To: WSFAlist at keithlynch.net
Date: Sun, 7 Apr 2002 18:15:03 -0400
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Political Inventions
From: ronkean at juno.com
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

On Sun, 07 Apr 2002 14:18:24 -0400 Samuel Lubell <lubell at cais.com>
writes:

> At 10:09 AM 4/7/02 -0400, Ron wrote:
> > Doubtless most of the settlers wish to have Israel
> > officially
> > take possession of and sovereignty over the West Bank, Palestinians
> > be damned.  The Palestinians now living in the West Bank territory,
> > under that scheme, would have to accept second-class status under
Israeli
> > rule,
>

> Why would they be second-class?  There are plenty of Arab citizens
> in Israel proper who are full citizens with the right to vote.  There
> are even Arabs in the Israeli Parliament.
>
> However, one of the reasons why Israel has never annexed the West
> Bank is that adding all the Arabs who lived there would make the Arab
> population close to a majority.
>

Perhaps you are right, that Israel might grant full citizenship rights to
Palestinians residing in annexed areas, and that that is a strong
disincentive for Israel to formally annex areas with large Palestinian
populations.  I was assuming that they would not make a blanket grant of
such rights for the West Bank, since I have been told by an Israeli that
Arabs in Israel do not automatically have full rights, and because Israel
is a self-identified Jewish state, not a secular state.  Still, I agree
that some Arab Israelis vote, and that under the proportional
represenation scheme there are a few Arab Israeli deputies in the
Knesset, and that they have been vocal in opposition to Israel's
policies.

Clearly, some Arabs have been quite content to live in Israel, ever since
Israel was founded (some of them are Christian).  But it seems equally
clear that most Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza do not want to live under
Israeli rule, whether formal or informal, that they would resist such
rule, and consequently Israel would have to use repressive measures to
hold the West Bank (as it does now).  And if, as you suggest, Israel does
not want to annex the West bank and gain millions of Arab citizens, then
the question of how Israel would treat them in the event of annexation
becomes academic.

There has been much mutually beneficial commerce between Israel and the
occupied territories, with Palestinians entering Israel daily to work,
which suggests that both Israel and a future Palestinian state could live
in peace and prosperity.

... the reason Israel has "turned its back" on the Arab peace
> process is that it was accompanied by over 100 civilians being killed
in
> terrorist attacks in the last month.  I can't see any country being
willing
> to negotiate while civilians are under fire like that.
>
> But somehow, when it is Jews being killed, the killers are called
> "militants" not terrorists.
>

One reason for the mistrust on both sides is that there are extremists on
both sides who aspire to having all of Palestine (or whatever the land of
Israel and the occupied territories may be called) for themselves.

Ron Kean

.

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