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We've all had the
experience of reading about the latest terrorist attack in
Israel and shaking our heads in dismay, when a friend glances
over our shoulder and asks, "Don't Palestinians have
the right to fight for a homeland just like the Israelis
did?" How do we respond?
It's a difficult question.
Often we fumble for the proper answer or think of a reply
several hours later. Or we get stuck in a debate, wishing
someone was beside us supporting our views.
The following questions and
answers provide a starting point to help you make the case
for Israel during these challenging times. You can also
download the CIC's Making the Case for
Israel brochure in PDF
format.
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Don't the Palestinians have a right to
their own homeland, just like Israel?
Wouldn't the violence
end immediately if Israel would just unilaterally pull out of
the West Bank and Gaza Strip?
Aren't the settlements
the main obstacle to peace in the Middle East?
Isn't Israel violating
UN resolutions by occupying Palestinian land?
If Israel allows for a
Jewish "Law of Return," why doesn't it allow for a
Palestinian "Right of Return"?
How come so many more
Palestinians, specifically children, have died in the "Al
Aqsa Intifada" than Israelis?
Don't the Palestinian
people have a right to "resist
occupation"?
Why do Jews label all
criticism against Israel as anti-Semitic?
Don't the Palestinians have
a right to their own homeland, just like Israel?
The Palestinians' legitimate aspirations have been denied to
them by their own leadership. Yasser Arafat walked away from the
final stages of negotiating statehood when he abandoned the
peace process at Camp David and Taba, leaving Israel's
concessions and offers unanswered. Since then, the Palestinian
people have slipped farther from their nationalist dream, with a
leadership that has made terrorism its preferred form of
diplomacy. The Palestinian people will achieve their legitimate
aspirations only when their leadership is willing to accept that
those aspirations cannot come at the expense of Israel's
right to security and stability.
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Wouldn't the violence end immediately if Israel
would just unilaterally pull out of the West Bank and Gaza
Strip?
The Jerusalem Post recently observed that "If the
Palestinians put down their weapons today, there would be no
more violence; if Israel put down its weapons today, there would
be no more Israel." Palestinian terrorist groups work from
a different set of rules, viewing Israeli concessions as signs
of weakness. Previous experience suggests no reason to believe
that unilateral Israeli concessions will end Palestinian
violence.
Moreover, under UN Security Council Resolution 242, any Israeli
withdrawal from disputed territories must take place only in the
context of full peace and security guarantees.
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Aren't the settlements the main obstacle to
peace in the Middle East?
There has been a Jewish presence in the territories since
Biblical times; indeed, this presence was only interrupted
between 1948 and 1967 when Jews were forbidden to reside in the
West Bank and Eastern Jerusalem (occupied by Jordan).
The present violence is not a response to settlements. Rather,
settlements are but one excuse advanced by the Palestinians to
avoid declaring a ceasefire and returning to the negotiating
table. Labeling settlements as "illegal" and
portraying settlers as "militants" is part of an
ongoing campaign to justify terrorist attacks against Israeli
civilians.
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Isn't Israel violating UN resolutions by
occupying Palestinian land?
No. Under UN Resolution 242, it is fully legitimate for Israel
to remain in control of the West Bank and Gaza pending a
negotiated settlement.
Moreover, the West Bank and Gaza remain unallocated, disputed
areas. The UN resolutions regarding Israeli withdrawal clearly
provide Israel the "right to live in peace within secure
and recognized boundaries free from threats." Israel was
able to achieve a peaceful resolution with Egypt resulting in an
exchange of land for the recognition of secure borders. Israel
has clearly and repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to make
the same concessions with other Arab partners, including the
Palestinians.
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If Israel allows for a Jewish "Law of
Return," why doesn't it allow for a Palestinian
"Right of Return"?
The Palestinian "refugee problem" would not exist if
it weren't for the Arabs' rejection of the 1947
Partition Plan and their decision to go to war in 1948 against
the newly established Jewish state. After the War of
Independence (1948), an equal number of Jewish refugees
(approximately 700,000) were forced to leave their homes in the
Arab world and seek out a new homeland in Israel. Israel's
neighbours have not been open to the absorption of refugees
(with only Jordan allowing Palestinians to become citizens)
resulting in the Palestinian refugee crisis.
For Israel to be expected to concede territory for the creation
of a Palestinian state and to open its borders
to allow for a Palestinian "right of return" to
Israel, would result in the end of Israel's existence as a
democratic Jewish state.
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How come so many more Palestinians,
specifically children, have died in the "Al Aqsa
Intifada" than Israelis?
In fact, more young Israeli children have been killed as a
proportion of total fatalities and more than three times as many
Israeli female noncombatants killed than Palestinian female
noncombatants. Palestinian terrorists strategically and
maliciously target environments to maximize the number of
Israeli youth being killed, choosing discos, pool halls, coffee
shops and universities. By contrast, Israel does everything in
its power to avoid civilian casualties, and expresses deep
sorrow and regret when civilians are accidentally wounded or
killed in the pursuit of Palestinian terrorists.
Tragically, Palestinian children are socialized in an
environment of hatred and violence through schoolbooks,
television programming, youth groups and camps. Not only are
these children recruited as warriors in this campaign of terror
against Israel, they are physically placed in front of
combatants as "human shields."
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Don't the Palestinian people have a right
to "resist occupation"?
Under Oslo, the Palestinian leadership committed itself to
pursue negotiations and prevent violence. Rather than continue
on a path of diplomacy, the Palestinian leadership rejected
negotiations in favour of support for militant Islamic groups in
their campaign to destroy Israel. As a result, Israel has been
the victim of approximately 14,000 terrorist attacks, resulting
in 568 deaths, since the uprising began in September 2000.
Palestinians do have legitimate aspirations but they do not have
the right to inflict a campaign of terror on the Israeli people
or threaten Israel's existence in order to achieve those
objectives.
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Why do Jews label all criticism against Israel
as anti-Semitic?
Israel is open to legitimate criticism just like any other
democracy would be. In fact, the editorial pages of Israeli
newspapers are filled with more self-criticism than we typically
see in Canada.
However, couched in a new global wave of
anti-Israel/anti-Zionist sentiment since the beginning of the
"Al Aqsa Intifada" and the UN Conference Against
Racism in Durban in 2001, criticism of Israel has crossed the
line into anti-Semitism with the emergence of attacks on the
Jewish state and the Jewish people. When criticism of Israeli
policy degenerates into obsessive bashing, the boycotting of
academics simply because they are Israeli, the desecration of
Jewish cemeteries and the firebombing of synagogues in the
Diaspora, then those criticisms become anti-Semitic and must be
recognized as such and condemned by all people of
goodwill.
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