[Barry the Sprout]

Originally posted by Charean: TL, I like that idea of giving Palistine thier own state. That has possibilities if they are willing to give up some of their homeland. Query - wasn't there something in the last summit they had (Israel and Palestine that took place in the States, I think) that Israel was willing to give a lot of concessions to make peace and Palestine said no, they want all the land that the Jews are occupying? I don't remember the details at all, and was wondering if someone else did.

Once again, thats the occupied territories you're thinking of. They were offered a state where all access would be through Isreal, all water supply would come through Isreal, and they would only get back 80% of the Occupied territories. Arafat would probably have gone for it himself as he is quite moderate (hence he can't control his own movement - the vocal ones tend to be the more radical i.e. the people he could never control will never agree with him) but if he had have done then the Palestinian Authority would have completely broken down. A lot of the major groups would have rejected it out of hand. I don't entirely blame them either. The land in question was taken through conquest and the state would only have been a name - they would have gained no independance whatsoever from Isreal. At least give the Palestinians their dignity...