‘One State’ Is No Solution

Re “In the Wake of Arafat, Will the Two-State Solution Survive?” Commentary, Nov. 22: Saree Makdisi’s “idea” of a single state for Jews and Arabs in Israel is yet one more limping Trojan horse for tripping the Jews and stealing their homeland. Arab families with four wives and dozens of children would cover the land like locusts and would turn it into an Arab country in no time at all. And that is the idea. The fair solution is to accept the fact that Israel is there forever. The Arabs in the West Bank could form a federation with Jordan; those in Gaza, with Egypt.

Batya Dagan

Los Angeles

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Makdisi suggests Israel abandon its reason for being and cease its systematic “ethnic cleansing.”

He writes, with blinding irony, that “only in Israel is ethnicity an acceptable foundation for politics.” Apparently the professor is unaware of a modern, distinctively Muslim democracy called Turkey.

And if the professor is truly concerned about the horrors of “ethnic separation,” perhaps he should devote his attention to Saudi Arabia, which won’t even allow a Jew to set foot on its soil.

Rich Siegel

Culver City

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This article is another way of stating the Palestinians’ historical position that rejects the existence of the state of Israel. In 1937, the Peel Commission recommended a two-state solution.

This was followed by the United Nations’ 1948 resolution partitioning Palestine into two states. The Oslo accords, the Camp David proposals and now the “road map” call for a two-state solution. The Palestinians have rejected this. Throughout this period, the Palestinians have used violence and terrorism to extinguish Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.

Having lost the intifada, all that remains for the Palestinians is to demographically, in a single state, overwhelm Israel. If today’s Palestinians seek a one-state solution, they should join Jordan, a Muslim state that has a peace treaty with Israel.

Robert C. Gusman

Calabasas

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To believe in a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to believe in fairy tales. It is not about ending the conflict in the Middle East; it is about destroying the Jewish state.

Harold Pomerantz

Dundas, Ontario

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The entire article focuses on half-truths, if not complete distortions of reality, as justification for wiping out the Israeli and Jewish identity. Makdisi repeatedly assails the Israeli “wall” when in fact only 3% of the structure is a wall. He falsely likens it to the Berlin Wall, which was built to keep its citizens prisoners. Israel’s fence is clearly built to keep out terrorists.

The writer also complains of the Palestinian citizens of Israel who are in “political limbo” and “without access to democratic privileges.” In fact, Palestinian Arabs in Israel have their own political party, enjoy free speech, voting privileges and a standard of living higher than ordinary citizens in any Arab country. In contrast, neither Saudi nor Lebanese law gives Palestinian Arabs citizenship or the right to own land, thereby perpetuating their refugee status. And when was the last time any Arab country held free and transparent elections, enabling ordinary citizens to run for office?

Aggie R. Hoffman

Los Angeles

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There is no such thing as “historic” Palestine. The Palestinians are not a distinct people, whether you look at culture, language, food, attire. In no way are they different from other Arabs.

There was, however, the British Mandate of Palestine. That should be used when talking about a new Palestinian state. The mandate of Palestine included a region then known as Trans-Jordan, now called the kingdom of Jordan. Jordan is over 75% Palestinian (as the definition is used today) and contains two-thirds of the geography of the mandate of Palestine.

Why is Jordan not the Palestinian homeland? Oh, right, the Palestinians gave up on that after Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization failed to assassinate King Hussein in 1970 and were expelled from Jordan.

David Lewis

Los Angeles