Volume No. 1 Issue No. 7  Date: March 2000

Palestinians have linked the acceptance of pragmatic formulae for refugee resettlement and compensation to an Israeli admission of guilt. Under this recipe, the real causes - the Arab rejection of the 1947 Partition Resolution and the subsequent invasion - would disappear without a trace.

As the permanent-status talks progress, Israel will be pressed, as the stronger party, to make a "gesture" on the refugee issue. Doing so would justify retroactively decades of Arab wars and terrorism, and the Israeli defensive responses would suddenly become illegitimate. And it would be cited throughout the Arab world as the basis for continuing the war and violence against the Jewish state.

Syria is following a similar path, rewriting history and blaming Israel exclusively for the legacy of wars, terrorism, and "occupied territory."

Syrian officials and the media repeatedly emphasize the demand that Israel return land captured by the Syrian army in 1948 and “occupied” until 1967.

Beyond the political benefits for Assad, this would justify the Arab invasion and the terrorism that continued long after. The violence that took so many lives would be sanctified as legitimate responses to the "illegal" creation of Israel.

The dangers of allowing the myths on the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict to go unchallenged are highlighted in the case of Egypt. After two decades of formal peace, the ideological war against Israel continues and has even intensified. Most Egyptian academics, artists, journalists, and politicians boycott Israel. This is a warning that the treaties lack legitimacy and will be renounced when the balance of power changes. The Arab myths will remain, and the conflict will continue. (Edited and reprinted from the Jerusalem Post)

Israel is being pressured to return to the narrow borders that existed prior to the 1967 war of self defence, in the expectation that the network of treaties and mutual acceptance will replace territory and military force as the basis for security.

Is "land for peace" merely a slogan behind which the conflict will resume once Israel is back to its pre-1967 boundaries?

The evidence is not encouraging. The Palestinians demand that Israel accept "historic responsibility" for the plight of the refugees. Syria blames Israeli policies for the escalating violence that led to the capture of the Golan Heights in 1967. Egyptians argue that the agreements and treaties with Israel are being imposed on a "divided and weak" Arab world. On all fronts, it appears that preparations are being made for resuming the conflict after Israel has given up all of its assets.

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