No Peace.

Written by Colt Ables

THURSDAY, 07 MAY 2009 03:05 PM

Earlier this week, Joe Biden urged Israel to work with the Palestinians toward a two-state solution for the region. To quote Sarah Palin — “Say it ain’t so Joe.”  For peace to be realized between Israel and Palestine, both groups must want to come to the negotiating table. How can one group make concessions for peace while the other group will not accept any of those concessions?  Israel is a recognized state that is continually left to defend itself against rocket and mortar fire from groups that do not recognize its existence. Which side is being irrational? Palestine cannot have a desire for peace if they continue to be hostile. Ever since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 and border disputes with the Palestinians, the topic of the Arab-Israeli conflict is the larger concern of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that carries very emotional ties. The conflicts are fought on religious grounds over which religion, Jewish or Muslim, have the right to claim the land. On one side of the issue, Israel is recognized as a state. On the other, people like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claim Israel doesn’t have the right to exist and should be destroyed.  The ideological battle for this land is fought along both the northern and eastern borders of Israel. Along the northern border, Lebanon is inundated with members of the terrorist group Hezbollah, which receives a large share of its funding from the Saudi royal family and Iran. Along the eastern border, the West Bank, currently populated by Fatah. To the southwest, the Gaza strip is more or less controlled by the terrorist group Hamas and its Iranian backed government.  Beginning in 1993, the Palestinian Liberation Organization became what was believed to be the negotiating force for the Palestinians. Israel has made peace with Egypt and Jordan along its other surrounding borders, and has been recognized by them as a legitimate state.  Many UN resolutions have been passed recognizing Israel and encouraging peace in the region. In 1949, Resolution 273 was accepted by the Security Council, recognizing Israel’s legitimacy as a “peace loving state.” Security Council  Resolution 242 calls for “the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle east” that includes the “withdrawal of Israel from territories occupied” during the Six-Day War and also the termination of all wars and the establishment of peace. Talks in 1993 between the PLO and Israel with the U.S. as an emissary to broker a possible peace deal. Negotiations were discussed for a withdrawal of Israeli forces from parts of the West Bank and the Gaza strip, which had been occupied since the Six-Day War. These talks became known as the Oslo Accords. Even with peace being discussed between them, to this day, the Palestinians and Israelis are still fighting.  At the end of a six month cease-fire brokered by Egypt, Hamas fired more than two dozen rockets, injuring many Israelis in December 2008. Upon breaking the cease-fire, Israel commenced airstrikes overnight. A cease-fire has yet to be resumed and, recently, talks of a solution have been a topic in the news.  The realization of any peace cannot be brokered without the hope that peace will be lasting and permanent. Peace will not be brokered with Hamas but rather a stable government in Palestine, which is not in the foreseeable future. As long as the Hamas-dominated Palestinian government continues its support of terrorism, all hopes of genuine peace are diminished.