The problem with this simplisatic solution is that it fails to take account of the issue of the boundaries of Israel and the one million settlers on the West Bank. You can't have a state, whether Jordan or Palestine, with the settlements as they are, and still growing. Nor can Israel live behind a wall for ever. Walls simply do not work in the long run. Remember the Bantustans in South Africa because that's what the West Bank map looks like, with all the bits scattered here and there trying to separate people ? Anyone who has been there, to both sides, knows it cannot go on like this, but whatever the solution, it must take into account Israel's right to exist as well as Palestinian aspirations for statehood in their own land.

The two demands - perpetuation of a national homeland in a militarised enclave in Palestine for the world’s Jews and demilitarisation of the rest of Palestine, are unsustainable in the long term because they lack justice.

The world’s Jews already have national homelands like the rest of us - the countries in which they are born or freely accepted as immigrants. What is so uniquely special about the world’s Jews that doesn’t apply to the world’s Celts, or the world’s Slavs, or the world’s Africans or any other group to be entitled to a racist homeland in someone else’s territory?

And demilitarised Palestine? Why should Palestine agree to remain naked among wolves?

The only just, non-racist and sustainable solution can be RETURN – the exiles free to return to their own homeland and the settlers made to return to theirs (or stay subject to majority permission as individual immigrants or find countries prepared to accept them as such).

Dear Julian,

I do hope that you extend the same level of sympathy and justice for Tibet, subject to cruel Chinese occupation. The Tibetans, despite their enormous suffering, never bombed or shot Chinese civilians, murdered Chinese tourists and athletes overseas or launched home-made rockets into Chinese cities.

<<What is so uniquely special about the world’s Jews that doesn’t apply to the world’s Celts>>

Judaism is not a religion, never was. It is a national-identity (often guised as a religion for tactical reasons). I do not identify with the Jewish nation any more than I identify with the Chinese, but one must see facts for what they are.

<<The only just, non-racist and sustainable solution can be RETURN>>

First let me give you the news: no solution is sustainable!

The world is in constant flux and ebb. We all are on a journey to our graves, and so are nations. None will stand forever.

As for justice, how just would it be if we looked down your family roots and forcibly returned you to the country of origin of your grand-grand-dad? The vast majority of Israelis were born and spent their childhood there - how just is it to kick people out of their homes?

As for non-racism, please keep up the good work on anti-Chinese forums.
(and BTW, do let us know if you come across a person who is truly devoid of racism)

----

As for the article itself, all I can say is that though the Palestinians are hopeless, so are the Israelis - they keep digging themselves in, ever more tragically entangled with their past actions and slogans. The ones who suffer most from the Israeli occupation are the Israelis themselves!

#To Pedr Fardd

The Jewish settlements take up no more than 2% of the area of the West Bank. It is pointless to speculate on the success or otherwise of negotiations to establish permanent and recognized borders if there are no negotiations.

Offers by Israel to cede more than 90% of the West Bank in 2000/2001 and 2008 have been rejected by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the PA shows no willingness to return to those negotiations unconditionally.

#To Emperor Julian

The aim of negotiations is to end the need for a "militarized enclave" brought about by the expressed aim of both Hamas and the PLO wanting to wipe the Jewish state off the map.

Whilst that threat remains - the need for demilitarization to prevent any attempt to try and carry out that threat is not unreasonable.

The Arabs have 21 national homelands and are part of the Islamic world that boasts 56 homelands.

Continuing to deny the Jews the right to reconstitute one Jewish National Home in their biblical, historical and legally recognized homeland has brought nothing but death and suffering to both Jews and Arabs.

It seems as if you have nothing constructive to offer to end that sad situation.

Is that why you post anonymously?