Sept.30 2011
Dana Goldstein published an article on Time World Sept.29 2011:
"Why Fewer Young American Jews Share Their Parents View of Israel."
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2095505,00.html
I am an Israeli. I was born in Israel. My parents came to the country at the beginning of the 20th the century as pioneers because they were Zionists. I am a Zionist.

I belong to the center- left. I have always supported a 2 national states solution and never supported the Likud or settlements.

Yet, I think that you, Dana, are wrong, that you have been misled by Palestinian propaganda, the views of the anti- Zionist extreme left in Israel, and by the Western media that adopted a wrong understanding of the Israeli – Palestinian conflict.

As I said before, I am against settlements, but the
Real issue between the Palestinians and Israel are not the settlements but the refugees and the future of the Jewish state.

Facts:
Until 1967 there were no settlements on the Western Bank. Yet, the Jewish – Arabic conflict started after the League of Nations recognized Palestine as the homeland of the Jewish people, after First World War.

Since than the Arabs have refused to recognize the right of Jews to settle in Palestine. During the British Mandate they organized gangs to kill Jews and organized pogroms in 1919/20, 1929, 1936- 39 and killed Jews between.

The British government tried to put an end to the conflict in 1936. The PEEL COMMISSION proposed to divide the country into 2 states: a Jewish and an Arabic state. The Jews agreed – the Arabs rejected the proposal because they refused to recognize the right of Jews for a state.

In 1947, a United Nations committee proposed a 2 state solution to the conflict and the UN ACCEPTED THE PROPOSAL IN THE UN 1947 RESOLUTION. The Jews agreed, the Arab states invaded the new state of Israel and declared they were going "to throw all Jews into the sea." Israel won the war with the result of 6,000 Jews victims of the war.

Since the Palestinian – Arabs took an active role in the effort to eliminate the Jewish state - many of them ran away out of fear of revenge. Others, were expelled because they took active part in the war, and killed Jews.

Thus, the refugee problem was created. The Arab – Palestinian leadership is responsible for the refugee problem – not Israel.

The Arabs still refused to make peace. The Palestinian Arabs were under Arab occupation from 1948 to 1967, but never demanded a state. They continued to attack Israel by sending terrorists and in 1967 Arab states attacked Israel again in an effort to put an end to the Jewish state. They failed again and Israel conquered the Western Bank and Gaza, Sinai and the Golan.

After the war Israel proposed "land for peace" and the answer was the 3 "no" of the Hartum Summit.

In Short, until 1967 there were no settlements, but the Palestinians and the Arabs refused to recognize the Jewish state and establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Israel held the Western Bank and Gaza as bargaining cards for a solution of the conflict. Settlement building was started.

After a long terrorist effort against Israel the Oslo Agreement was signed in 1993. Israel recognized the right of Palestinians for a state, and the Palestinians promised to change their charter calling for the destruction of Israel. They never did it.

The Oslo Agreement included agreement to stop terror and to make peace, but the terror never stopped. Israel had to defend its citizens against terror and built a fence between Israel and the PA, and put road check points to prevent terrorists from entering Israel to kill civilians.

The Palestinian Authority established according to the Oslo agreement rejected 2 more proposals to have a state alongside Israel:
2000, at Camp David, the Clinton – Barak proposal gave solution to all issues, including the settlement issue. Arafat rejected the proposal because it included the settling of the refugees in the Palestinian state, and started another Intifada.

Many Israeli civilians were killed but the Intifada failed.

2008/9 – Prime Minister E. Ulmert gave Abu Mazen a new proposal. Abu Mazen admitted on an interview to the Washington Post that Ulmert's proposal was even better from the 2000 proposal, but he never answered the proposal.

Why? because it included the settling of most refugees in the Palestinian state.

In short, the settlements are not the real issue. Israel destroyed all settlements in Gaza. Did it stop terror? More than 6,000 rockets were sent against Israeli civilians from Gaza after Israel destroyed all settlements and took out its army from Gaza.

The real issue is the Arab - Palestinian dream to put an end to the Jewish state by settling the refugees in Israel.

The refusal of Palestinians to make peace has been accompanied by an international propaganda as if the Israeli – Palestinian conflict is a human rights issue, a problem of apartheid and war crimes. Palestinians all over the world organized organizations to spread the idea that Israel is a racist state that commits human rights crimes and war crimes.

The real issue has nothing to do with apartheid - the Palestinians are not Israeli citizens – or human rights or war crimes. Israel has been forced to defend its citizens against terror. All the majors – the fence and the check points – were necessary to prevent terrorists from entering Israel and killing its people.

The "operation Cast Lead" against Gaza was intended to stop the rockets shot from schools, hospitals and private homes contrary to international law. The Goldstone commission was wrong and Goldstone himself admitted it was wrong.

The real issue is: 2 national movements are fighting for the same piece of land. This is a national issue – not a human rights or apartheid issue. Israel recognized the right of Palestinians for a national state, but the Palestinians refuse to recognize the right of Jews for a national state. They say, Zionist are European colonialists who took their land. This is an effort to rewrite history. It is an effort to deny any historical connection of Jews to this land.

In Short, the Palestinians can put an end to "their suffering" and to settlements by making peace.
They could have a state since 1936 or at least since 2000.

And now, the PA refuses to negotiate with Israel and went to the UN to get a state without an agreement with Israel. Thus, the conflict will continue and the coming demand from the UN will be to force Israel to accept the refugees.

The fence and the check points are a great inconvenience, but they save the lives of Israeli civilians. Israel declared more than once that the fence will be part of the negotiations, and the check points will be removed after an agreement.

And as for the "occupation": most Palestinians live since the Oslo Agreement (1993)under direct Palestinian rule – not under Israeli rule. Gaza is under Hamas rule. Most of the Western Bank is under direct Palestinian civilian rule. Only the settlements and Palestinian villages around them are under direct Israeli control.

Look at the photos coming from Gaza and the Western Bank and see for yourself the conditions there.

Dana, you and other young American Jews are brainwashed together with the rest of the world by the Palestinian campaign to demonize and de-legitimize Israel as if the issue is not a national issue but a human rights issue. Israel is the only Jewish state in the world and is constantly attacked by more than 50 Muslim states with a lot of oil money, to put an end to the Jewish state.

P.S: Read the PMW web site and learn about the hatred campaign against Israel and Jews (including you, Dana, and other young American Jews).