Palestine - Will Acceptance Ever Replace Rejection?

The expulsion of Israel’s ambassador from Turkey and the forced withdrawal of Israel’s entire diplomatic corps from Egypt have become the catalysts to ensure further virulent assaults on the Jewish people at the Durban 111 Conference on Racism to be held in New York next week and the UN meeting shortly thereafter to possibly consider a resolution calling for the recognition of a Palestinian Arab State. Both of these meetings will set the stage for further violent confrontations between Israel and its neighbours unless steps are taken to end the Jewish people being singled out, vilified and dehumanised in an orgy of Jew-hatred to virtually the exclusion of any other human rights abuses taking place around the world at the very time these meetings are taking place.

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In the circumstances attendees at both these meetings would do well to reflect that the world would be a very different place in 2011 - not only in the Middle East but world-wide - had the Arab League encouraged the Palestinian Arabs to accept any of the following opportunities to create a second Palestinian Arab State in former Palestine (in addition to Jordan):

• When recommended by the UN General Assembly on November 29, 1947 pursuant to Resolution 181
• At any time between 1948-1967 after all Jews living in Gaza, West Bank and East Jerusalem had been driven from their homes by six invading Arab armies in the 1948 War
• When offered by Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 2001 during negotiations at Camp David chaired by President Clinton
• When offered by Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in negotiations during 2008

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The major common stumbling block that has seen these opportunities fly out the window has been - and still remains - the refusal of the Arabs to accept any Jewish sovereign presence in the Jewish people’s ancient biblical and modern day legally sanctioned homeland as designated by the League of Nations and the United Nations. Continuing Arab hatred and resentment of the Jewish people daring to have the political and intestinal fortitude to lobby for and come home to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in their historic homeland after 2000 years of dispersion and persecution has become too bitter a pill for the Arabs to swallow. Arab denial of any right to a Jewish homeland in former Palestine is writ large in the Hamas and PLO Charters. Article 11 of the Hamas Charter declares:

“Palestine is an Islamic Waqf The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine has been an Islamic Waqf throughout the generations and until the Day of Resurrection, no one can renounce it or part of it, or abandon it or part of it. No Arab country nor the aggregate of all Arab countries, and no Arab King or President nor all of them in the aggregate, have that right, nor has that right any organization or the aggregate of all organizations, be they Palestinian or Arab, because Palestine is an Islamic Waqf throughout all generations and to the Day of Resurrection.”

Do those who call for the lifting of the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza share these views - which obviously were endorsed by Gazan Arabs themselves when voting Hamas into power? Article 15 urges the slaughter of Jews by jihad:

“When our enemies usurp some Islamic lands, Jihad becomes a duty binding on all Muslims. In order to face the usurpation of Palestine by the Jews, we have no escape from raising the banner of Jihad. This would require the propagation of Islamic consciousness among the masses on all local, Arab and Islamic levels. We must spread the spirit of Jihad among the [Islamic] Umma, clash with the enemies and join the ranks of the Jihad fighters.”

Will this racist hatred rate a mention at Durban 111? Will those attending who have been seen embracing Hamas leaders and officials dare to utter a word of condemnation? The PLO is scarcely better in its Jew-hating Charter. Articles 1,2 and 3 make it clear that Jews have no national rights in former Palestine- which belongs to the Arabs and no one else.

Article 1: Palestine is the homeland of the Arab Palestinian people; it is an indivisible part of the Arab homeland, and the Palestinian people are an integral part of the Arab nation. Article 2: Palestine, with the boundaries it had during the British Mandate, is an indivisible territorial unit. Article 3: The Palestinian Arab people possess the legal right to their homeland and have the right to determine their destiny after achieving the liberation of their country in accordance with their wishes and entirely of their own accord and will.

Whilst the Arabs constitute a nation, the same recognition is not extended to the Jews - as the PLO explicitly declares in Article 20:

“Judaism, being a religion, is not an independent nationality. Nor do Jews constitute a single nation with an identity of its own; they are citizens of the states to which they belong.”

Will any member State at the UN demand the removal of this hate-filled and racist language from the PLO Charter as a condition of recognizing any Palestinian Arab State? Featured speaker at Durban 111 will be Iranian President Ahmadinajad - who told Israel on August 26:

"Do not think that your existence will be recognized with the recognition of the Palestinian state. You have no place in our region and among our nations, and you will not be able to continue your ignominious life on even a small part of the Palestinian territories."

Will Ahmadinajad’s appearance at the podium be marked by the same vociferous heckling that the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra received at the London Proms this week or will the delegates sit in silence as this Jew-hater extraordinaire continues his vile incitement against the Jews? The refusal of the Arabs - and many of their allies such as Ahmadinajad - to accept the right of the Jewish people to independence in their ancient and biblical homeland will ensure the continuation of the 130 years old Jewish-Arab conflict. Taking a stand at Durban 111 and the UN to demand Arab acceptance of Jewish rights to statehood - as the General Assembly made clear 64 years ago - must be the message that rings out loud and clear. Unless this happens things are going to get far worse before they get better.

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