OK, first off, there has never been a Palestinian state. In fact, the term "Palestinian" only came into being during the 19th century.
During UN debate over the creation of a Jewish homeland, it was made clear that there had to be some nod to the millions of Arab and Druze in the region. To that end, the original partition of British Palestine included two states: Israel and Palestine. The Palestinians refused, and went to the Arab nations and demanded that they push the interlopers into the ocean. The Arab armies attacked, and got their butts kicked. Before this war, many Palestinians had fled Israel to avoid the coming battles. After the war had ended, they found themselves suddenly homeless, and Israel larger and stronger than before.
Side note: Those "refugee camps" you hear about on the news? They're cities. Most of them founded 50 years ago, and with every modern convenience. To give that a little perspective, Washington D.C. was 60 years old when Lincoln signed the Emancipation proclamation.
The pattern over the next twenty years followed what had happened before. The Arabs would attack, and Israel would end up with more territory. After the '67 war, it became clear that the Arab nations were getting sick of throwing men and money into the Israeli meat grinder, the Arabs refused to take part anymore. That's when the terrorism began in earnest.
The problem, of course, is the fanatics on both side refuse accept peace. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have derailed every peace plan, while the hard-liners in the Knesset have taken a "fire with fire" attitude.
As far as I'm concerned, the fence is a good way to keep each side away from each others' throats.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
docwebster
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
A little history...
Date: 2003-10-25 04:54 am (UTC)During UN debate over the creation of a Jewish homeland, it was made clear that there had to be some nod to the millions of Arab and Druze in the region. To that end, the original partition of British Palestine included two states: Israel and Palestine. The Palestinians refused, and went to the Arab nations and demanded that they push the interlopers into the ocean. The Arab armies attacked, and got their butts kicked. Before this war, many Palestinians had fled Israel to avoid the coming battles. After the war had ended, they found themselves suddenly homeless, and Israel larger and stronger than before.
Side note: Those "refugee camps" you hear about on the news? They're cities. Most of them founded 50 years ago, and with every modern convenience. To give that a little perspective, Washington D.C. was 60 years old when Lincoln signed the Emancipation proclamation.
The pattern over the next twenty years followed what had happened before. The Arabs would attack, and Israel would end up with more territory. After the '67 war, it became clear that the Arab nations were getting sick of throwing men and money into the Israeli meat grinder, the Arabs refused to take part anymore. That's when the terrorism began in earnest.
The problem, of course, is the fanatics on both side refuse accept peace. Hamas and Islamic Jihad have derailed every peace plan, while the hard-liners in the Knesset have taken a "fire with fire" attitude.
As far as I'm concerned, the fence is a good way to keep each side away from each others' throats.