"A fierce attachment to the
land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan. The assertion of ties to ancient
peoples who lived here thousands of years ago. A mythology of universal victimization
and unblemished righteousness. National feelings nurtured in aberrant conditions
of exile and statelessness. The dream of return to Paradise Lost and a righting
of historical wrongs."
Most readers would assume the above describes
the Jewish peoples and their struggle to possess and retain the Israeli
state. Not so. Michael S. Arnold wrote these words about the Palestinians
in an article titled "Birth of a Nation" (The Jerusalem Post, Internet
Edition, October 22, 2000). It speaks to why we see the depth of passion
evidenced in recent clashes between Palestinians and Israelis as the
postponed deadline for declaring a Palestinian state approaches again.
Observers of and participants in the fighting
have asserted that the struggle is out of the hands of the PLO leader
Yasser Arafat. Even if he were to attempt to make peace, the rank and
file Palestinians say that they would not. On the Israeli side, feelings
run strong that the fighting has only verified that the Palestinians
never wanted to settle into a peaceful coexistence with Israel, but
rather to eliminate Israel altogether-in the way once called for by
Arafat in his overtly terrorist days.
Many of the Palestinian people were displaced
52 years ago with the creation of the Israeli state in 1948. Another
1.1 million were displaced in the '67 war, when Israel captured the
West Bank. Not only are they still officially refugees (Palestinians
represent 25 percent of the world's refugee population-UN figures),
no compensation has been given to the Palestinians for lost land or
homes. The "legal" argument maintained by Israel is that the Palestinians
abandoned their property.
