Whither Palestine?
The general Arab line on the Question of Palestine goes like this, "The conflict must be settled in accordance with Security Council resolutions 242 and 338; the total withdrawal of Israel from the occupied territories; and the creation of a Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital." Here's the thing, neither of those resolutions calls for the creation of a Palestinian state. They don't mention Palestine at all. It's important because the spin on the statement is to get people to believe that the UN has, in those resolutions, called for the creation of Palestine. Now, the UN has said that both a Jewish and Arab state must be created in Palestine, "the establishment of the frontiers of the Arab and Jewish States and the City of Jerusalem." Notice that Jerusalem is separate here. It was intended to be a UN zone that not belong to either state. "The City of Jerusalem shall be established as a corpus separatum under a special international regime and shall be administered by the United Nations." The call for a Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem is in violation of this UN resolution. The point is that the more one looks at the "proposal" and actions and statements of the Saudis, the less legitimate the proposal becomes.
- posted by levinson @ 2/28/2002 08:52:00 AM