Should There Be A Palestinian State?
The creation of the State of Israel
in 1940’s was greatly accelerated by World War II and the Holocaust. The challenge was, if you create land for one
people you must have taken it away from some others. That is exactly what happened. Multitudes of people who identify as
Palestinian were displaced. This issue has
vexed the Middle east for 70 years.
Is it time for Palestinians to have
their own state, yes. Most Palestinians
live in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Israel claims these are theirs from ancient
times. I do not support this. People of the Jewish faith may have “owned”
the land centuries ago but that is irrelevant today. I am a strong supporter of the Stare of
Israel. However, I also support a
Palestinian State. Israel does not want
to give voting privileges to the Palestinians in Israel due to their large
numbers. They would be the majority in
some areas and Israel says that would just be start of the demise of Israelis. There is some truth to this.
The oil rich countries of the Middle
East could have made Gaza and the West Bank great places to live. We are talking a pretty small area. However, if those areas wore prosperous and
the Palestinians led good lives, they would not be able to use them as
political pawns against Israel.
Israel continues to build settlements
in these two areas. This is not helping
the situation. The UN should carve out a
Palestinian state just like it did for Israel.
A critical issue is East
Jerusalem. The Palestinians claim that as their capital. Israel says it is theirs as part of all
Jerusalem. Here again the UN needs to
step in. East Jerusalem should be the capital
of the Palestinian state. Their heritage
there goes back as long as the Israelis.
If a Palestinian state is created, it
has to be with the proviso that it comes with the recognition of the State of
Israel and Israel’s right to exist. There should be a maximum attempt to have open
borders and with commerce and people interacting. Building walls would not help. Educational and cultural interchanges would
get the youth to learn to live and trust each other. I know this would be difficult after the decades
of war and conflict, however, it has to start somewhere.
I am confident that if a Palestinian
state is created, and a wholehearted effort is given to mutual endeavors that
within a decade an area that has only seen negative for 70 years would now see
greatness.
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