Mideast peace: Never leave out Palestinian reluctance

Dennis Kahlberg

After all, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly stated at the UN that he is prepared to meet PA President Mahmoud Abbas anywhere at any time to discuss making peace and solving the problem of a two-state solution.

]It would be good if the powers-that-be that are so keen to see the dispute resolved, would pressure both sides to sit down together with both making concessions. I think then there would be a genuine chance of solving the problem.

The writer of the JVJP letter in last week’s Jewish Report makes the point that Israel is “illegally occupying and stealing land belonging to people who they control under military occupation”. It is time to realise the truth that this land, namely Judea and Samaria, was in 1948 stolen from Israel as it was part of the land allocated to Israel by the UN partition plan, among other international agreements. Five Arab armies attacked the newly-proclaimed State of Israel.

The partition allocated the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea to the Jews for a Jewish state and all the rest of the British Mandated land west of the Jordan to the Arabs, which became Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.

I would suggest that the people who think that Israel is occupying land illegally, should study the facts from the historical documents.

I would also suggest that Netanyahu put it to Abbas that he has two choices: peace or war. He has to choose which he wants for the “Palestinians”. If he chooses peace, then they should sit down and talk to each other; if he chooses war, Israel does not have to assist its enemy in any way and should stop supplying water, electricity and money to the Palestinians.

Glenhazel, Johannesburg