<>The Editor
The Guardian
February 22nd 2002
Dear Sir,
Your recent exchange of
letters about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict miss the wood for the
trees. We can go back further in time. We can speculate on what would
have happened if Balfour
had NOT made his declaration in 1917; if the first British governor of
the mandated territory of
Palestine, Lord Samuels, had not been Jewish; if Hitler had not risen
to power and intensified the
yearning for a Jewish state; if Great Britain had not thrown the
problem back to the UN when the
25 year mandate expired and so on. These things happened and sensible
people accept them. After
the fighting in 1948, the UN general assembly agreed to a state of
Israel on 78% of the territory
bounded by a green line which was (compared with some lines being
discussed in Israel now)
moderately short and defensible. The UN has not agreed on ANY change,
and legally, although not
apparently in practice, the US agrees that these are the borders.
In 1967, when Israel took over control of the west
bank and Gaza, the UN reiterated the role
of the green line with minor adjustments, presumably to be discussed
between the two states when
they can negotiate on an equal footing. It took a long time, but at the
start of the Oslo process, the
Palestinian authority accepted this. Many Israelis are now also
recommending a return to the green
line and many hundreds have said they would no longer serve in an
Israeli army operating in the
22%. In recent days Saudi Arabia has stated their acceptance with the
possibility of small exchanges
of territory if agreed by both parties.
Is it not time for the rest of the world to ask the
Israeli government, and each and every
Cabinet Minister thereof, to state clearly and unequivocally why they
do not accept 78% of the land
with 50% of the population, and immediately withdraw all military
personnel behind the green line
and start the negotiations the world wants?
Yours sincerely
<>Richard Wilson
<>Mallinckrodt Research Professor of Physics
<>Harvard University