The recent events in the Gaza Strip - unilateral Israeli withdrawal and the subsequent destruction of Israeli property and infrastructure by Arab residents - are part of a long historical track record of squandering opportunities and are a painful reminder of why many Palestinian Arabs still roam the land as refugees nearly six decades after their displacement.
In 1948, the United Nations voted to partition Palestine - which was the remaining land of the1918 British mandate. It was the United Nation's intention to establish two separate, independent states - one Jewish and one Arab. The majority of the region was designated for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, a newly formed Muslim Arab state, while the remaining land was to be divided equally between the Arabs and Jews of Palestine, according to http://wikipedia.org.
Jews accepted the U.N. partition plan and have had an independent Jewish state ever since. Arabs of the region rejected the plan and - backed by neighboring Arab states - chose instead to launch a war against the fledgling Jewish state with the intent to build their own upon its ruins.
Had Arabs accepted the partition plan, Palestinian Arabs would never have become refugees, the last five decades of conflict could have been avoided and an independent Palestinian Arab state could possibly be celebrating its 57th anniversary instead of remaining dependent on handouts from the international community. This was a tremendous mistake on the part of Middle Eastern Arabs, and unfortunately a mistake Arabs have not yet learned from.
During the Camp David negotiations in 2000, Israel offered withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and 95 percent of the West Bank, as well as the dismantling of numerous Israeli settlements in order to give Palestinian Arabs an independent and sovereign state, according to "Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict."
Moreover, Jerusalem was to become a shared capital between the Arab and Israeli states. Yasser Arafat rejected the proposal, which would have guaranteed his people a state, and a war of terrorism continued against Israel. In the last five years, this violence has gained absolutely nothing for Palestinian Arabs that they couldn't have gained at Camp David - in fact, they have lost much more.
The occurrences in the wake of the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip have provided further evidence of Palestinian Arabs' propensity to consistently make poor decisions. Months before Israel's withdrawal, there had been debate about what to do with the high-tech, Israeli-owned and operated greenhouses in Gaza.
One proposal was to take advantage of international financial aid and use it to purchase the greenhouses from Israeli owners, thereby providing the Palestinian Arabs an established, immensely profitable business that could employ thousands. Arabs flatly rejected the proposal, disgusted with the idea that any amount of what they viewed as their money would go to the Israelis.
In an astounding gesture of peace, American Jews purchased more than 3,000 greenhouses from Israeli settlers - at a cost of $14 million - and donated them to Arab residents of Gaza, according to The Associated Press.
Unfortunately, the sense of hope this gesture created was quickly annihilated when Arab "looters and revelers converged on the area ... stripping greenhouses of critical supplies from rubber hoses to water pumps," according to Reuters. Looting was not only limited to the general population, and in some instances, Palestinian Authority police officers actually joined in the looting, according to The AP.
Once again, another chance for progress, peace and independence has been ruined. Unless Palestinian Arabs can learn from their mistakes and begin to focus on opportunities to improve their condition, they will continue to live in hatred and squalor without hope for better lives for their children.
-Ari Whitten is a kinesiology senior.
-This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Daily Aztec. Send e-mail to letters@thedailyaztec.com. Anonymous letters will not be printed - include your full name, major and year in school.
Be the first to comment on this article!