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The Forum > Article Comments > Obama - dancing with the devil in the West Bank > Comments

Obama - dancing with the devil in the West Bank : Comments

By David Singer, published 8/6/2010

Palestinian journalist, Khaled Amayreh, has indicated the direction America and Israel need to go to see a possible end to the conflict.

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David Singer wrote: “This unity of the Arab people living on both sides of the Jordan River needed to now be revived in Amayreh's view to prevent what he believed was to be the wholesale expulsion of the West Bank Arab population as well as the Israeli Arab population.”

There need be no expulsion of the West Bank and Israeli Arabs. There is a way to end the long conflict between Palestinian Arabs and Jews. Recognise their connection!

Get rid of the barriers that keep related peoples apart.

From Alla Katsnelson. Jews worldwide share genetic ties: But analysis also reveals close links to Palestinians and Italians." Nature.com (June 3, 2010)

"Different communities of Jews around the world share more than just religious or cultural practices -- they also have strong genetic commonalities, according to the largest genetic analysis of Jewish people to date. But the study also found strong genetic ties to non-Jewish groups, with the closest genetic neighbours on the European side being Italians, and on the Middle Eastern side the Druze, Bedouin and Palestinians.”

Give up the idea of a Jewish or a Palestinian state and work together to create a state which does not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity or religion.

Have one state with public schools which integrate all students regardless of ethnicity or religion. If parents want to send their children to other schools they or their religious organization must pay the cost - not the taxpayers. That is a good idea for Australia, too.

Have civil marriage. As it is now marriages must be approved by either Muslim, Jewish or Christian clergy. Let all marry who they will.

Go to school together. Work together. Live together. There is already too much separation. It is stupid to postulate more separation as a solution.

Tear down the walls. Create a new and vibrant nation by reuniting two related peoples!
Posted by david f, Tuesday, 8 June 2010 1:40:57 PM
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I entirely agree. Jordan has actually taken the bulk of the land granted the Palestinian People under the UN Plan. Egypt took the Gaza Strip off the Palestinians then too. Israel removed Egypt from Gaza & Jordan from the West Bank in 1967.

The Difficulty for the author is that the current Kings (King Abdullah II: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_II_of_Jordan), great-grandfather (Abdullah I:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_I_of_Jordan) was assassinated by a Palestinian, (his grandfather Talal abdicated due to health reasons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talal_of_Jordan) and his Father (King Hussein: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussein_of_Jordan) expelled (and killed) many Palestinians (which led to the formation of "Black September":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_September_%28group%29).

The level of distrust and hatred between the Palestinian Arabs and the Hashemite Bedu has not receded. How the fate of the two is kismet in a good way will take rather more explaining than was given in this article.

But back to the point, Israel has now handed back the vast majority of these lands (excluding some settlements and areas of defensive significance). Billions of dollars in aid have flowed into these areas.

During this period, with much less investment but with a great deal of hard work and fortitude (and a high degree of inventiveness - drip irrigation, t-tape, etc. are all Israeli designs), the Israeli's have converted the wasteland (as was described by the Palestinians) into a veritable oasis. They even mine the dead sea for minerals.

Meanwhile the Palestinians, giving life to the proverb you can give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach him how to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime, have achieved very little. Thus the only "real" source of income for those on the West Bank & Gaza is to work for Israeli employers (why they are 'forced' to endure the checkpoints, which wouldn't exist if they hadn't been abused).
Posted by Custard, Tuesday, 8 June 2010 5:34:27 PM
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The UN has been ineffectual in building for the future of the Palestinian people. The Jordanians have built quite a kingdom from even worse land, yet the Palestinians continue to blame everyone else for their lack of success. The aid is a constant because it is consumed directly, it does not build industry/farms for the future.

Sad as it is, they are stuck there by the fact that they chose to absent themselves from the Jewish controlled areas on the dates chosen by the UN (Check the original partition plan - if they absented themselves, they abandoned their property, so did the Jews who absented themselves), thus they abandoned their belongings/lands/etc. The reason they did so, was the call by the United Arab Armies to get out of the way, so they could destroy the fledgling State (in 1948). The Arab armies lost and these people lost out badly too.

Why has nothing been done? Why do those from the West Bank & Gaza continue to live in abject poverty? Is it because Israel & the World haven't given them enough assistance? Enough advice?

No. The simplest answer possible is that their fellow Arabs, and then their Leaders, have chosen to convince them not to allow themselves to settle into the areas granted them by the UN. The aim was to instill in them a hatred of Israel that will act as a constant slur upon that Country. It is not unique in this regard, the farmers in the Kashmir Valley live in very similar circumstances, and the same happens in Afghanistan, telling the people that they OWN that land (the spurious "right of return"), so they shouldn't improve the land they have.

How to improve their lot? Try and convince them that armed struggle is not going to get them what they want. I had high hopes that HAMAS, the party least involved in the corruption in the region and which built its name on humanitarian work, might be the answer. It still may, Menachem Begin was a terrorist (leader of the Irgun) and won a Nobel Peace Prize.
Posted by Custard, Tuesday, 8 June 2010 5:50:39 PM
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"Why do those from the West Bank & Gaza continue to live in abject poverty?" asks Custard.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that they've been under brutal occupation since 1967. That's 43 years, Custard, during which time the Palestinians been subjected to assassinations, checkpoints, house demolitions, sieges, attacks from tanks, helicopters, F-16s, warships, etc.

Their children have been shot in the head by Israeli snipers, their farms have been taken for new Israeli settlements, concrete walls have been built to divide them. They've been starved, had their taxes stolen, had their children imprisoned without charge, etc, to say nothing about the constant humiliation they've received from their cruel occupiers.

It's a shame that you and the other Israeli-apologists on OLO don't know (or don't want to know) what has been going on in the West Bank and Gaza otherwise you wouldn't ask such a silly question or continue to laud the racist, imperial rogue nation that is Israel.

http://www.dangerouscreation.com
Posted by David G, Tuesday, 8 June 2010 8:12:58 PM
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DAvid G has nailed it....

"Brutal Occupation" yep..that's the unambiguous verdict of history... absolutely zero provocation or invasions by Arabs.. nope..not a one.

Onya David.. I'll expect to see you at Druids house next thursday right?

Oh..speaking of 'that' mob.. here is there though about how the future might work out.

"Why we need a revolution to get socialism"

//That is why socialists don’t see the struggles for reform and revolution as counterposed; there’s a dynamic relationship between the two.
Only a revolution by the mass of workers which mobilises their collective power can sweep aside the machinery of capitalism, and only the process of revolution has the potential to equip workers – by providing them with the experience, lessons and unity – to build socialism, a society for the liberation of all.//

So..David.. where do we sign up for our part in your glorious socialist revolution ? Then we can FIX that scummy Israel and alll those pesky JOOOS.

DAVID F has another brilliant solution. "forget all the barriers" :)

Onya David.. I'll expect the Nobel peace prize announcement for that totally workable suggestion by the end of the year.
Posted by ALGOREisRICH, Tuesday, 8 June 2010 9:01:17 PM
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Dear davidf,

Great post.

The only reason I now come to a David Singer piece is to do a quick search to see if yet again he has managed to write a thousand words on the Palestinian/Israeli conflict without once using the word Palestinian/s himself.

Yet again he has not disappointed as was the case in the last five of his offerings.

You can tell those intent on disappearing a people when they refuse even to use their name.
Posted by csteele, Tuesday, 8 June 2010 10:29:48 PM
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