Prime Minister Netanyahu is being pressured from all sides, and especially the Obama Administration, to restart peace talks and give up Judea and Samaria for a Palestinian state. The pleas come shrouded in willful ignorance that there is no true Arab Palestinian people, and the Arabs making the demands are less interested in land and peace than they are that Israel has no right to exist. Let’s get real. These four facts lend clarity to what is clouded by politics and emotion.
Fact 1: There is no such thing as an Arab “Palestinian.” Before Israel’s statehood in 1948, the name "Palestinian" meant a Jewish person living in that land, not an Arab. The word Palestinian became associated with Arabs only later, when Yasser Arafat artificially created a new so-called nation of Arab "Palestinians," many of whom came from and have direct relatives in neighboring countries, such as Jordan or Egypt. By 1948 enough Jewish people had returned to the land to establish the modern Jewish state of Israel. So all the world should know that there never was a "Palestinian Arab" state, nor even a "Palestinian Arab" people. They should know that all the Arabs living in the Israeli territories came from neighboring Arab states.
Fact 2: There is no opportunity for peace without Israel’s recognized right to exist. Israel has offered at least three times some 97 percent of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) to the Arabs, and each time the Arabs have refused. Netanyahu concludes that the Israeli-Arab conflict is not about real estate, but rather about the explicit right of a Jewish state to exist. "It is over our existence in any borders whatsoever," he stressed.
Fact 3: Jewish settlers have greatly improved their traditional land of Judea and Samaria. Arabs claim that the Jews have stolen their land when in reality the Jewish people who have built beautiful homes and thriving communities in the areas known as Judea and Samaria have simply rebuilt the towns and villages of their forefathers. The international community also calls these settlers, "occupiers," and charges them with being obstacles to peace by seizing land that belongs to the so-called "Palestinian Arabs." They obviously blind themselves to the fact that there never was a "Palestinian Arab" state on that land. The original idea of a "Palestinian Arab" state only arose in 1993 with the Oslo Accords. Prior to that the land was basically undeveloped swamp land until Jewish people started returning to the land around 1900 in the Zionist movement.
Fact 4: True and lasting peace between Israel and the Arabs is unachievable until the Arabs agree to become a legitimate partner for peace. Netanyahu has pointed to the hostile rhetoric of Hamas, coupled with "Palestinian Arab" leader Mahmoud Abbas'' efforts to reconcile with the terrorist group, as the primary reason that such peace is simply not possible. Last summer in Gaza Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal spoke to thousands of Gazans declaring that "Palestine is our land and nation, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River, from the north to the south, and we will not cede one inch of it." He went on to insist that political, diplomatic and legal efforts to achieve control of the land "must be coupled with violence." He stressed that all non-violent methods are "senseless."
Clearly those calling themselves "Arab Palestinians" want to take and take but are unwilling to give. Without a rational, realistic and fair peace partner, any rational mind should understand there is no hope for a successful and peaceful two-state solution which makes continued peace talks simply a "senseless" waste of time.