Abdullah II of Jordan Quotes

“Oslo” was a peace conference where the Israelis agreed to give the Palestinians more control over West Bank land in exchange for Palestinian renouncing of terrorism and violence. The Palestinian government was either too weak to expel or arrest the terrorists or unwilling to do so. In either case, Israel had a much harder time coping with terrorism which took Israeli lives and sense of security. A similar thing happened when the Israelis withdrew from the West Bank. Many Israelis thereafter did not want to consider allowing the Palestinians to control any more land, making a two state solution virtually untenable.

There were Arabs living in Palestine since Roman times. However, there was no concept of Palestinians as a separate people from Jordanians or other Arabs in the Middle East. There had never been a Palestinian government separate from the other Arabs in the region and separate from the Kingdom of Jordan. At the birth of Israel, all the Arab Armies of the region attacked the new state, which managed to defend itself but in the process the Arab governments had told the Arabs of Israel to leave the Area so their Armies would be able to attack all others. After the Arab victory, they could return and could have their land and the Jewish land. The victory never happened and the Arabs who left have been refugees outside of Israel and describe themselves as “Palestinians” which have had a quasi government in the PLO. The Palestinians who stayed in Israel became full citizens of the Jewish State. Other Palestinian refugees left the area and emigrated throughout the Middle East and elsewhere.

This was an interview with Reuters News Agency in English. Arab leaders often make English Statements to the Western Press which are completely contradictory to what they say to their Arab constituents and followers. In this case he seems to acknowledge that Hamas and he do not deny the right of Israel to exist and accepts that nation per se. Yet at the same time Meshaal has never made this statement in Arabic and has made no gesture to change the Hamas Charter which calls for the destruction and elimination of Israel or to criticize the Hamas other leaders and followers who constantly call for “Death to Israel” and the destruction of the Jewish state. See {585395} for an eloquent statement of the practice of Arab leaders and politicians.

”Palestine” to the Arabs of the area meant the territory of the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel itself. They wanted to expel the Jews and or take over the whole area as a single state—Palestine—with an Arab majority. With the Israeli Defense Forces successes under Dayan, this notion of Palestine was “finished”. The notion of a Palestinian State which included the West Bank and Gaza but not Israel was then negotiated and these negotiations were ongoing for years. Minorities of Arabs and Israelis did not want to see a any Palestinian state that did not include Israel proper, and they blocked it whenever they could.

This was true at the time for most nations and their activities—the world was, and was perceived of, as a zero sum game. But with the modern world, much of international activity is not zero sum. In foreign trade both parties to a transaction might win. In scientific research, a win for one nation increases the benefit from all nations who use that research or build upon it.