Palestinian state a mistake?
Photo: Reuters
Jordan is Palestine
Op-ed: Establishing 2nd Palestinian state west of Jordan River would be great folly
The Jewish State was established in the Land of Israel. Not in Uganda, not in South America and not in any other area offered to the Jews at one time or another as a response to their distress. The League of Nations, which granted Britain the mandate to form the Jewish people’s national home, referred to the entire territory on both sides of the Jordan River.
One should be aware of the following: There was no “Jordanian people” to the east of the Jordan River that sought independence there, just like there was no “Palestinian people” west of the Jordan River.
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Hence, When David Ben-Gurion drafted the Declaration of Independence he did not determine the State of Israel’s borders. He too knew that at the end of the war forced upon the small Jewish community by Arab states, the borders will be different than the “partition boundaries.”
The Jewish state’s first prime minister also knew that any territory to be conquered by the IDF will remain part of the state, and will not be called “occupied territory.” The Jewish state will become its legal owner based on the international conventions that designated the whole of the Land of Israel, on both sides of the Jordan River (yes, Mr. Jordanian King) for a Jewish home.
Unfortunately, only parts of Judea and Samaria, east Jerusalem and the Jordan River Valley were conquered in that just war. These parts were overtaken by members of the Hashemite Kingdom. No nation in the world recognized this Jordanian takeover, as it was clear to everyone that the real sovereign of these territories is the Jewish people. When the Brits ended their mission in the Land of Israel in 1948, after being defeated by the Jewish people’s fighting forces, they in fact returned the land to its natural sovereign: The Jewish people.
Annex Judea and Samaria
Jordan’s king, who heads a state that in fact does not comprise a nation, but rather, a hodgepodge of tribes that arrived from across the desert coupled with what is known as “Palestinian refugees,” is certainly right to be concerned about the fate of his puppet state. This state has a family known as the “royal family,” which rules the country, and nothing else. One of these days we may be able to view it as the “Palestinian state” the whole world is so eager to see.
Establishing yet another Palestinian state west of the Jordan River would certainly be a great folly. Firstly, because such state would seek to unite with its sister-state across the River. Secondly, because the many Arabs in the Galilee and northern Israel would also seek to connect to their sister state.
Hence, if the Jewish residents of our country seek life, we should quickly annex the territories freed from foreign control in the Six-Day War, just like David Ben-Gurion did at the end of the War of Independence when he applied Israeli law to all the territories conquered in that war. Any other solutions would raise question marks over our right to live in Beersheba or Eilat or Lod or Jaffa, not to mention many other communities in the Galilee, on the Coastal Plain and in the Negev.
Further withdrawals are certainly not an option. “Land for peace” is a false formula. The Oslo Accords, which now mark their 18th’s anniversary, were no more than one huge folly, as were the other withdrawals - from south Lebanon, from Gush Katif, from northern Samaria, and from our Sinai communities. Those who fail to understand it now may end up finding themselves drinking the Mediterranean Sea’s water one of these days, as Arafat wished for us in the past.
Dr. Haim Misgav is a law lecturer at the Netanya Academic College
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