To Israelis! Question about the Middle East Conflict.?

Question

So the situation between you and your neighbors is pretty bad.
Wouldnt ya say??

You say they are terrorists, they say you are terrorists.
They say they want their land back from your illegal occupation of it, you say its "not theirs" and is "not on the table" (The Palestinian West Bank (Your annexing large parts of it, The Syrian Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, the Lebanese Shebaa Farms, the Gaza Strip which Sharon gave up))

You say the Arabs "don't want Peace" yet while there were no suicide bombers, or Palestinian attacks against Israel, Israel was still killing Palestinians (The Gaza Beach Massacre comes to mind).

So here is the question.

Why doesn't Israel just move back to the 1967 Borders and Finally sign a Peace treaty with all the Arabs???

The Arabs have proposed this many times but Israel has always either rejected it or ignored it.

As in, Why won't you give up or give back the Entire West Bank, Including East Jerusalem, The Golan Heights and Shebaa Farms??

That would settle your conflict with the Arabs.

Answer 1

Israel already offered what you suggest and it was turned down by none other than Arafat.
The Arabs want ALL of Israel--just doing a tiny bit of research would show you that.

Israel is not rich in oil. Nor are they Arabs concerned with tourism or they would not have allowed the areas they control to turn into armed camps.

No one was kicked out--they left--the Arabs that stayed are now citizens of a democratic country.

I really find it interesting that when this subject is brought up the fact that prior to the creation of the State of Israel and before that Israel was a waste land with the exception of a few Jewish communities. The Arab population were no-mads and both peoples got along.

No one can find or show any evidence of a Palestinian country--ever.

Answer 2

The Palestinians and other Arab communities are paying the price for the European treatment of Jews. It sucks for the Arabs. The Allies should have let the Nazis go ahead and cleanse all of the Jews in Europe. Then we would not have this whole Palestine-Israel debacle. It is a complex issue, and, depending on ones point of view, even the "facts" of the matter can be disputed. One fact, which is not disputable, however, is that since '48, the Jews have been taking more and more Palestinian/Arab land. Just yesterday on CNBC World, there was a story about the Jews taking bids to see which construction/building company will be used to expand illegal Jewish settlements in Occupied Palestine. It makes me sick. And, I'll bet we Americans are probably helping to expand those illegal colonies. I'm not an Arab or Muslim, by the way. I think Jews who respond to these types of questions should identify themselves as such. You should read "Beyond Chutzpah" by Norman Finkelstein. Also, there's a good documentary on Google Video called "Peace, Propaganda, and The Promise Land." You should check it out.

Answer 3

Because we don't trust that the Arabs will suddenly be peaceful if we agree on that. There will still always be terrorist groups sending suicide bombers into Israel. Unfortuanately, The Arab world will not give up until they "push us into the sea."

Answer 4

This answer is not so much for the Asker as it is for the numerous uninformed or should I say ill-informed armchair observers of the situation in the Middle East. Here are some suggestions for those of you with the intellectual courage or even curiosty to allow your views to be challenged.
Read one or some of the following. Note these are written by Israeli Jews and one european.
1. The Other Side of Israel by Susan Nathan.
2. Scars of War Wounds of Peace. by schlomo ben ami.
3.Israel /Palestine by Tanya reinhart.
4.The West Bank Wall. by Ray Dolphin
Forgot to mention that Dr ben ami is an ex Israeli Foreign Minister,

Answer 5

current situation is Israel want to keep land that was never part of Israel. There is not one country" including the USA" is willing to recognize the Israeli annexation of the land. The Middle East will never be peaceful without ending the Israeli occupation. This is the conclusion also of the UN, EU, Backer-Hamilton report, and President Carter new book. No one could NOT change his mind unless he has no mind. Occupying other people by force is losing policy in the past and now and has no future.

Answer 6

You are obviously quite young. I would like to ask you, if the various arab peoples attack israel SOLELY because of the occupation of lands captured in '67, then what was the cause for war IN 1967 which led to said capture? Or for that matter, why were the arab countries so intent on war from the get-go (1948)? I assume you cannot blame the capture of lands 20 years later to justify the Israeli war of independance. With regards 1967, Israel was obviously fighting a defensive battle and did not initiate the conflict (while it is true that Israel pre-emptively fired the first shot, Egypt had already blockaded the Eilat port, which is a declaration of war). Further, Israel beseeched Jordan not to get involved, yet Jordan attacked Israel first resulting in the taking of the west bank. As for Israel not giving back land for peace, the Sinai peninsula was also captured in 67 but was bartered for peace with Egypt. My point up to now is that war predates "land-grabbing" and to assume that returning land = peace is young and foolish.
As for why not give it back: first of all you say "back" as in to return it. I remind you that there has never been a sovereign "Palestine" or for that matter an autonomous country in the current land of Israel between the existences of Jewish countries. Who exactly should Israel give these lands "back" to? The West Bank was Jordanian, not palestinian, and Jordan in no way wants it back. Jordan's history with palestinians is worse than Israel's. The Golan Heights are of neccessary economic and strategic import to Israel. Syria has a history of unprovoked violence towards Israel, and cannot be trusted with such a strong position.
For last I ask: What does "give back" mean? Assuming Israel could trust its neighbors and wanted to make peace, where does that leave Israelis who already live over the border? Are they to be dragged out of their homes, to have their houses and livelihoods burned to the ground? I assume that if there was a vision for peace where palestinians were similarly dragged from their homes and thrown into Jordan for example, you would be quite upset. I assume you would cry human rights violations.
In response to your intro:
1. If they say we are "terrorists" they are ignorant, but I assume that is you. Israel is a country with a military and therefore cannot be "terrorists". The Israeli military is comprised of soldiers, who do not hide among civilians, rather walk around in uniform. Soldiers cannot be terrorists. That is an absurd notion. You can accuse soldiers and a country of guerrilla tactics perhaps, or unneccessary violence, cruelty, abominations etc. but terrorism? Come on. Don't overuse words.
2. They do not say they want their land back. Perhaps some small minority who are considered moderates say that, but the palestinians elected Hamas, a party that openly advocates the destruction of Israel not peace, in a landslide victory. To me that means they are saying "destroy Israel" but I guess some of us are hard of hearing.
3. I wonder how you can say Israel says it is "not on the table" yet in the very same sentence mention Israel conceding some of it (Gaza). To me that seems to imply that it is in on the table...
4. How do you define no "suicide bombers" or "attacks against Israel"? As I recall the supposed Gaza Beach "Massacre" of which evidence strongly suggests Israel is not at fault over by the way, occured during an offensive to stop kassam rocket fire. Perhaps rocket attacks don't count?
5. I do not recall any recent time where one could stipulate reliably that there were no palestinian attacks against Israel. As I recall the lines "...the Hudna, which was largely kept.." and so forth. How does one "largely" or "mostly" keep a cease-fire (Hudna)? Even during supposed Hudna, there were still attacks.

In short the situation is a complex one, and you sir show an obvious lack of hindsight, foresight and even current-sight.

Answer 7

I'm not Israeli, and I don't have time to go through the numerous fact free statements in your "question", but I saw one thing that I thought was very telling of you.
You say: "...yet while there were no suicide bombers, or Palestinian attacks against Israel, Israel was still killing Palestinians (The Gaza Beach Massacre comes to mind)."

For starters, that is not true. Even though suicide bombing has been greatly reduced (last year there were "only" two "successful" bombings) attacks or attempted attacks against Israeli targets have continued unabated. The problem with many of these cases is that you rarely hear about them until someone gets killed.
Secondly, and this is the more insiduous part... you say the Gaza Beach Massacre comes to mind. Well, the circumstances surrounding that case was the following: 1) The Israelis, at the time, were engaged in a fight with terrorists 2) The beach was mined 3) Investigations showed that it was unlilkely that they were killed by Israeli munitions.
So, what we have here is an incident in which Israel was probably not responsible for and even if they were, was what most would consider understandable in light of the fact that a firefight was going on and that Israel apologized for anything they may have been responsible for.
And yet you do a comparison with the "other side" which a) deliberately targets civilians b) admits they deliberately target civilians and c) claims they are fully justified in doing so.
This is what is insiduous.

Answer 8

I think the problem has 3 aspects:
1. Religious people in Israel who have an important influence will not accept that because it is contrary to their interpretation of Judaism
2. Because the majority of Israelis are paranoid and they believe that whatever is said or done by the world is against them
3. Because the extremists on the other side of the borders and in farther countries too, like Iran, do not make them feel trustful, thus fueling their paranoia.

Conclusion: it is a dead lock caused by extremists on both sides

Answer 9

right now in Palestine there is Fatah that has no problem recognizing Israel and there is hamas who wants Israel out no matter what. a few months ago hamas and Israel had a peace agreement so Israel was clearing out of Gaza but hamas started shooting rockets towards sderot( a city in Israel) and that was the end of the peace, but then everyone started blaming Israel for not wanting peace wit the Palestinians.the land that Israel captured during war was fair and it now belongs to Israel

Answer 10

The Israelis are allowed to tell 50% of the truth. Land for peace means land for peace there is no or buts about it.

Answer 11

Once again I CONGRATULATE Yasser for his honesty and his brilliance on this subject. You obviously and many others like you need a real education as to what is really going on over there. There wouldn't be any problems over there if all Muslims were like Yasser!!!! (I am American and jewish but I have Muslim friends and we actually have many similiarities to each others religious cultures). At Haddassah Hospital in Israel EVERYONE works and "lives" side by side in peace. It's a shame that outside of that small environment there is no such word as Peace (Shalom/Salom)!!!!