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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume. 34, Number 5. 1971
Solution1: Destruction of Israel
Solution1: Destruction of Israel
This solution is proposed by Al-Fatah and other associated Palestinian organisations. It calls for the conduct of a violent struggle against Israel, with the object of destroying her independence. Only when Israel ceases to exist as an independent state so Al-Fatah argues can the Palestinian problem be really solved.
Advantages:
| a) | The destruction of Israel appears to many Arabs as a just solution to the conflict. |
| b) | The demands of the Palestinian Arabs are fully satisfied. |
Disadvantages:
| 1.) | This solution cannot possibly be acceptable to the Israelis and to propose such a solution means in effect to conduct a protracted conflict against Israel. |
| 2.) | Protracted conflict causes more suffering to Arabs than to Israelis because it postpones indefinitely the solution of the Palestinian problem and it further postpones the settlement of the human problem of the Palestinian refugees, who have been awaiting a solution of the conflict since 1948. It has also caused suffering to the Arab civilian population along the cease-fire lines of the Jordan Valley and the Suez. Canal (for example, the Egyptian government evacuated more than half a million people from Port Said, Suez, and other towns when it began its 'war of attrition against Israel along the Canal). |
| 3.) | This solution increases mutual intransigence and aids the extremists on both sides. It obliges Arab Governments to refuse any negotiations with Israel on the solution of the Palestinian problem, and persuades Israelis that they have no alternative but to remain at the present cease-fire line which they consider best assures their security, their survival and their independence as long as the protracted conflict lasts. |
Is This Solution Possible?
This solution could be a realistic objective if it were conceivable that the Arabs could destroy Israel's military capability, her economy and her morale. But the Six-Day War has shown that the destruction of Israel by military force is not a realistic objective. Since the war, the Israelis have doubled their defence effort and her army is now stronger than it was in 1967. The actions of the Palestinian guerillas are so small that they cannot substantially affect the military balance of power.
Israel's economy is prospering:- G.N.P. rose by 12% in 1968, tourism rose by 48% in 1968. immigration rose by 70% in 1968. These figures seem to show that the protracted conflict increases the rate of Israel's technological development.
Conclusion
The destruction of Israel by sheer military force is not a realistic objective, neither at present, nor in the foreseeable future.
Israel's economic and technological potential is growing, not diminishing. Protracted conflict appears to increase the rate of development rather than retard it. The Israeli nation can withstand protracted conflict indefinitely, because Israelis prefer their independence to any other form of existence, and the losses they incur arc small compared with the persecution they suffered in the past.
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