Letter: Concessions will not bring peace | Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle

Letter: Concessions will not bring peace

          There are now three Jewish organizations — Peace Now, J Street and Jewish Voice for Peace — whose members criticize Israel and attempt to force it to make concessions for peace with the Palestinian Arabs.

          They all assume that concessions by Israel will be met by similar concessions on the other side and thus result in peace. The problem is that there is no evidence for this.

          Actually, the situation shows the opposite. For decades Israel has made concessions and they have all been met by terror and murder.

          Jews and Arabs in British Mandate Palestine were offered states and peace in 1936 and 1948. Jews accepted both times and Israel was finally founded in 1948. The Arabs refused both times and started a major war in 1948.

          Israel’s Declaration of Independence offered concessions to Palestinian Arabs and the surrounding Arab states. Thousands of Palestinian Arabs left and the surrounding Arab armies attacked and attempted to destroy Israel.

          Israel allowed Palestine Liberation Organization President Yasser Arafat back to the area and gave control of much of the land occupied in the 1967 war to the Palestinian Arabs as part of the Oslo Accords.

          The Arabs were offered a state with peace in 2000, but they rejected both and responded with Intifada II which murdered more than 1,000 innocent Israeli civilians.

          In 2005, Israel left Gaza and four small settlements in the northern West Bank, forcibly expelling 8,000 Jews. The terror group Hamas then took over Gaza and started two wars against Israel by launching thousands of rockets at Israeli citizens.

          Finally, while three Jewish organizations are attempting to force Israel to make concessions for peace, not a single Arab organization exists trying to force Arabs to follow the same course. There is a message that some of our brethren do not seem to hear.

Peter G. Gilbert
Glendale