The 'occupation'
The very concept of “occupation,” as applied to Gaza and Judea/Samaria (the “West Bank”), makes no sense.
When the Egyptians were in possession of Gaza for almost twenty years - nobody accused them of being occupiers!
When the Jordanians were in possession of Judea/Samaria (the “West Bank”) and much of Jerusalem for the same length of time - they were not considered occupiers by the nations of the world, nor by the inhabitants of the area.
Yet the Israelis were considered “occupiers” when, after a war of extermination against them, they prevailed and came into possession of these territories.
The oldest rule of warfare is that to the victor belong the spoils.
Do people expect France to return Alsace-Lorraine to Germany?
Do they expect the Czech Republic or Poland to return the German territories awarded to them after Germany’s defeat in World War II?
Of course not!
Those countries evicted most of the original inhabitants or caused them to flee.
Israel, in contrast, has never evicted a single Arab from these territories.
On the contrary, lured by the prosperity the Israelis have created, tens of thousands of Arabs from adjacent Syria and Jordan have come to live there.
The hope that Israel’s abandonment of any territory – the same old “land-for-peace” formula – would bring about peace is a fallacy.
]
]In order to establish peaceful relations with its northern neighbor Lebanon, Israel abandoned the security zone of southern Lebanon.
Result...?
Non stop attacks with Katyusha rockets, led by Hezbollah, the “army of God,” which is supported and funded by Iran and by Syria.
It makes life on Israel’s northern frontier almost unbearable.
Israel, unilaterally and in order to appease the Palestinians, the United States and world opinion, vacated Gaza and evicted thousands of Israeli families and abandoned their homes, institutions, extensive agricultural installations, and valuable infrastructure.
Not a single Israeli citizen, not a single Israeli soldier, remains in Gaza. Even dead Jews were removed.
Result...?
Israel has been subjected to daily attacks by Qassam rockets from Hamas in Gaza.
The Palestinian Arabs, along with many other Arabs and Muslims, are single-mindedly focused on the destruction of Israel, to “wipe it off the map" as openly vowed by Hamas.
If Israel were pressured into ending the “occupation” of the territories, it would not bring peace.
On the contrary, it would bring about bloody warfare, just as in Gaza and Lebanon, and could well be the end of Israel.
Those who advocate the ending of the “occupation” do so either out of ignorance or because they want to see Israel destroyed and the people slaughtered.
