Hamas could have chosen peace. Instead, it made Gaza suffer.

[appal_jack]

47. Hamas apologists denying Israel's right to exist - right here.

Last edited Sat Aug 9, 2014, 07:29 PM - Edit history (1)

The state of Israel was authorized by UN Resolution 181:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_the_Establishment_of_the_State_of_Israel

Now, this resolution defined smaller borders for Israel than the territory it currently holds, and the same resolution also authorized an independent state of Palestine. But the Palestinians (most recently via their sometimes-elected representation of Hamas) have refused to recognize Israel for the nearly 70 years since. The wars and terrorist actions that Palestinians (sometimes in conjunction with Arab states) turned out rather poorly (from the Arab perspective). These wars have consequences: namely, less territory than the 1948 resolution would have provided to Palestine.

Funny how Hamas apologists tout all the various anti-Israel UN resolutions endlessly, but the very first Resolution on Israel is dismissed as "ethnic cleansing." That there is some propagandistic bullshit.

Real negotiations will not move forward until the Palestinian side recognizes that it is not 1948, it is not 1967, it is not 1972. It is 2014, and the poor choices made by the PLO, Hamas,and other Palestinian factions in the past determine what is possible now. Israel has every reason to keep much of the territory it occupied in 1967, and it is not 'apartheid' for them to negotiate from this position.

-app