Podhoretz and Segal on Ending Conflict in the Middle East

Segal’s piece is another example of the failure of academics to get a passing grade on the facts. Perhaps the head of our State Department, George Shultz, believes in using a full deck and no marked cards when playing with card sharks when dealing with the life and death issues of the Middle East. Contrary to Segal, Jesse Jackson, the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the anti-Israeli press, the statement that “ . . . in 1967 Israel . . . came to control all of Palestine . . . “ or that the Palestinians don’t have a homeland is an outright lie or more charitably a gross distortion of the facts.

In 1922 the British Foreign Office turned over 78% of Palestine to the Arab descendants of the conquerors of the Holy Land. This area of East Palestine was called the Hashemite Kingdom of Trans Jordan and is now simply called Jordan.

The above indicated area of East Palestine (Jordan) is defined in the “Palestine National Charter” of the PLO, in article one and two, as the “ . . . homeland of the Arab Palestine people. . . .” The inhabitants of East Palestine (Jordan), Judea, Samaria and Gaza are all basically the same. They speak the same language. They have the same basic religion and culture. They have relatives in all of the above areas. Both PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Jordan’s King Hussein have said that “Jordan is Palestine and Palestine is Jordan.” The only real issue left is that they want to include Judea, Samaria and Gaza as well as Israel into their already established Palestinian homeland as they state in their PLO charter.

So long as Russia and its Arab allies refuse to agree to a settlement negotiated by the parties directly involved, there can be no peace. The parties to the negotiations must be free of any outside pressures or threats. Doesn’t Segal believe in self-determination? This does not, however, preclude friendly big power support in securing a peaceful and fair solution.

HARRY STILLMAN

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