In June 1967, Israel defeated five Arab armies in what became known as the Six Day War. That war actually began when the Arabs invaded Israel immediately after her Declaration of Independence in 1948. The Arabs had hoped to destroy Israel and “drive the Jews into the sea”.
Three months later, on September 1, 1967, the Arab League met in Khartoum and declared their "Three Nos" resolution; no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel, Also included was their insistence on the rights of the "Palestinian people" in their own country.
Thereafter they resorted to a different battlefield. They began a diplomatic war against Israel in which they used propaganda, extortion and terror to achieve their desired goal. Eventually, they managed to get most of the world to back their false narrative and to support their cause. In particular, the world now believes that the land in question is Occupied Palestinian Land and that international law supports them and holds that the settlements are illegal. These beliefs are supported by the US, the EU and the UN among others.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. For the truth, read International Law and the State of Israel and The Legality of Israel Sovereignty over Judea and Samaria According to International law.
It is long past time for Israel to declare its own Three Nos; no to a nuclear Iran, no to the two-state solution, no to a bi-national state.
Why so? Because nothing is to be gained by negotiating.
Iran will not forgo its objective of acquiring nuclear weapons which it needs to secure its existence and to destroy Israel, its stated objective.
The Palestinian Authority (PA ) and Hamas are committed to destroying Israel, the Zionist project. To that end, they promote a narrative that denies the Balfour Declaration, the San Remo Resolution and the rights of Jews to a homeland and close settlement as set out in the Palestine Mandate.
From their perspective, they claim that all the land west of the Jordan River is Palestinian Land, that Jews have no historical claim to the land and that Jerusalem belongs to them. Just last month, “The United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution 129-11 on Wednesday that disavowed Jewish ties to the Temple Mount and called it solely by its Muslim name of al-Haram al-Sharif.
In 2018, Dr Jacques Gauthier DLL said 'International consensus' on Jerusalem is baseless. Gauthier devoted his doctoral thesis to the issue of ownership and legal rights over Jerusalem. He published it under the title, “Sovereignty over the old city of Jerusalem: a study of the historical, religious, political and legal aspects of the question of the old city”
The Abstract reads:
"At the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, the Zionist Organization presented its claim for recognition of the historical and national rights of the Jewish people to Palestine including Jerusalem and its Old City. In San Remo, in 1920, the Allied Powers, holding the power of disposition over Palestine, decided to recognize the Jewish historical claim converting it into a binding international law claim. It was incorporated into the Mandate for Palestine approved by the League of Nations in 1922. This "Sacred Trust of Civilization" provided for the establishment of the Jewish National Home in Palestine based on historical connections and recognition of the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country, subject to safeguarding the civil and religious rights of its inhabitants."
Plain and simple, the San Remo Resolution of 1920 gave legal title to the Jews and the Mandate for Palestine (1922) enshrined it. Finally the Charter of the United Nations upholds it. Sec 8o, provides;
"…nothing in this Chapter shall be construed in or of itself to alter in any manner the rights whatsoever of any states or any peoples or the terms of existing international instruments to which Members of the United Nations may respectively be parties."
The PA and Hamas will not accept a permanent Two-State Solution or even a Bi-national state, other than as a means to ultimately destroy Israel. And no third party will prevent it from happening. In fact, the opposite is true.
Ze’ev Jabotinsky understood this well. In Nov 1923, just after the Palestine Mandate was signed, almost 100 years ago, he called for an Iron Wall. He recognized that the differences between Jews and Arabs were irreconcilable.
"There can be no voluntary agreement between ourselves and the Palestine Arabs. Not now, nor in the prospective future. I say this with such conviction, not because I want to hurt the moderate Zionists. I do not believe that they will be hurt. Except for those who were born blind, they realised long ago that it is utterly impossible to obtain the voluntary consent of the Palestine Arabs for converting "Palestine" from an Arab country into a country with a Jewish majority.
"To imagine, as our Arabophiles do, that they will voluntarily consent to the realisation of Zionism, in return for the moral and material conveniences which the Jewish colonist brings with him, is a childish notion, which has at bottom a kind of contempt for the Arab people; it means that they despise the Arab race, which they regard as a corrupt mob that can be bought and sold, and are willing to give up their fatherland for a good railway system.“
In demanding an Iron Wall, he was calling for the Mandate to be enforced by force of arms rather than to be amended by negotiations.
"Yet we keep spoiling our own case, by talking about 'agreement' which means telling the Mandatory Government that the important thing is not the iron wall, but discussions. Empty rhetoric of this kind is dangerous. And that is why it is not only a pleasure but a duty to discredit it and to demonstrate that it is both fantastic and dishonest."
The same applies today. Israel is in possession of all the land west of the Jordan, save Gaza, and must keep it by force of arms and not by negotiations which will secure her nothing and serve only to diminish her rights..
Israpundit’s slogan “There Is No Diplomatic Solution” echoes Jabotinsky’s belief.
In this regard, Israel must steel its resolve. It must be emphatic. It must be assertive. To do otherwise permits the camel’s nose under the tent. According to an alleged Arab proverb, if a camel is allowed to get its nose inside of a tent, it will be impossible to prevent the rest of it from entering. Similarly, the US and the EU must be prevented from getting their proverbial foot in the door.
Thus, the need for Israel to declare its 3 no’s to be enforced by an Iron Wall.
During Yom Kippur services in Ashkenazi congregations, the Cantor sings a haunting prayer called Unetane Tokef and the Mahzor (Prayer Book) includes this footnote;
"Rabbi Amnon of Mayence, a great scholar, a person of wealth, a handsome man of noble ancestry was under great pressure from the lords and Archbishop of the city to change his faith and adopt their religion. He repeatedly ignored them but on one occasion, in order to put them off, he asked for three days to consider their request. Afterwards he was heartbroken because he had given the impression that he might actually consider renouncing his belief in the One Living God. He refused food or drink; weeping bitterly over his lapse, he refused to accept the sympathy and consolation of friends and relatives.
"At the end of the three days he was summoned by the Archbishop, but he ignored the summons. A distinguished delegation was sent to ask him to appear at the court but he refused them. Finally, he was brought before the court by force, and the Archbishop demanded, 'Why did you not come and answer me as you promised?" Rabbi Amnon answered, "As a punishment, you should have my tongue cut out, because my tougue deceived you.' Rabbi Amnon thought to sanctify God's Name in this manner, since his tongue had uttered such a promise. The Archbishop replied, 'No, I will not cut out your tongue for it spoke well, instead, I will cut off your feet for they did not bring you to me.' The tyrant ordered that his hands and feet be cut off in piecemeal fashion; asking him at each interval if he was willing to renounce his faith."
The point is, Israel shouldn’t waver. It must be strong in its resolve. It shouldn’t give mixed messages. It shouldn’t allow either the nose under the tent or the foot in the door.
Unfortunately that is not what Israel is doing, especially the current government.
It gave mixed messages regarding Iran by suggesting it was open to a “good deal” with Iran and regarding the PA which it fights and supports at the same time.
Israel, for whatever reason, keeps the door open to the two-state solution by not rejecting it out of hand. Instead, Israel should slam the door shut and refuse to negotiate.
And now we learn just how committed the EU was and is to the two-state solution. In June 2020, the UK threatened to recognize Palestine if Netanyahu extended Israeli sovereignty to 30% of Area C as set out in the Oslo Accords Netanyahu chose discretion over valor. This is all the more reason that Israel should eradicate all EU funded, illegal Arab construction in Area C. The EU means business and so should Israel.
Biden just gave $99 million to UNRWA to help finance their demonization of Israel and their encouragement of terrorism. This was in addition to the $314 million already given last year..
Then, Ganz, Israel’s Minister of Defense, offers the PA “confidence building measures” including a “loan” of $150 million” which is, in reality, the same as the hated “gestures” which in the past were forced upon Israel.
The PA provides salaries to terrorists, convicted or otherwise, which Israel and the US condemn. What else is there to discuss? Game over. But Israel totally undermines this by getting in bed with the PA to fight Hamas.
No matter how many rockets Hamas fires at Israel, Israel’s policy remains “calm for calm” of “tit for tat”. How about a policy of zero tolerance?
Since the US has made it clear that there is “daylight between us,” Israel should do likewise rather than to be open to removing the daylight by acquiescing to US demands.
With all the pressure Israel is under, it has no choice but to declare its own "Three Nos" : no to a nuclear Iran, no to the two-state solution, no to a bi-national state.
Ted Belman is the editor of Israpundit and has been for 20 years. He made aliyah from Canada in 2009 and now lives in Jerusalem