Concessions Israel Has Made In The Name Of Peace

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                    

IDF Paratroopers first time on the Temple Mount to see Herod's Western Wall in 1967.  Ever since 1948, the area was kept from Jews by Jordan.  

1. Immediately when the Six Day War of 1967 ended, and Israel had won the battle, Israel offered to return almost all the land it had won in that self defensive war in exchange for peace. This Six Day War lasted from the 5th to the 11th of June,1967.  

The Arabs responded to this offer from Kartoum, Africa with their 3 famous NOs.  No peace, No negotiations, and No recognition of Israel.  

Abba Eban, Israel's Foreign Minister commented, "this is the first war in history which has ended with the victors suing for peace (Israel), and the vanquished calling for unconditional surrender (Arabs).                               

2. Ten years plus later, when Egyptian President Anwar Sadat promised that his country would recognize Israel's right to exist and  establish diplomatic relations if it returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, Israel, led by right-wing Prime Minister Menachem Begin, returned the Sinai in its entirety.  The Sinai War lasted from October 29 until November 5, 1956.  It took 7 days to end.  This had been a war where Russia had meddled, supplying military equipment to Egypt and Syria which increased their military strength.  This was fought to remove the threat and break the Egyptian blockade against Israel.  They had barred the Suez Canal and the Gulf of Eilat to navigation to and from Israel.  

  President Anwar Sadat, President Jimmy Carter of USA and PM Menacham Begin of Likud party  in Peace Pact

 Sinai was 3 times as large as Israel;  made up 91% of the land the Jewish state had captured in the Six Day War.  Israel also gave up the oil field it had developed in Sinai, which would have saved Israel billions of dollars each year on oil and enabled it to become largely energy dependent.  

The Sinai was the mountain where Moses received the Law.  It's also the name of the surrounding desert where the Israelites encamped and received most of the directions (Exod 19:2) and later to the entire peninsula between Egypt and Palestine.  The Sinai Desert is the peninsula between the two branches of the Red Sea.  Throughout its history, it was crossed by the Israelites after the Exodus from Egypt.  It was captured by Israel from Egypt at the time of the Sinai Operation of 1956 but evacuated shortly afterwards.  It was again captured by the Israel army in the Six-Day War of 1967 and evacuated following the Camp David Agreements.  

At Camp David in the summer of 2000, the Labor Party's Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel offered Yasser Arafat of the PLO more than 95% of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) AND part of Israel proper.  He did this to make up for the % of Judea Samaria it was not returning due to the Jewish population already living there, so that the Palestinians could establish a Palestinian state.

Arafat not only rejected the offer, he then launched the 2nd intifada during which the Jews of Israel, civilians especially, were targeted for death by suicide/homicide bombers.

Israel's compromise came before their very existence as an independent state.  In 1947, before Israel's birth, the Jewish land was to be turned into a Jewish and Arab state, with Jerusalem  to be internationalized.  This is when Jews were the majority population.

The Arabs rejected this proposal, and then started attacking the Jewish community in Palestine, and when Israel announced their creation on May 14, 1948, they launched more attacks, considered as war, with the aim to destroy them. This was called the War of Independence that started on November 29, 1947 and lasted until the signing of the Armistice Agreements in 1949.       

Then there was the War of Attrition that lasted from 1968 until the resumption of the cease-fire on August 7th and 8th of 1970.  Considering all the concessions that Israel has made, the opposition never considered doing likewise, like ending the fight.  They have never conceded a thing.  That's why we've been at a stalemate.  

In fact, we've had the Yom Kippur War since 1967, when the Arabs attacked on our most holy day which includes a 25 hour fast and attendance at the synagogue for most of the day.  They knew they would have the advantage.  However, they lost that one, too, which took place in 1973.   It was an armed conflict fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria.                   

       Even the periods between the wars were interspersed with clashes along the frontier lines.  Arab terrorist organizations, collectively known as Fidayun, and supported by Arab Governments, made forays into Israel, engaging in acts of terrorism and sabotage. Even today, they still shoot rockets and missiles into Israel on a daily basis.  The nearby hospital has had to work in the basement, and they treat everyone, including Palestinians.  I must say that the Golden Rule of not treating people in a way you wouldn't want to be treated, is not working on all the Palestinians.  There has always been the element of terrorists who do not give up. 

The frustrating fact seen is that the families of killers are given large payments of money by Iraq and Saudi Arabia.  In addition, not only are the bombers themselves promised a reward for murdering Israelis and other Jews, but that they will also ascend to a high place in heaven where they will be served by 72 virgins.  

The Arab states occupy 5,414,000 square miles, compared with 8,290 square miles  for Israel in its per-1967 borders that Obama wanted them to return to, and a little over 10,000 square miles if one includes Judea and Samaria. 

Israel occupies less than 1/600 of the land occupied by the 21 Arab states.  This shows Israel's willingness to cede more than 97% of the land it captured in a war of self-defense as a remarkable feat.   Was it  folly or wisdom that in their desperate pursuit of peace, they had returned or offered to return, more than 97% of the land captured in 1967 in addition to much of Judea and Samaria, and the Golan Heights which was lost by Syria in its war in attacking Israel.

 These places shall remain in Israel's hands now.   That offer should  be off the table.  It's too late.  Judea and Samaria are the history, the heart of soul of Judaism and must be in Jewish hands.  Palestinians had their chance.  This is my opinion, anyway.   

Jordan is made up mostly of Palestinians so there's already one Palestine called Jordan.  Israel would have to deal with a second with both wanting to destroy their tiny state.  This 2nd is already divided in half between Gaza's Hamas rulers and the PA leadership. 

                   

    Jews are not to hurt the feelings of the cow, so certainly are to learn not to harm people.  This is what the law of kashrut does for their morality.  They know that animals have feelings.                   

The Palestinians, in my opinion, are just darned lucky that Jews are concerned with morality, and  in not treating others as they would not want to be treated.  It's the only country in the world where this is #1 on their list of goals.  I don't think they could take life under Syria as it was, and after all, they were the Syrian Palestinians. Yet the Palestinians keep churning out maps showing a Palestine including Tel Aviv, Haifa, and all the rest of Israel. As long as they have such goals, may they never have that  2nd Palestine.      

Resource:

Book: Why The Jews?  by Dennis Prager & Rabbi Joseph Telushkin

facts about Israel from  Division of Information, Ministry for foreign affairs, Jerusalem