Reply #19: The term "Palestinian land" is itself misleading. [View All]

[msmcghee]

Palestinian Arabs consider not only Gaza and the West Bank, but all of Israel to be "Palestinian Land".

I listed the several reasons why Israel has a greater legal and moral claim to the West Bank than "anyone else".

Israel occupied the land in a defensive war. The previous state that claimed control of the land was Jordan. Jordan refused to take back control of the land when Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty. Prior to that it was under British Mandate to prepare the area for an eventual Jewish homeland. Prior to that it was the Ottoman Turks who controlled it. The land would legally belong to the state of Palestine right now if the Palestinians had not previously refused to accept it when it was offered to them in 1947.

We have to be careful not to confuse land ownership questions with state sovereignty. There's a difference between a Palestinian Arab in Israel who owns his land - and a claim that a whole state is recognized as Palestine or Israel.

There is no state of Palestine. There is a territory (Gaza and the West Bank) which no recognized state claims as its own.

My statement was that Israel had a greater legal and moral claim to the West Bank than "anyone else". By that I meant any other state. I also should have added " . . should they wish to exercise that claim - which they don't". I should have been clearer.

As for any claims by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank for statehood on that land - they have had a standing offer by the UN to establish a state there since 1947. All that would be necessary is for them to recognize the state of Israel. They have refused for 60 years to do that. In a series of attempts to over-run Israel militarily their original suggested borders have been repeatedly adjusted to provide Israel better protection from attack (and for other reasons) and those borders now remain in dispute - to be settled as part of a lasting peace treaty with the state of Israel - if the Palestinians ever decide to accept the existence of Israel.

In the meantime Israel will remain the administrator of the West Bank until its security can be guaranteed.

What state do you think has a better claim than Israel to the land of the West Bank and even Gaza? Note that I am just stating my opinion on this. I'm interested in yours. I consider neither of our opinions as either right or wrong. The land and borders have been in dispute for 60 years and I'm sure we're not going to settle it here.