For decades, there has been a relentless diplomatic push by American Presidents to bring "peace" to the Middle East, meaning Israel and the Palestinian Arabs – never mind that other countries of the Middle East, namely Iran, Jordan, and Qatar, actually bring instability to that region. Peace is indeed possible, but it will never materialize by equating Israel to a non-existent ethnicity falsely called "Palestinian" which was created by a PLO terrorist in 1964, and then widely unleashed in 1967, as a result of the stunning Arab loss in the Six-Day War, for the sole purpose of political antisemitism. Both Jordan and Egypt need to accept responsibility, given each countries' actual historical association with the Arabs currently living in Gaza, and in Israel's historical heartland of Judea and Samaria.
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Israelis need land buffers to achieve long-lasting security. Gazans and those Arabs living in Judea and Samaria demand economic relief and fewer checkpoints. A multi-pronged solution already exists, it just needs to be accepted as reality and implemented. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi briefly suggested back in 2014, before backing down due to political pressure, that the 'Palestinians' be moved to the Sinai if Israel and the UN aid Egypt in rebuilding the beleaguered generally no-man's land where drugs and missiles are smuggled. Since the Gazans have more of a historical connection with Egypt, it would be financially advantageous to move them to a hyper-developed Sinai next door, and thus, provide the safety Israel desperately seeks.
Palestine was a region, not a country. During the Ottoman occupation, Muslims were allowed to live wherever they wished within the Empire, while Jewish immigration to the homeland was restricted after 1882. There seemed to be a bipolar treatment of Jews by the Ottomans; Jews were welcomed and even rescued from the Iberian countries of the Inquisition. By the second half of the Ottoman reign, there was some forced conversion of Jews to Islam, in Judea and Samaria, when they deemed the area 'too Jewish.' Hence, 60% of the Palestinian Arabs in the South Hebron Hills today are actually descendants of converted Jews, the majority of whom are now radicalized Muslims. Overall about 30% of all Palestinian Arabs have Jewish lineage and DNA.
The citizens of Gaza are also not 'Palestinians' but Gazans; even a Hamas leader pleaded to el-Sissi of Egypt that the Gazans are Egyptians; culturally they are closer to Egypt than to Jordan. Jews also had a prominent presence in Gaza – many Jews escaping the Inquisition lived in Gaza for centuries, and further back, there was a Jewish synagogue there dating back to the 6th century. After Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty in 1979, the Gaza issue remained unresolved with both countries controlling the narrow strip. And the Egyptians did not want full control of Gaza, despite being offered it during negotiations. Under Israeli rule, despite the 1987 Intifada, Arabs and Jews lived a relatively cordial co-existence until 2005 when Israel fully disengaged, and Hamas took over.
The Hashemite Kingdom rules Jordan, which is quite interesting considering that the royal family was transplanted from Saudi Arabia, making the Hashemites a minority while the vast majority of Jordanians are Palestinian Arabs. An entire antisemitic anti-Zionist cottage industry currently exists which erroneously screams about the 'mistreatment' of the 'Palestinians' by Israel, but in actuality, it is Jordan that suppresses its Palestinian-Arab populace. Work and academic quotas abound.
Many Palestinian Arabs in Judea and Samaria already hold Jordanian citizenship, and thus, an ultimate peace plan would include (rightfully) renaming Jordan, Palestine. This would eliminate the terror-minded Palestinian Authority, and the Arabs living in Area A and B would benefit from Jordanian citizenship politically, without compromising the Jewish majority in Israeli elections. Alternatively, a payment offer could be offered to those Palestinian Arabs willing to relocate to Jordan. After all, close to a million Jews, who never committed terror attacks, were not given payouts after being expelled from numerous Middle Eastern countries. A relocation settlement is far more humane than what Jews had to endure in the 1950s and '60s from Arab countries, where many lived for thousands of years.
How much longer can Arabs attacking Israel be tolerated, and then, more infuriatingly, the world blames Israel for defending itself. Needlessly, Jewish and Arab lives continue to be lost to war and terrorism, which could be stopped if historical accuracy can be upheld. The Abraham Accords have proven that Arab countries are capable of making true peace with Israel – now if only Jordan and Egypt can fill the final security trench so that the cycle which Hamas spurs each time they need more cash from Iran, or to flex its political muscle, is not repeated for yet another generation.
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