1 00:00:02,120 --> 00:00:06,140 If Israel just allowed the Palestinians to have a state of their own, 2 00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:09,000 there would be peace in the Middle East, right? 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:15,060 That’s what you hear from UN ambassadors, European diplomats and most college professors. 4 00:00:15,060 --> 00:00:19,440 But what if I told you that Israel has already offered the Palestinians a state of their own 5 00:00:19,460 --> 00:00:24,060 – and not just once, but on five separate occasions? 6 00:00:24,060 --> 00:00:25,420 Don’t believe me? 7 00:00:25,420 --> 00:00:27,780 Let’s review the record. 8 00:00:27,790 --> 00:00:33,130 After the breakup of the Ottoman Empire following World War I, Britain took control of most 9 00:00:33,130 --> 00:00:37,660 of the Middle East, including the area that constitutes modern Israel. 10 00:00:37,660 --> 00:00:42,940 Seventeen years later, in 1936, the Arabs rebelled against the British, 11 00:00:42,940 --> 00:00:45,240 and against their Jewish neighbors. 12 00:00:45,249 --> 00:00:51,879 The British formed a task force – the Peel Commission – to study the cause of the rebellion. 13 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:56,460 The commission concluded that the reason for the violence was that two peoples 14 00:00:56,460 --> 00:01:00,660 – Jews and Arabs – wanted to govern the same land. 15 00:01:00,660 --> 00:01:06,180 The answer, the Peel Commission concluded, would be to create two independent states 16 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:09,600 – one for the Jews, and one for the Arabs. 17 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:12,320 A two-state solution. 18 00:01:12,320 --> 00:01:16,040 The suggested split was heavily in favor of the Arabs. 19 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:21,420 The British offered them 80 percent of the disputed territory; the Jews, the remaining 20 percent. 20 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:26,660 Yet, despite the tiny size of their proposed state, the Jews voted to accept this offer. 21 00:01:26,660 --> 00:01:30,840 But the Arabs rejected it and resumed their violent rebellion. 22 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:32,860 Rejection number one. 23 00:01:32,870 --> 00:01:39,000 Ten years later, in 1947, the British asked the United Nations to find a new solution 24 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:41,250 to the continuing tensions. 25 00:01:41,250 --> 00:01:45,800 Like the Peel Commission, the UN decided that the best way to resolve the conflict 26 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:47,640 was to divide the land. 27 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:52,840 On November 7, 1947, the UN voted to create two states. 28 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:55,300 Again, the Jews accepted the offer. 29 00:01:55,300 --> 00:02:01,480 And again, the Arabs rejected it, only this time, they did so by launching an all-out war. 30 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:03,260 Rejection number two. 31 00:02:03,260 --> 00:02:07,760 Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria joined the conflict. 32 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:08,940 But they failed. 33 00:02:08,940 --> 00:02:13,880 Israel won the war, and got on with the business of building a new nation. 34 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:19,740 Most of the land set aside by the UN for an Arab state – the West Bank and east Jerusalem 35 00:02:19,780 --> 00:02:25,820 – became occupied territory; occupied not by Israel, but by Jordan. 36 00:02:25,820 --> 00:02:32,200 Twenty years later, in 1967, the Arabs, led this time by Egypt and joined by Syria and Jordan, 37 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:35,560 once again sought to destroy the Jewish State. 38 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:42,680 The 1967 conflict, known as the Six Day War, ended in a stunning victory for Israel. 39 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:48,680 Jerusalem and the West Bank, as well as the area known as the Gaza Strip, fell into Israel’s hands. 40 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:52,680 The government split over what to do with this new territory. 41 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:58,719 Half wanted to return the West Bank to Jordan and Gaza to Egypt in exchange for peace. 42 00:02:58,719 --> 00:03:03,459 The other half wanted to give it to the region’s Arabs, who had begun referring to themselves 43 00:03:03,459 --> 00:03:09,290 as the Palestinians, in the hope that they would ultimately build their own state there. 44 00:03:09,290 --> 00:03:11,620 Neither initiative got very far. 45 00:03:11,620 --> 00:03:16,940 A few months later, the Arab League met in Sudan and issued its infamous “Three No’s:” 46 00:03:16,940 --> 00:03:18,840 No peace with Israel. 47 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:20,940 No recognition of Israel. 48 00:03:20,940 --> 00:03:23,480 No negotiations with Israel. 49 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:30,400 Again, a two-state solution was dismissed by the Arabs, making this rejection number three. 50 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:36,440 In 2000, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak met at Camp David with Palestinian Liberation 51 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:41,300 Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat to conclude a new two-state plan. 52 00:03:41,300 --> 00:03:46,900 Barak offered Arafat a Palestinian state in all of Gaza and 94% of the West Bank 53 00:03:46,909 --> 00:03:49,549 with East Jerusalem as its capital. 54 00:03:49,549 --> 00:03:52,669 But the Palestinian leader rejected the offer. 55 00:03:52,669 --> 00:03:57,720 In the words of US President Bill Clinton, Arafat was “Here 14 days 56 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:00,440 and said ‘no’ to everything.” 57 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:05,220 Instead, the Palestinians launched a bloody wave of suicide bombings that killed over 58 00:04:05,220 --> 00:04:13,380 1,000 Israelis and maimed thousands more – on buses, in wedding halls, and in pizza parlors. 59 00:04:13,380 --> 00:04:15,860 Rejection number four. 60 00:04:15,860 --> 00:04:19,600 In 2008, Israel tried yet again. 61 00:04:19,609 --> 00:04:24,510 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert went even further than Ehud Barak had, expanding the peace offer 62 00:04:24,510 --> 00:04:27,479 to include additional land to sweeten the deal. 63 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:33,540 Like his predecessor, the new Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, turned the deal down. 64 00:04:33,540 --> 00:04:35,520 Rejection number five. 65 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:40,600 In between these last two Israeli offers, Israel unilaterally left Gaza, 66 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:44,100 giving the Palestinians complete control there. 67 00:04:44,110 --> 00:04:48,550 Instead of developing this territory for the good of its citizens, the Palestinians turned 68 00:04:48,550 --> 00:04:54,690 Gaza into a terrorist base, from which they have fired thousands of rockets into Israel. 69 00:04:54,690 --> 00:05:00,460 Each time Israel has agreed to a Palestinian state, the Palestinians have rejected the offer, 70 00:05:00,460 --> 00:05:02,580 often violently. 71 00:05:02,580 --> 00:05:06,970 So, if you’re interested in peace in the Middle East, maybe the answer is not to pressure 72 00:05:06,970 --> 00:05:11,400 Israel to make yet another offer of a state to the Palestinians. 73 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:17,760 Maybe the answer is to pressure the Palestinians to finally accept the existence of a Jewish State. 74 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:24,040 I’m David Brog, Executive Director of the Maccabee Task Force, for Prager University.