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Follow Us on TwitterDora McPhee (VIC) responds to Lyons “Powerbroker keen to redraw Israeli map” The Australian, 19Jun10 June 20, 2010
The Australian: “Powerbroker keen to redraw Israeli map” by John Lyons, 19 June 2010
In “Powerbroker keen to redraw Israeli map” Danny Ayalon’s remarks clearly show his sense of entitlement to all of the land that was Palestine, which has underpinned all Israeli governments’ approaches to this issue. There is no acknowledgement of any Palestinian entitlement to land that was taken from them by force of arms. While Israel might claim some legitimacy through the UN Partition resolution 181, this was not binding as it never went to the Security Council and was vitiated by the outbreak of war. In any case it proposed a Jewish state in 55% of Palestine not the 78% which the Armistice Line delineates. So even before Israel occupied the remainder of Palestine in 1967 it had already illegally taken by force more Palestinian land than it was allotted by the resolution. Palestinians in recognising Israel in this 78% were already making an unprecedented historical concession that Israel should have gratefully accepted. Instead they have suffered 43 years of outright colonisation of the remaining 22%.
We are not told that redrawing the map of Israel to incorporate the larger illegal colonising settlement blocks is clearly to Israel’s advantage as they sit on the main water aquifers of what should have been Palestinian water resources that Israel now controls. We should bear in mind that the indigenous Palestinians are also deeply attached to the same land through cultural, social and religious ties forged over centuries of habitation in that land. Their rightful patrimony to that land was denied them by the machinations of world powers that supported the establishment of a Jewish state in a part of their land and then allowed the occupation, colonisation and theft of resources to occur unchecked in the remainder, while denying them their right to resist the occupation of their land. If we want to test the fairness of any land swaps one should ask would the Jewish state be happy with the land and resources granted by Danny Ayalon’s proposed Palestinian state if that is what it was granted as a sovereign state – I think not.
Thank You.
