In an unparalleled conciliatory effort on June 19, 1967, Israel offered to give up the conquered territories in return for peace, recognition and negotiations. The offer was categorically rejected in September by all the Arab League states in the infamous Khartoum Resolution that vowed there would be: "no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel” and called for a continued state of belligerence.
Israel restored Jerusalem and Bethlehem with meticulous respect for Christian access, and retained Muslim access to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem.
After the destructive war in 1973, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat negotiated with Israel in 1979 and got back the entire Sinai peninsula which represents 90 percent of the acreage Israel won in 1967.
In 2005, Israel surrendered all of Gaza -- including farms, homes, agricultural machinery and greenhouses.
The rest is history. Until the Abraham Accords, the paradigm for peace was territorial concessions by Israel which never brought peace or serious conciliation.
All told, the West Bank and Israel without Gaza cover about 10,600 square miles of land while Jordan is 34,495 miles. The West Bank covers 1,263 square miles, roughly the same size of the King Ranch in Texas which is 1,289 square miles.
The illusion that an independent West Bank can exist at peace with Israel is shattered by the realities of the Hamas attack and Arab response, and geographic reality. The West Bank Arab city Tulkarm is poised on a nine mile corridor from the coast, a tempting location for an attack that would effectively divide the nation in half with catastrophic consequences.
One hopes the present struggle will lead to a decisive victory against Hamas, but Israel’s history has been surrendered to the false and libelous narrative students are now taught and promulgated by ignorant “protesters.”
Israel restored Jerusalem and Bethlehem with meticulous respect for Christian access, and retained Muslim access to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem.
After the destructive war in 1973, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat negotiated with Israel in 1979 and got back the entire Sinai peninsula which represents 90 percent of the acreage Israel won in 1967.
In 2005, Israel surrendered all of Gaza -- including farms, homes, agricultural machinery and greenhouses.
The rest is history. Until the Abraham Accords, the paradigm for peace was territorial concessions by Israel which never brought peace or serious conciliation.
All told, the West Bank and Israel without Gaza cover about 10,600 square miles of land while Jordan is 34,495 miles. The West Bank covers 1,263 square miles, roughly the same size of the King Ranch in Texas which is 1,289 square miles.
The illusion that an independent West Bank can exist at peace with Israel is shattered by the realities of the Hamas attack and Arab response, and geographic reality. The West Bank Arab city Tulkarm is poised on a nine mile corridor from the coast, a tempting location for an attack that would effectively divide the nation in half with catastrophic consequences.
One hopes the present struggle will lead to a decisive victory against Hamas, but Israel’s history has been surrendered to the false and libelous narrative students are now taught and promulgated by ignorant “protesters.”
