Auschwitz Borders

“We have openly said that the map will never again be the same as on June 4, 1967. For us, this is a matter of security and of principles. The June map is for us equivalent to insecurity and danger. I do not exaggerate when I say that it has for us something of a memory of Auschwitz.”
Abba Eban, 1969

President Barack Obama announced today that he is seeking an Israeli pullback to pre 1967 borders in the hopes of brokering a new peace deal. While the notion of peace between angry neighbors with such bad history between them is certainly laudable, the timing of this entreaty gives me a very bad feeling.

Why would you make such an announcement immediately after Hamas and the PLO have reunited? A Hamas that refuses to recognize Israel and is committed to its destruction? We should go back to 1967 borders that didn't work real well in 1967 when Israel thwarted attacks from its three neighbors Jordan, Syria and Egypt simultaneously. Return the Golan Heights, a land captured in response to Syrian hostility? Should there be no penalty for aggressive adventurism by Israel's neighbors. What was lost in conflict will now be deeded back in a diplomatic do-over, until the arabs finally have enough power to finish the job and destroy Israel completely, as is their express desire.

A history lesson; a Palestinian state was created in Transjordan in 1921 by the British Mandate. According to Sir Alec Kirkbride, the British representative in the area, Transjordan was intended to serve as a reserve of land for use in the resettlement of Arabs once the National Home for the Jews in Palestine, which [Britain was] pledged to support, became an accomplished fact. There was no intention at that stage of forming the territory east of the River Jordan into an independent Arab state. Transjordan was originally given to Emir Abdullah by the British. 


In March 1921 the Colonial Secretary, Winston Churchill, visited the Middle East and endorsed an arrangement whereby Transjordan would be removed from the original territory of Palestine, with Abdullah as the emir under the authority of the High Commissioner, and with the condition that the Jewish National Home provisions of the (future) Palestine mandate would not apply there. Effectively, this removed about 78% of the original territory of Palestine and left about 22% where the application of the Balfour Declaration calling for a "Jewish" national home could be applied. Transjordan remained under the nominal auspices of the League of Nations and British administration, until its independence in 1928.


After capturing the West Bank area of Cisjordan during the 1948–49 war with Israel, Abdullah took the title King of Jordan, and he officially changed the country's name to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in April 1949. The following year he annexed the West Bank. That is how a country of Palestinians, created for Palestinians became the subjects of a 3% Hashemite minority.

If I were Israel I would be very scared of this President. As a past supporter I see that his statements, assurances and posturing mean nothing. He is fully prepared to send Israel flaming into the pyre of history in order to slam a deal through and achieve his political aims. Talk is cheap for this "consequentalist", his record of breaking promises and vacating postions during his tenure in office is shameless.

Barack Obama has made it a point to ignore his liberal base, knowing full well that he can better spend his time supplicating the right, all with the knowledge that the left will still vote for him, begrudgingly, as opposed to voting for a Republican conservative. With this move he throws a gigantic bone to the large pool of leftists who hate Israel and the concept of a jewish state and gains a whole bunch of liberal capital. From people who don't understand the realities of Islamic fundamentalism.

I predict a serious split between the United States and Israel. They may have to "go it alone."While I disagree with many of Netanyahu's actions, I do not think that he will be willing to commit Israel to a course of national suicide. Days after Israel's enemies make a concerted effort to broach its borders, orchestrated by Hamas and Hezbullah, we award their malfeasance with a plum and a pat on the back. I think that we should believe Hamas, listen to them in their own words. We can forget them at our whim, Israel can not afford to.  They are committed to Israel's destruction.

Last week Valerie Amos, U.N. Secretary, demanded that Israel open up its borders and allow goods to flow in and out of Gaza. The last time they tried, suicide bombers blew themselves up at the checkpoint. They require the same secure borders that every other country demands for itself. But they are involved in a religious war that the so called civilized world would like to pretend does not exist. Peace is a two way street, it requires two parties aiming for the same stasis. Israel can not go it alone and should not rely on the empty words and promises of Barack Obama.

"We have liberated Gaza, but have we recognized Israel? Have we given up our lands occupied in 1948? We demand the liberation of the West Bank, and the establishment of a state in the West Bank and Gaza, with Jerusalem as its capital – but without recognizing [Israel]. This is the key – without recognizing the Israeli enemy on a single inch of land. ...
"Our plan for this stage is to liberate any inch of Palestinian land, and to establish a state on it. Our ultimate plan is [to have] Palestine in its entirety. I say this loud and clear so that nobody will accuse me of employing political tactics. We will not recognize the Israeli enemy. "

Hamas official Halil Al-Hayya, Al-Hayat newspaper, November 11, 2010

    "We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood…We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior. We ask God to offer him mercy with the true believers and the martyrs."
Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip commenting on the killing of Osama Bin Laden, May 2, 2011