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How Palestinians View Israel's Borders

(Jerusalem Post) Caroline Glick - * A border can only be meaningful if the people on both sides of the divide recognize it and understand its meaning in the same way. Since the Palestinians do not recognize Israel's right to determine its borders, any border that Israel chooses will only operate in one direction. While Israel will honor Palestinian territorial integrity, the Palestinians will insist on their "right" to cross the border at will. The Palestinians have never accepted Israel's sovereignty along any borders whatsoever. * The contours of the Palestinian state are well known and have been known since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994. The anarchy, terror, corruption, poverty, and ideological commitment to the destruction of Israel that have been the consistent characteristics of the PA since its inception provide us with a precise description of what the realization of the vision for a two-state solution to the Palestinian conflict with Israel entails. * Regardless of who emerges victorious in the coming PA elections, it is absolutely certain that the Palestinian leadership will be comprised of terrorists, terror sympathizers, and terrorist organizations - because these are the only people and parties who are running. * If Israel were to withdraw from 90% of Judea and Samaria, the Palestinians would argue that they remain under occupation. Were Israel to vacate east Jerusalem, the Palestinians would turn to the 1947 UN partition plan and claim that the Negev and the Galilee remain "occupied." That is, the Palestinians will claim to live under Israeli occupation for as long as Israel exists in any borders. * Since the Palestinians are not going to cure themselves of their national pathologies any time soon, Israel's national policies must be built not on the dream of a border that will never be recognized, but on the necessity of guaranteeing its security.
2006-01-16 00:00:00
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