Palestinian Ethnic Cleansing

Israel has once again engaged in a futile attempt to end the conflict, only to find that the Palestinian price for "peace" is the destruction of Israel.

Tuesday, Haaretz newspaper leaked the peace plan: the offer was ALL of Gaza (which has been Judenrein since 2006) and 93% of the West Bank, with the remaining 7% to be taken from Israeli territory.

The Palestinians said, "No."

Why?

Because the Palestinians are demanding (1) land for a contiguous state (i.e. land that connects Gaza and the West Bank, to be taken from Israel's central territory); (2) all of Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine; (3) the "Right of Return" for all refugees claiming descent (undocumented though it is) of any Arab who happened to live in British Mandatory Palestine for 2 years or more.

Saeb Erekat, the PA's token Christian spokesman, stated that "the peace process was aimed at fulfilling the resolutions of the United Nations and the terms of the Road-Map, which call for the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital, and which does not have any settlements in it."

In fact, NO U.N. resolution and no term set forth in the Road Map actually says this, but apart from Erekat's usual mendacity, let's look at these three issues.

Let's take this last point first.

The Palestinians are demanding the ethnic cleansing of every inch of land over the Green Line: no Jews are to be allowed to live in Gaza or the "West Bank". Despite centuries of Jewish life in the Old City, which was majority Jewish, the Palestinians are calling for the Old City to be "Palestinian" by virtue of Jordan's ethnic cleansing of its Jewish population in 1948.

Israel has an Arab population of approximately 20%, yet we are not calling for the expulsion of Arabs to the West Bank and Gaza. The idea of using the Green Line as the "border" of Palestine gives the PA two choices--incorporate the Jews of the West Bank as Palestinian citizens OR negotiate the borders to exclude the Jewish towns. The Palestinians refuse to do either - they are completely comfortable with the expulsion of all Jews from these areas.

"Settlements" is the word with which the PA demonizes Jewish suburbs built across the Green Line, that archaic and unworkable armistice line drawn, as a temporary measure, in 1949. Yes, there are isolated watch-tower and caravan outposts that dot the West Bank, but they are easily negotiated as they contain few people who could be absorbed into other communities. However, what sticks in the Palestinian craw are not these isolated outposts, but the large suburban neighborhoods and cities which have thriving populations, industrial parks, schools and number tens of thousands of people.

We're keeping these. Sorry. The Arab world collectively turned down every attempt to negotiate for decades, so we built homes on the most defensive high ground adjacent to and over the Green Line. Gilo has replaced the Arab artillery batteries that used to fire down into Jewish Talpiot. French Hill controls the heights from which Jordanian Army soldiers fired into northern Jerusalem neighborhoods. Har Homa, built on land purchased by Jews prior to 1948, means that no Arab army will overrun Ramat Rachel and Arnona ever again. Hashmonaim has replaced the guns once aimed by Jordan at Israeli passenger planes taking off from Ben Gurion airport. You don't like it now? Tough -- you should have talked to us back then, before we started building.

How about Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine? It's "Palestinian land" I hear all the time.

No, uh, it's not. The City of Jerusalem was never ceded to the Palestinians by anyone--not by the United Nations in 1948, not by the Jordanians between 1948 and 1967, and not by the Israelis since then. Be glad some of the more naive of our leaders are prepared to talk about sharing this city -- most of us believe that Jerusalem has always been the holiest city of Judaism, and we remember all too well the Arab practice of excluding Jews from the holy places, the desecration of our graveyards and synagogues, the expulsion of the ancient Jewish community in the Old City. No, we're not really prepared to surrender it all to the PA so that Hamas can make it the Jew-free capital of its Caliphate.

Part Two of the Palestinian Ethnic Cleansing plan: the "Right of Return." Not only are NO Jews allowed to live in the proposed Palestinian state, but all of their alleged conationalists living in Arab-imposed camps in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria are to be allowed back to "settle" in Israel proper.

What happened to "no settlers?" Silly me! That's supposed to mean no JEWISH settlers--Arab settlers are supposed to be welcome with open arms so they can live on the dole, supported by the Israeli taxpayer, and spread sedition and revolt learned in their jihadi camps. Yes, that's what we need -- 4 million wanna-be suicide bombers living INSIDE Israel.

First of all, these folks aren't "refugees." They are the descendants of anyone who lived in Mandatory Palestine for two years or more -- the guy could be from Iraq or Egypt, but if he lived in Jaffa for 5 years, working for the railway under British Civil Service, he meets the UNWRA special definition (not used for any other refugee group) as a "Palestinian refugee."

Assuming you can swallow this definition, we're not talking about these folks. There are in reality only about 230,000 of the original refugees still alive. The four million-plus figure comes from their descendents.

No one else in the world gets refugee status because your grandfather was a refugee. The world-wide practice is and has been that if your grandfather was a refugee, but his children and grandchildren were born, schooled, employed and live in, for example, Lebanon, then THEY are Lebanese. But the Arab-and-British dominated UNWRA has a vested interest in keeping these people "refugees" -- it keeps the conflict alive, doesn't allow the 'refugees' any closure or any future in their now-native lands, and keeps open the possibility of a mass invasion of and hence destruction of Israel as a Jewish state.

Then there is the novel Palestinian demand for a 'contiguous state' which in PA parlance means a land corridor linking the West Bank and Gaza.(Please note: the PA insists that Israel isn't allowed ANY land over the 1948 Armistice Line, but the Palestinians blithely demand Israeli land that was never theirs for a "land corridor." Can you say "double-standard?" Or "chutzpah?")

Excuse me, that's Israeli land. We have towns, villages, farms and people living there.

Besides, what IS this all about anyway? The Palestinians NEVER had a contiguous state, even under the UN Partition Plan of 1948--Gaza and the West Bank weren't connected then, either, albeit the territories were a bit closer. See what you lose when you opt for genocide?

The PA insists it can't be a functional state without contiguous borders.

First, allow me to point to the United States, which has Alaska well-separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. I don't recall the US ever insisting that Canada surrender the AlCan Highway to the US in order for the US to be "contiguous." Likewise, Great Britain manages to do fine with Northern Ireland on a different island from England.

Second, live with it. You aren't a functional state now, and despite billions of euros and dollars being pumped into the PA and Gaza in the guise of humanitarian aid, and infrastructure, and law enforcement training, etc., all anyone sees are your Arab subjects living in poverty, with insufficient hospitals, insufficient sewage disposal, insufficient health services, gang warfare disguised as political differences, and schools and summer camps dedicated to war and hatred -- giving you a strip of Israeli land so you can funnel more terror to the West Bank isn't a solution.

Once again, the Palestinians are proving the old adage: they never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. PA spokesmen always warn that the time for peace is running out -- yes, it is. Every offer by Israel is met with a non-negotiable Palestinian demand which the Arabs know will never be accepted as to do so would lead to the demise of Israel. This "peace game" that they are playing as the Good Cops, while the Bad Cops running Hamastan arm to the teeth, is just a ploy.

The only question is: when Hamas takes over and opens the next war, will it be Kadima's ineffective leadership at the helm, or someone with the the intelligence to see through this 'peace game' and the strength of character to decisively end this charade?

*photos of Jerusalem suburbs Ramot and Gilo courtesy of Jerusalem Shots