67

Today President Obama laid out his view of the Middle East and in a surprise said that Israel should go back to the 1967 borders. In 2004 President Bush said the US would not require Israel to do this and a letter to that effect was sent to congress and 75% of the house members and 75% of the senate signed the letter. This was not an agreement made with Bush and the congress but it was made with the United States government.

In Israel’s 70 years history there have been 5 wars with the Arabs and Israel won all five. In each war they captured Arab territories and later gave back the territories. After the 67 war they kept certain territories so they could defend themselves against future attacks. If Israel goes back to the 67 borders the Arab border will be only five miles from the capital of Tel Aviv.

It has always been expected that one day Israel would be willing to negotiate a return to these borders when they could be assured they would not be attacked. In addition Israel would demand that the Palestinians give up the right of return. These is the idea that all Palestinians that lived in what is now Israel in 1948 when Israel became a state had the right to return to Israel and reclaim their property and be citizens of Israel. Since there are fewer than 5 million Jews in Israel and there would be 6 million Palestinians returning that would be the end of Israel because these people returning would have the rights of citizens and the right to vote. The very next election they would vote all the Jews out of the country and that would be the end of Israel.

The interesting thing about this right of return is that throughout history this right has been reserved only to those who were displaced and not their progeny. Since this occurred in 1948 most of these people are dead and it would make no difference but the UN has ruled in this case that it is the refugees and their progeny who could return.

As a reminder when the Jewish state was created in 1948 there were about a half million Jews living in that area and about a half million Arabs. In the days preceding the war all of these Arabs moved out of the area and about an equal number of Jews who were living in Arab lands moved into Israel. The war then began with forces from Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Palestine attacking Israel. Their plan was to drive Israel into the sea but instead Israel defeated these armies, something which would repeat itself in four more wars.

Each time the Arabs were humiliated their hatred toward the Jews increased and today they would like nothing better, as the leader of Iran says, to wipe Israel off the map. Another disturbing aspect is the fact that two days ago the Jews were told there would be no mention of the 67 borders but today it came out just one day before the head of Israel is schedule to visit the White House. When Netanyahu visited Obama last year he was made to sit and wait while the President ate dinner which was considered a slap in the face and some say this is no way to treat an ally.