Sunday, January 19, 2020

An Alternative Solution

Michael Lumish

{Also published at Jews Down Under and the Elder of Ziyon.}

Enno Raschke is a researcher and historian for Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Center in Jerusalem. I am happy to say that we occasionally cross swords, but I respect the guy. It is, after all, difficult for me not to respect a historian with Yad Vashem.

On Facebook, I recently put out a brief note claiming that "The two-state solution is dead. Get over it."

This seems pretty self-evident at this point, but people -- particularly Jews -- will always disagree about almost anything. Enno responded in a way that I consider entirely reasonable. He wrote:
People who say "The Two State Solution is dead" never have a credible, doable alternative solution (as in: one that is acceptable for people outside of their own political bubble). And as long as that remains the case, the 2SS is not dead.
This is a core question among those of us who care about the Jewish people and the Jewish State of Israel.

Enno seems to think that there is no other possibility than continuing to pursue a two-state solution that the Arabs have rejected since at least the Peel Commission of 1937. That is to say, he refuses to take "no" for an answer. He wants us to go on and on and on requesting peace while the Arabs always refuse.

What I am considering is more along the lines of Caroline Glick and Martin Sherman. It is one possible answer to Enno's question. Annex Judea - Samaria, up to the Jordan River. Those hillsides above Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are traditional Jewish land. The Arabs, along with others, conquered it, but the Jews are the only extant indigenous people to that land. That is our land and we should not respect the rights of conquerors to steal it from us, particularly within living memory of the Holocaust (Shoah).

There are two major fears concerning the Jewish annexation of Jewish land. The first is demographic and the second is international reaction. What I propose -- with some modesty, thank you -- is that Israel annex Judea - Samaria up to the Jordan. The demographic problem need not be a problem if it is dealt with in a straightforward manner. A reasonable percentage of non-Israelis who live on that land would need to be interviewed. Those who despise Jews would need to move elsewhere. Those who do not express any such hatred would need, just like Jewish citizens of Israel, to do a few years of national service. Those who complete that service with good report should be offered Israeli citizenship.

The international reaction to a Jewish annexation of Jewish land is more complex. Western-Europe, the European Union, the United Nations, and the Democratic Party leadership essentially despise the Jewish people and our state. If Israel were to annex our own land they would throw a fit. But if we fail to do so in coming years than we will never be able to do so and we will remain forever back on our feet. We will always be at the mercy of Europeans who think that persecuting Jews is a matter of "social justice" and Arabs and Muslims who simply want us dead or gone from our own historical homeland.

But if there was any a moment in recent Jewish history to claim our land, now is probably the time. Not only do we have an ally in the White House, but we have greater economic, technological, medical, scientific, and diplomatic reach than in any time in Jewish history.

What I would suggest to my friend, Enno, despite the fact that I am sitting in my perch in northern California, is that perhaps now is the time for bold action.

14 comments:

  1. The new Two State Solution is dead; let's make the old Two State Solution work

    A successful Two State Solution would require the two parties to want it to succeed. The Arabs have repeatedly rejected Israel's generous (in my opinion, foolishly generous) offers because they all shared a major defect - that Israel would continue to exist as a Jewish state. The Arabs have no interest in an Islamic state of Palestine existing as a peaceful neighbor to the Jewish state of Israel - they want an Islamic state of Palestine to replace the Jewish state of Israel (if not immediately, whatever first step they take will have to lead to the eventual replacement of the Jewish state of Israel with an Islamic state of Palestine).

    The Two State Solution that we already have is the division of the territory of the Mandate for Palestine into Islamic East Palestine, east of the Jordan river (and now called Jordan) and Jewish West Palestine, west of the Jordan river (and now called Israel, Gaza, Judea, and Samaria).That's what we have to make work. It is too difficult to do that all at once. With that as the clear goal, we can work on it in pieces. It will help to have Arab leaders who are brave enough to care more about the welfare of their people than they do about annihilating the only Jewish state in the world. It will also help to have very brave Islamic scholars who are willing to explain that the holy books of all three Abrahamic religions (i.e., the Jewish Torah, the Christian Bible, and the Islamic Quran) it is clearly stated that God gave the Land of Israel to the Jews. Hence, by leaving Israel to the Jews, Arabs are obeying the Quran.

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  2. Two State solution never was an option.
    The “Mandate for Palestine,” was an historical League of Nations document, which laid down the Jewish legal right to settle anywhere in western Palestine, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, an entitlement unaltered in international law. The “Mandate for Palestine” was not a naive vision briefly embraced by the international community. Fifty-one member countries – the entire League of Nations – unanimously declared on July 24, 1922.

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  3. I'm still mulling it over. Basically, I agree. I think Israel has a right to any land it needs for its security within the mandate, i.e., west of the Jordan River. But I do think there needs to be at least the attempt at a propaganda campaign to sell it.
    How do the majority of Israelis feel about this?
    I mean, look, I would do it just to fuck the Swedes, so maybe I'm no the best person to ask. :0)

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  4. I hate having to do this.

    Sorry.

    Our attention is largely on something else around here right now.This thing is getting worse by the day.

    All flags in NSW will be at half mast tomorrow . I expect the same will happen in the other states. This is out of respect for three US firefighters killed a few hours. They were here to lend a hand. Their plane crashed.

    Terrible . Absolutely terrible.

    Canberra airport has just been closed. The fires were getting too close .

    Canberra. Can you believe that?

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  5. BTW I agree.

    2SS is dead. It was never alive in the first place. A kind of zombie. A propped up painted corpse on horseback to keep the masses in line and from being too revolting .Especially the Europeans.

    Like El Cid.

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  6. geoff, be safe, you and all yours. These fires are terrible.

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  7. Today the Palestinians will given another opportunity to reject peace as they always do.

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  8. Palestinians announce another day of rage. lol

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    1. How awful must Jews be to drive these angelic people to rage.

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  9. The Independent (UK) is lamenting that the proposal isn't along the 1947 partition plan.

    American Jews don't seem to understand much except unflinching fealty to the Democratic Party no matter what it seems. They don't seem to understand that this is our land and that there isn't much of it, nor that the Arabs think they're entitled to it all sans us, and aren't afraid to say so.

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  10. Someone needs to put a horses head in the Palestinians bed.

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  11. One issue that always gets overlooked in all the usual I/P noise is that in any proposed solution, no matter how "right wing", rights of Arabs as individuals are never threatened. All that is ever in question is the extent of their group rights. No so with Jews. Even the current proposal, dismissed by the Progs as allegedly generous to Israel is one sided that way. Arabs that end up on Israeli side of the border will have full rights. But there will be no Jews on the other side.

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  12. Lure them to a tollway by beating up their sister.

    Invite them to a fishing trip in a small boat on a lake.

    Pick them up in a limo to take them to an important meeting in Las Vegas

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    Replies
    1. Find them in bed with a dead hooker. "We'll just say you spent the weekend with your good friend Bibi at his estate. That girl had no friends, no family. It'll be like nothing happened, like she never existed."

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