On 5/17/24 20:41, NefeshBarYochai wrote:
>
> I have the honor to address you today. As millions of Palestinians, we
> have the greatest >> PALESTINE WILL BE FREE FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA.
>

It comes down to a pretty simple question.

Do you trust the knowledge, judgement, and decision making of
leaders like Winston Churchill and Harry Truman (or more recently
on a rare topic that both Don Trump and Joe Biden agree on),
joined by a super majority of the United Nations,

or a group of people like the Palestinians that voted to be
ruled by Hamas, a terrorist group committed to racism
and violence.

I will go with our leaders who have done the best they knew
how, to shape the world to be better than they found it.
-----------

Both groups, Jews and Palestinians had populations there.
But it was a thinly populated area. Terraces that had been
productive when Jews had the majority, but lost to military
conquest to Muhammad lay mostly neglected.
As many said, "A people without a land, for a land without a people."

But the Palestinians continued to make bad choices.
They picked the wrong side in WWI.
They picked the wrong side in WWII.
They refused to compromise, and refused the UN offer in 1947
to have their own land and country.
They chose to fight with 5 organized Arab Armies against the
Jewish militia and, surprising all, lost in 1948-49.
They made the bad choice to start a war in 1956.
They made the bad choice to start a war in 1967, and lost much land.
They made the bad choice to start a war in 1973.
They made the bad choice to start a war in 1982.
They made the bad choice to start a war in 2006.
They made the bad choice to refuse what POTUS Carter negotiated.
They made the bad choice to refuse what POTUS Clinton negotiated.

----------

Yes, the Palestinians do deserve a right to a homeland.
They were offered one, just as the Jews were offered one
when the UK gave up it's UN mandate.
The Jews accepted what was offered, even tho it was far
from ideal. They created Israel, and have flourished
and they made the desert bloom.
The Palestinians refused to share, and decided to kill
the Jews rather than share. Surprise! Even with the
Armies of five nations helping the Palestinians,
they failed.

And have been consumed by hatred, and refusal to share
for the last 75 years. Every time the Palestinians
are offered a chance to have their own state and
live in peace, they refuse.

Please read:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Partition_Plan_for_Palestine

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Partition of Palestine" redirects here. For the partition of Palestine
into Israel, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank, see 1949 Armistice
Agreements.
UN General Assembly
Resolution 181 (II)

UNSCOP (3 September 1947; see green line) and UN Ad Hoc Committee (25
November 1947) partition plans. The UN Ad Hoc Committee proposal was
voted on in the resolution.
Date 29 November 1947
Meeting no. 128
Code A/RES/181(II) (Document)
Voting summary
33 voted for
13 voted against
10 abstained
Result Adopted
The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was a proposal by the
United Nations, which recommended a partition of Mandatory Palestine at
the end of the British Mandate. On 29 November 1947, the UN General
Assembly adopted the Plan as Resolution 181 (II).[1]

The resolution recommended the creation of independent Arab and Jewish
States and a Special International Regime for the city of Jerusalem. The
Partition Plan, a four-part document attached to the resolution,
provided for the termination of the Mandate, the progressive withdrawal
of British armed forces and the delineation of boundaries between the
two States and Jerusalem. Part I of the Plan stipulated that the Mandate
would be terminated as soon as possible and the United Kingdom would
withdraw no later than 1 August 1948. The new states would come into
existence two months after the withdrawal, but no later than 1 October
1948. The Plan sought to address the conflicting objectives and claims
of two competing movements, Palestinian nationalism and Jewish
nationalism, or Zionism.[2][3] The Plan also called for Economic Union
between the proposed states, and for the protection of religious and
minority rights.[4] While Jewish organizations collaborated with UNSCOP
during the deliberations, the Palestinian Arab leadership boycotted it.[5]

The proposed plan is considered to have been pro-Zionist by its
detractors, with 62% of the land allocated to the Jewish state despite
the Palestinian Arab population numbering twice the Jewish
population.[6] Consequently, the partition plan was accepted by Jewish
Agency for Palestine and most Zionist factions who viewed it as a
stepping stone to territorial expansion at an opportune time.[7][5] The
Arab Higher Committee, the Arab League and other Arab leaders and
governments rejected it on the basis that in addition to the Arabs
forming a two-thirds majority, they owned a majority of the lands.[8][9]
They also indicated an unwillingness to accept any form of territorial
division,[10] arguing that it violated the principles of national
self-determination in the UN Charter which granted people the right to
decide their own destiny.[5][11] They announced their intention to take
all necessary measures to prevent the implementation of the
resolution.[12][13][14][15] Subsequently a civil war broke out in
Palestine[16] and the plan was not implemented.[17]

Background
The British administration was formalized by the League of Nations under
the Palestine Mandate in 1923, as part of the Partitioning of the
Ottoman Empire following World War I. The Mandate reaffirmed the 1917
British commitment to the Balfour Declaration, for the establishment in
Palestine of a "National Home" for the Jewish people, with the
prerogative to carry it out.[18][19] A British census of 1918 estimated
700,000 Arabs and 56,000 Jews.[18]

In 1937, following a six-month-long Arab General Strike and armed
insurrection which aimed to pursue national independence and secure the
country from foreign control, the British established the Peel
Commission.[20] The Commission concluded that the Mandate had become
unworkable, and recommended Partition into an Arab state linked to
Transjordan; a small Jewish state; and a mandatory zone. To address
problems arising from the presence of national minorities in each area,
it suggested a land and population transfer[21] involving the transfer
of some 225,000 Arabs living in the envisaged Jewish state and 1,250
Jews living in a future Arab state, a measure deemed compulsory "in the
last resort".[21][22][23] To address any economic problems, the Plan
proposed avoiding interfering with Jewish immigration, since any
interference would be liable to produce an "economic crisis", most of
Palestine's wealth coming from the Jewish community. To solve the
predicted annual budget deficit of the Arab State and reduction in
public services due to loss of tax from the Jewish state, it was
proposed that the Jewish state pay an annual subsidy to the Arab state
and take on half of the latter's deficit.[21][22][24] The Palestinian
Arab leadership rejected partition as unacceptable, given the inequality
in the proposed population exchange and the transfer of one-third of
Palestine, including most of its best agricultural land, to recent
immigrants.[23] The Jewish leaders, Chaim Weizmann and David Ben-Gurion,
persuaded the Zionist Congress to lend provisional approval to the Peel
recommendations as a basis for further negotiations.[25][26][27][28] In
a letter to his son in October 1937, Ben-Gurion explained that partition
would be a first step to "possession of the land as a
whole".[29][30][31] The same sentiment, that acceptance of partition was
a temporary measure beyond which the Palestine would be "redeemed . . in
its entirety,"[32] was recorded by Ben-Gurion on other occasions, such
as at a meeting of the Jewish Agency executive in June 1938,[33] as well
as by Chaim Weizmann.[31][34]

The British Woodhead Commission was set up to examine the practicality
of partition. The Peel plan was rejected and two possible alternatives
were considered. In 1938 the British government issued a policy
statement declaring that "the political, administrative and financial
difficulties involved in the proposal to create independent Arab and
Jewish States inside Palestine are so great that this solution of the
problem is impracticable". Representatives of Arabs and Jews were
invited to London for the St. James Conference, which proved
unsuccessful.[35]

With World War II looming, British policies were influenced by a desire
to win Arab world support and could ill afford to engage with another
Arab uprising.[36] The MacDonald White Paper of May 1939 declared that
it was "not part of [the British government's] policy that Palestine
should become a Jewish State", sought to limit Jewish immigration to
Palestine and restricted Arab land sales to Jews. However, the League of
Nations commission held that the White Paper was in conflict with the
terms of the Mandate as put forth in the past. The outbreak of the
Second World War suspended any further deliberations.[37][38] The Jewish
Agency hoped to persuade the British to restore Jewish immigration
rights, and cooperated with the British in the war against Fascism.
Aliyah Bet was organized to spirit Jews out of Nazi controlled Europe,
despite the British prohibitions. The White Paper also led to the
formation of Lehi, a small Jewish organization which opposed the British.