The human rights group B’Tselem has tallied up the human cost of Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2006.
Israeli deaths by terrorism dropped to 17, including one minor and six soldiers. In Gaza and the West Bank, the Palestinian death rate tripled to 660, of which 141 were minors, and 322 “noncombatants.”
Source:
“Palestinian death toll triples this year”
Independent (U.K.), December 30, 2006
This shows that reoccupation is working for Israelis, but its effect on Palestinians is sad. One can only hope that the two-state solution is revived and that a new government can replace the present one. There is no way that Israel can negotiate away its security and sovereign status to militants. There must be no financial and political backing for this government led by elected insurgents who seeks to destroy the nation-state of Israel.
Any bargaining begins with the irrefutable aknowledgment of Israel’s right to exist and maintain its borders. It requires a desire to abandon the right of return for Palestinian descendants of refugees who have elected to stay in their camps instead of accepting status and permanent residency in their homelands. The only exception is Lebanon. That consists of 340,000 people. People cannot go back and settle on foreign soil they no longer live on. None of these people carry a Palestinian or Israeli passport. If you don’t carry an Israeli passport, weren’t born there and never lived there, how can you be a refugee? How can you descendants be refugees? How can the descendants of Israelis who fought in the war and now live on legally obtained land be forced to live side-by-side with people in their own country without legal status? It would be allowing Palestine to take over Israel,which is colonialist. It is also a security threat and would overpower the Jewish-majority culture with a historical and religious basis in the country, as they are the predominant group. Minority rights can never overpower the rights of the clear majority.
Also there must be middle of the road arrangements on settlements and Jerusalem that benefit both sides. There must guarantees of access to holy sites and security for both sides. Only a political solution can solve this problem. It is not feasible and desirable for Israel to occupy Palestine indefinitely but this requires a change in government in Palestine and a change in the mentality of its leaders and political institutions. Fatah is a political institution: Hamass is not. No dealings with guerilla groups.