Security presence is not occupation
Security presence is not occupation

The usual Nakba Day protests are over for the time being and meanwhile we also had the 49th anniversary of the Six Day War. Depending on our source of news, the former is about “68 years of 'occupation'”, while the latter is usually about “49 years of 'occupation'”.

And despite the fact that that in his speech in the European Parliament in June 23, Mahmoud Abbas called for European support to “bring an end to the Israeli 'occupation'”, international media has – for the moment – dropped Israel from the headlines. But make no mistake: next year will be the 50th anniversary of the Six Day War, we will see lots of publications, documentaries, infographics and videos about the “50 years of 'occupation.'”

The Saudi Initiative, which is total nonsense, is on the table once again. Israel withdrew from Gaza 11 years ago, there is no partner on the Syrian side to claim the Golan (and actually we’re not sure if there’s Syria anymore), but the Palestinians are still insisting that they are living under "occupation." The whole approach is wrong and we should ask: what is really termed "occupation"? Why is the Israeli presence in Judea and Samaria called "occupation"?

If we analyze the major conflicts in the 20th century that brought war and/or military occupation, we see two general and specific goals of any war and occupation:

1)      a nation or movement wants to pressure and force his or her own ideology on another nation or people.

2)      a nation or movement wants to put his or her hand on the natural resources of a land.

The reason the Israeli presence in Judea & Samaria is called “occupation” is to influence the emotions of Western people , because the Western world has very fresh and alive memories about what occupation is.
Those who incite against Israel are very careful to claim every terrorist act is a form of resistance and a natural response to occupation. To be more precise: the reason the Israeli presence in Judea & Samaria is called “occupation” by many is to influence the emotions of Western people , because the Western world has very fresh and alive memories about what occupation is.

During World War 2, the countries under German occupation suffered from Nazi rule, their governments were replaced with puppet-governments collaborating with Germany. The natural resources of these countries were exploited by Germany and Nazi laws were also enforced.

The Eastern-European communist countries were communist due to Soviet occupation. Usually we don’t make guesses when analyzing historical events but  had the Eastern-European communist bloc had the chance to decide its own fate, the countries would have chosen open markets and a western style system, as they did after the fall of communism in 1989 - 1990.

On the other hand, Israel accepted the 1947 Partition Plan and even after the War of Independence, would have lived happily in peace with her neighbors, had there not been constant existential threat and had the Jews not been driven out of Judea & Samaria and Jerusalem. Israel is neither forcing her own system and ideology on anybody, nor exploiting the natural resources of Judea & Samaria.( The latter doesn’t even make sense since the area does not have any natural resources.)

But even though the military presence by Israel for the protection of Jews cannot be confused with occupation, a full withdrawal from Judea & Samaria is out of question and is just not feasible anymore because it's neither 1948 nor 1967 and circumstances have changed.

In the book titled “Hussein of Jordan: My War with Israel”, published in 1968 and based on a series of interviews with King Hussein, there is a major difference about Judea & Samaria compared to any publication in our days: the area is referred to as “the west bank of the Jordan” or simply as the “west bank”. So guess what: 5 decades ago there was no West Bank, just “west bank” which clearly shows that we are talking about a region and not a name or a country.

Israel accepted Palestinian national identity, which was created simply to connect the name “Palestine” to a people in order to confuse those unaware of history. Israel accepted that the west bank became the West Bank.

And what did the Palestinians accept? With the Arab world behind them, for decades they were putting all their efforts into killing Jews, inciting against Jews with the overall goal to drive Jews out of Israel. Some of them realized that this is not achievable by force, then came the boycott movements and international efforts to delegitimize Israel.

There is one method they never tried: to accept reality and try to live in peace with Israel. They really should try it and only then talks can be held on mutual agreements and possible land swaps.