holocaust, nakba, ethnic cleansing, hamas, hezbollah, hizbollah, hizbullah, suicide attack, suicide bomb, mahmoud abbas, abu mazen, george bush, president bush, ariel sharon, ben gurion

|  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this