New Israeli law will force Palestinians to pay for the destruction of their own homes

[Tee Kay]

The leaders do not a country make. The leaders of the surrounding Arab nations saw Israel as a chance to get their people to ignore the crippling corruption back home.

Or in the case of Transjordan, blatant expansionist landgrab in secret collusion with Israel.

Anyway, it's not like the leaders led their countries into war against the will of their citizens. Most Arabs, if not enthusiastically supporting the war, went along with it anyway.

 

[civver_764]

It's worth noting that Israel were A LOT worse than the Arabs in that 1947-1948 war. They invaded the Palestinian area of the partition first, before the state of Israel was even declared, and the other Arab states largely stayed within the Palestinian side of partition and were fighting a largely defensive war for their Arab neighbors.

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/origin.html

 

[civ_king]

Really? In a world with a highly developed, if somewhat inept, international body like the UN, their only solution is to fling rockets at each other? Liberal democracies in the Western World have demonstrated their desire to achieve peace, but it's kind of hard to talk about peace when civilians are being killed left and right. The best thing for Hamas to do would move towards moderation in Islam, and embrace non-violence. Where's Gandhi when you need him?

A country doesn't have to do all of the work for independence itself anymore, it can have the United Nations come behind it. How do you think Israel was formed? Of course, the moment after being established, the Arab world descended on it like a pack of wild dogs. So violence and xenophobia have been ingrained in Israelis/Palestinians since the get-go, how does one get rid of that? Getting moderate forward thinkers in charge. People who can say that despite grievances in the past, grudges would not be held, blame not tossed around.

Israel was created by the British from their territory with the UN plan ripping off the Palestinians, naturally when offered an absurdly bad deal they rejected it.

 

[goatunit]

I had just seen that in the OP; the fact these houses were illegal makes the situation a bit different.

That said, it says homes are banned in the occupied territories. Now, if Israel wanted to demolish houses in Israel's territory, I'd understand the forced payment. But the occupied territories are the Palestinians', aren't they?

But who are we kidding. This is just like the Native Americans - the land is yours until the dominant power wants more. Then your previous rights are cast aside.

The buildings are illegal because they were built by Palestinians without permits to do so. The problem is that the Israeli government hasn't granted a building permit to a Palestinian since 1967, so...

 

[Cheetah]

stay classy

Yes, yes.

We all know that Israels policy is to control all the territory and then have peace. They'll probably achieve it by the mid- to late 21st Century.

What I still wonder about though, is how they'll get the Palestinians away from the last enclaves? What's die Endlösung for the Palestinian problem?

Can they somehow force or persuade Jordan and Egypt to take the Palestinians? Or will the international political climate turn sometime during this century so that they can just do away with them?

 

[Ajidica]

It's worth noting that Israel were A LOT worse than the Arabs in that 1947-1948 war. They invaded the Palestinian area of the partition first, before the state of Israel was even declared, and the other Arab states largely stayed within the Palestinian side of partition and were fighting a largely defensive war for their Arab neighbors.

Not quite. Prior to the establishment of Israel but after the UN vote and Brits ran away, Palestine devolved into open war between the Israeli settlers and the Palestinians. It would be an excercise in futility to try and perscribe blame to one side or another at this stage. Once the state of Israel was established, then the local powers got involved (which constitued only Egypt, Trans-Jordan, Jordan, and Syria. I don't recall if the Arab Legion got involved. Of those, only Egypt made any serious gains).
If memory serves, the Palestinains/Arab states made some quite signifigant gains, holding Jerusalem for a while under siege and nearly making it to Tel Aviv. Saying the wars were conducted in primarily Palestinian territory (going by the UN partition) is sort of worthless as almost all of the useful land was inside the Palestinian partition. Of course most of the fighting would take place their. Israel had quite a few kibbutz in that area. They wouldn't just ignore them.

 

[Maniacal]

Can they somehow force or persuade Jordan and Egypt to take the Palestinians? Or will the international political climate turn sometime during this century so that they can just do away with them?

Half of Jordan's 6+ million population is already Palestinians and they don't want anymore. As it is the Jordanian Bedouin Monarchy already tries to keep the Palestinians out of power, because despite being past allies and friends with the Palestinians they also don't want to give up their power just because Israel wants to evict millions of people from their homes with their invasion of Palestine. Egypt can barely keep its own people employed, housed and fed as it is, little alone millions more Palestinian refugees.

If anything Israel should be the one footing the bill for the Palestinians.

 

[civ_king]

Not quite. Prior to the establishment of Israel but after the UN vote and Brits ran away, Palestine devolved into open war between the Israeli settlers and the Palestinians. It would be an excercise in futility to try and perscribe blame to one side or another at this stage. Once the state of Israel was established, then the local powers got involved (which constitued only Egypt, Trans-Jordan, Jordan, and Syria. I don't recall if the Arab Legion got involved. Of those, only Egypt made any serious gains).
If memory serves, the Palestinains/Arab states made some quite signifigant gains, holding Jerusalem for a while under siege and nearly making it to Tel Aviv. Saying the wars were conducted in primarily Palestinian territory (going by the UN partition) is sort of worthless as almost all of the useful land was inside the Palestinian partition. Of course most of the fighting would take place their. Israel had quite a few kibbutz in that area. They wouldn't just ignore them.

Look at the partition map, the Israelis were far from being ripped off

 

[Ajidica]

Look at the partition map, the Israelis were far from being ripped off

They got some land on the coast, desert highlands, and the useless Negev Desert. They were far from being ripped off, but the Palestinians had a much better position and more useful land (that, admittedly, was not as nice as the coast land the Israelis got but it did have the advantage of controlling the water highlands.).

 

[Maniacal]

They got some land on the coast, desert highlands, and the useless Negev Desert. They were far from being ripped off, but the Palestinians had a much better position and more useful land (that, admittedly, was not as nice as the coast land the Israelis got but it did have the advantage of controlling the water highlands.).

Its the Palestinians' home, why shouldn't they keep the best land to support their population?

 

[Tee Kay]

Once the state of Israel was established, then the local powers got involved (which constitued only Egypt, Trans-Jordan, Jordan, and Syria. I don't recall if the Arab Legion got involved. Of those, only Egypt made any serious gains).

The Arab Legion was indeed involved. Iraq also sent a substantial force, while Lebanon and Saudi Arabia also contributed. Jordan (or Transjordan, as it was then) probably came out best out of alll the Arab states, ending the war with control over the West Bank.

They got some land on the coast, desert highlands, and the useless Negev Desert. They were far from being ripped off, but the Palestinians had a much better position and more useful land (that, admittedly, was not as nice as the coast land the Israelis got but it did have the advantage of controlling the water highlands.).

The best land on the coast and on the Sea of Galilee, would've gone to the Jewish state. The Negev was important because of Red Sea access rather than agricultural or settlement value.