Should Israel renounce violence and accept Palestine's right to exist?

Question

Given the pressures put on the new Palestinian coalition to renounce violence and accept Israel's right to exist, shouldn't the people of the US (who pay for Israel's army) demand that Israel commit to peace, abandon land acquired through war and work with its neighbors towards a lasting peace? + Given the US opposition to racially exclusive states such as the Nazi government, Apartheid in South Africa and Jim Crow in the South; Shouldn't the US push for democracy and diversity in Israel through the acceptance of UN resolutions on the right of war refugees to return to their homeland? Is peace desirable or should the US population fund occupation in Palestine for the benefit of an expansionist Israel?

http://www.btselem.org/english/Statistics/Casualties.asp
This is the data on fatalities during the current Intinfadah; from B'Tselem which is a respected Israeli watchdog. The figures are 3968 palestinian civilians killed by Israeli forces in the occupied terrirtories and 469 Israeli civilians killed by Palestinians in Israel. Of the Palestinian casualties, 338 (8.5%) were "collateral damage" during a targeted killing (210 or 5.2% were the victim of targeted killings). 1933 of the 3968 Palestinian civilian casualties inside the territories (48%) did not "take part in the hostilities".
The ratio of civilian casualties Palestinian to Israeli is 5:1. Israel kills five times as many Palestinians in their land as Palestinians kill Israelis in Israel.
It is simply not a valid answer to accuse the Palestinians of being the aggressors. Screaming "thief!" is not going to undo the fact that Israel is the leading aggressor, Palestine is covered by Israeli settlements and not the other way

Answer 1

The problem is that Israel is never happy with what it gets...In 1993 the Palestinian recognized Israel in the borders from 1967,renouncing at more then 70% of the land they were entitled after the partition plan...Israel didn't recognized the right of the Palestinians to have a state...Let's not even talk about the right of the Palestinians refugees to come back to their lands...because Israel reminded everyone last year,at the UN summit ,that there is no chance of something like this to happen...
So Palestinians recognized Israel and everyone is still waiting for Israel to recognized the Palestinians...When will this happen?Who knows...But we still ask the Palestinians to recognize Israel,again...Israel is ignoring 72 UN resolutions,three of them asking for it to renounce at its illegal occupation of the territories annexed in 1967 and asking them to allow Palestinians to have a state...Meanwhile they keep building settlement on Palestinian land,again ignoring international law...
As for renouncing violence...well this is something both parts need to do...None of them is innocent and too many innocent civilians have lost their lives in this fight...Violence only leads to more violence and it never solves anything...
And let me remind you how Abbas was elected and how Hamas were elected...There was a democratic vote...

Answer 2

Of course, Israel should renounce violence and accept Palestoine's right to exist. This is an essential requirement for peace. The Palestinians always give up their rights becuase they are forced to do this under the Israeli and the World's pressure. Israel never gave up anything and will not in the future. Israel denies the Palestinian right to exist and to have an independent state and will deny it forever. Now, it looks like that peace is hiding behind the Palestinians and Israel is just waiting for the Palestinians to release it. All of us heard that Israel wants its abducted soldier back, but no one mentioned the 9,800 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, why?
The USA is doing nothing but supporting Israel. What Israel has been working on (seizing lands and building settlements) since 1967 will not be given up.
I -as a Palestinian- want these:
1) Tear down the apartheid wall.
2) Israelis withdrawal from the West bank.
3) Evacuate all the settlements in the West Bank (without any acception).
4) Cut all ties between the Israeli and the Palestinian economy.
5) Palestinian absolute control at the West Bank's borders
I bet that Israel will not do anything of those. You will see, just wait, it's a matter of time.

Answer 3

Excuse me!

Don't you mean, shouldn't the Palestinians renounce violence and accept Israel's right to exist?

Haven't the Israelis tried many times to make peace with the Palestinians? (Camp David, Oslo Accords, Road Map for Peace, and others).

And isn't the problem always that the Palestinians refuse even to consider that Israel has the right to exist? Even when the Israelis were ready to turn over half of Jerusalem in exchange for peace (a swap I would never have considered) Arafat's reply was to start a new war or "intifada"? Isn't it the policy of the current Hamas regime that it wants to push the Jews into the sea?

If the Palestinians could get their heads around the fact that their problems will never be solved by terrorism and war, I think we'd have peace in the Middle East very fast!

Answer 4

No
Here is why each and everytime Israel has given up land in a land for peace move they get more sucide bombers.

So why should they even give an inch now after giving in. The good jester now belongs to the Palestinians.

Lets us not forget when Palestinians attack they target women and children while Israel targets the leader and when the target a leader the women and children surround the terrorist leader in hopes of being kills so people like you will weap for Palestine.

Answer 5

Sure and we should accept Muslims here who wish to kill us and and ignore facts and accept lies.
People vote in Israel thats democracy. There are Black and white, Christian, Jew and Muslim there thats diversity. Israel is one of the few countries that has won a war and given back territory, it did them no good and they are no more secure than they were before. Its not Israel that sends in suicide bombers its those 'peaceful' Palestinians that kill at restaurants and bus stops. Israel would have to be crazy to take on such a large, poor, undisciplined, antagonistic group of people under some idea of war refugee return. Israel is only the size of New Jersey its surrounded by vast lands already in Muslim hands, not one hand of which has offered in sixty years to aid their 'brothers'.
Look at all the trouble Muslims have caused in so many countries and its easy to see why no country in its right mind would willingly take on more. London Tube Bombs, Bali explosions etc all take a toll on your naive ideas.
Until the new government in Palestine they also received US aid as do Egypt and Jordan. Lets see some movement from Palestine toward peace, backed up by action before we put another country at risk

Answer 6

Israel recognised the right of Palestinians to their own state decades ago. they agreed to it, let the PA come nto existence as a model for a future Palestinian government, pulled out of Gaza and so on. In returnt he terorrists have attacked them, blown up babies and children for the horrendous crimes of being at weddings or pizza porlours, shot missiles at Israeli towns/villages/schools (six so far today...)

Bottom line- when Hams decides to give up its genocidal agenda and its anti-Semitic policies (read their charter- its online and blatant about their aims), their will be a chance at peace. As long as the Palestinians have leaders dedicated to the genocide of the Jews and creating a nice little Judenrein state of their own, there will be no peace.

Answer 7

Boy are your views of this out to lunch. If Israel was truly an expansionist state they never would have left the lands they had occupied. It isn't Israel that lobs rockets over the border to kill indiscriminately.
These radical Islamists won't be satisfied until Islam has total domination of the world. And I have never heard any high profile person of Islam condemn the actions being taken by these radicals.
If Muslims don't like how they are being viewed then they need to stand up to these radicals and do something about their terrorist ways. It's called social responsibility.

Answer 8

FACT IS:

Muslims---NOT Jews are the violent ones in the middle east.
Islamic people are violent because they hate being told "NO".
Israel has the guts to stand up to the Islamic lunatic fringe and get killed for their troubles.
I'm not a Jew but can see quite clearly that they have been unjustly accused for all the woes in the world---something that anti-semites have done since the earliest days.
As for you Muslims out there:
YOU are responsible for you and your people's own image at home and abroad.
You are responsible for the face that people see when Muslims are talked about or seen in public.
If your group acts like savages...people will see you as savages.
If you do not like the image and name that people are attributing to you and yours, it is your responsibility to change it.

It's called Social Accountability.

Learn it.

Answer 9

The idea of a Zionist Jewish state is violent itself. a state with no constitution with no bill of rights a state which itself a racial state. Its like calling the USA a WASP state. occupation itself is another form violence and if there is no occupation there is no violence.

Answer 10

mmm, lets rephrase that question.
Should Palastinian's renounce violence and accept Israel's right to exist?
Of course, but they just can't seem to do that.