International Law: Applicability and Real Politik in the Middle East

Same old boring rant, same self-defeating arguments, same self-serving utopia...some things never change, do they?

In 1948, there was a full-fledged war between the nascent state of Israel (total number of Jews 600,000) and seven independent Arab states. Arabs decided to not follow the UN resolution that divided Palestine in Arab dominated and Jewish states. The UN resolution gave the Jewish state 52% of the historic Palestine (i.e. after early 20th century parcelling of greater Syria as Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Palestinian mandate) , and 48% to Arab state. Arabs had no intention of accepting an `unjust` resolution as long as they had the wherewithal to capture all of Palestine and `drive the Jews into sea`, so they attacked the new state. Ben-Gurion, the cunning man that he was, used this unfavourable turn of events as an opportunity and declared that since Arabs didn`t accept the resolutions, they are non-binding for Jews as well. So, whoever gets land in war keeps it. Now, you know where 78% came from.

Attacks in `48 also show a reluctant and cunning Hashemite ruler of Jordan Abdullah throw his hat in the ring. He was not too keen on driving the Jews into sea, was not contemptuous of the Jews the way his neighbours were and had the best trained army in middle-east. His army was the only one that had notable successes in the war, and he showed his own cunning by keeping all the land given to Arab state in partition. This remained with Jordan till `67 when they lost it to Israel in the six days Yom-Kippur war.

So, the ground rules were set in `48 - ``might is right``. Just that then it was the Arabs who had the might, today it is the Jews. All this wailing about `disbalance of power` is futile. Please support Hamas if you want to see Jews taking casualties, and put your money and sweat on getting Bush defeated. Although those with a purer heart and more sense of purpose quietly donate money to philanthropic organizations and help feed the hungry around the world. To each his own!!

And for God`s sake, it is ‘imbalance’ of power and not ‘disbalance’. If you ever write an article on Indo-Pak relations, you`ll need that phrase again, so get it right :-)

I find references to Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other such fancy items on a South-Asian forum rather intriguing. Who are we to teach the middle-easterners to follow UN resolutions? Who are we to tell them to respect human rights? We did no such foolish thing in `47, not before, not after.

And for God`s sake no stirring the hornet`s nest by poking with short sticks like ``Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.`` you`ll have to run for cover if that nest breaks, and all those creatures with fangs rush after you, baying for your blood and more.

What if Hindus start demanding similar rights in their land of birth, what if Pakistani Mohajirs do that? And then, it`ll NOT be an issue of few millions, it`ll be few crores.

#1 Nikki
``Isn`t it the palestinians who threw the first stone by not coming terms with reality way back in 1945?``

This is exactly the kind of Bulls**t Propaganda that the American Media controlled by the Zionist Jewry has been peddalling for the last 55 years. Lets see this in another light, The Germans Killed the Jews all over europe, England and the US, mindful of the mass immigration conveniantely allowed the creation of a Jewish nation to solve the plight of the Europeon Jew. And Nikki wants the Palestinian who were disposed off their own land in the name of a 2000 year old historic story, to come to reality. Irony or Ironies.

#2 Solitude
``This is an Islamic Militant struggle to kill jews and take over Jerusalem for Islam``

This has been a regional struggle, only politicised due to Israel cruel Barbarity which has been persistant for over 55 years. If I came to your house and overtook it by killing members of your family and on the rule of the gun, and called your house my property, would you pack your bags and leave, as nikki7777 says, come to reality. This is not a Political issue, this is a freedom fight, by some very brave Palestinians.

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I must say this is an extremely one-sided picture that apportions all blame on the Israelis. Israel has only done (wall, fences, etc.) what any self-respecting nation would have done against a bunch of murderers that the Palestinians are. If only the Indian Government had done that, Akshardham and the attack on the Indian Parliament would never have happened.

Freedom for the Palestinians is possible only when they give up violence. The Palestinians have only weakened their case by resorting to violence against innocent Israeli civilians (just as the Kashmiris have done in our part of the woods). Agreed, the Israeli soldiers do that too, but the Palestinians have proved they are no better than the Israelis. What moral right do they then have to claim the Israelis are brutal?

The only solution is that Israel vacate West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but for that to happen, all violence from the Palestinian side must cease. I think the Oslo Accord of 1993 said exactly that. Alas, it did not make much headway. Until and unless Palestinians realize that violence is only damaging their cause, prospects of a solution look rather bleak.

This is an Islamic Militant struggle to kill jews and take over Jerusalem for Islam. To pretend that this is some struggle of ``Palestenians`` is an insult to intelligence. It might work with the gullible westerners but don`t insult us Muslims with this drivel!

Below is a Palestenian in the backdrop with the Israeli soldiers upfront.



Pakistanis have spent too much of their time and energy on Palestenians and Chechnians and Bosnians and Algerians and Philipinos while our country goes to hell.

nikki7777:
You are right when you say that the entire `blame`, or the word I`d rather use ` responsibility` should not be placed on Israel. The Arabs should do more than just complain about the matter, but that does not mean that Israel shouldn`t make any efforts at a reconciliation. And it does not change the fact that Israel has not abided by numerous United Nations` resolutions. The building of a wall isn`t exactly a reconciliatory effort, Israel is further isolating the Palestinians.

Yes, I concur with the plight of the Jews from Russia, Poland, Romania and other eastern european countries who emigrated to Palestine and we can all blame the British, who with the issuance of the Balfour Declaration, conveniently stated Palestine the land of the Jewish people, but the point is, at the end of the day, it is the people of Palestine and Israel who are at a loss and it is they, themselves who gain most from reaching a reconciliation of some kind, but does Israel truly support a two-state theory, which seems like the only possible compromise to the conflict ?
It`s ironic that you are just shifting the blame. Let`s start with the root of the problem. Israel was a country created by usurping the land that already belonged to another country and it`s people.

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