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Why Didn't the 1967 Borders Bring Peace?

(Commentary) Jonathan S. Tobin - As Israelis celebrate the 46th anniversary of the re-unification of Jerusalem, their capital city, that was made possible by the Six-Day War of 1967, it's appropriate to ask why peace did not reign in the Middle East prior to the war, since there is an assumption that merely recreating the situation that existed before that war will bring about peace. It is necessary to remind those who harp on "1967" as the only possible solution that when there was not a single Jew living in the West Bank or east Jerusalem, there was no peace. Indeed, prior to that war, when the area now dubbed the "occupied territories" was in the possession of Jordan and Egypt, the focus of the Arab and Muslim world was not on the creation of a Palestinian state but on ending Jewish sovereignty over the territory of pre-1967 Israel. Those parts of Jerusalem that were illegally occupied by the Jordanians did not constitute a Palestinian capital. Nor was Egyptian-occupied Gaza considered part of a Palestinian state. Until there is a sea change in Arab opinion about Israel, and Palestinians come to terms with the permanence of the Jewish return to the land, arguing that just forcing Israel to give up the territory it won in a war of self-defense will solve the conflict is not only illogical; it's a demand for national suicide. The Palestinians and most of their supporters have never come to terms with the legitimacy of a Jewish state no matter where its borders were drawn.
2013-05-10 00:00:00
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