Dear Bazz,

<<I am confused, if Jordan, the undisputed holder of the west bank
ceded it to Israel, that is conclusive I presume.>>

IF, then so, but Jordan did not cede the West Bank to Israel: it simply relinquished it and declared that it no longer has anything to do with it.

King Hussein was a very wise man and I believe that Israel too should follow his example and do the same!

Yuyutsu, I would imagine that if it was an official government to
government treaty, contract or whatever it would be similar to the sale
of Alaska to the USA.

Re King Hussein, I spoke to him on the radio once and had a conversation
for about 20 minutes. It was halfway throuh the contact when I realised
with whom I was talking. He never said anything and neither did I after I realised who he was.
Also had a very brief contact with PM Rhiva Nerhu about six months
before he was assassinated.
Once heard King Carlos but did not make contact.
Barry Goldwater the US Senator was an interesting contact. Quite a
character, he spent a lot of time handling messages for US troops
and US people in Antarctica in the days before satcoms and internet everywhere.
Bit like masons and railway workers, we are everywhere !
Ah well enough reminiscing !

Dear Bazz,

You are very fortunate to have spoken with King Hussein - he was one person I admired.

It seems like a lot of the discussion has moved off from Australia moving out of the Security Council, but here I hesitate to add in my own personal views in mind of how sensitive the issue is. But I do personally feel that there are a lot of issues that are yet to come out of storage and make it easier to vote on what needs to be done. Both sides of the fight have certain points and histories that make a clear cut decision difficult....