[lit-ideas] Re: Hamas and Israel's "Right to Exist"
- From: Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 08:27:11 -0700 (PDT)
I don't think that Jordan and Lebanon are relevant,
both have established borders except for Lebanon's
claim to Sheba'a farms but that is really a minor
issue. As to Palestine - well, yes, the issue of the
Palestinian borders is also murky. So could we agree
that neither side should be demanding the other to
recognize its "right to exist" as a condition for
negotiations ? Such a recognition should hopefully be
the outcome of the (long and complicated)
negotiations, not a pre-condition for them.
O.K.
--- "Steven G. Cameron" <stevecam@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> **Would similar standards then apply to other
> "created" states in the ME
> such as Trans-Jordan, Lebanon, etc., and the yet to
> be: "Palestine"??
>
> TC,
>
> /Steve Cameron, NJ
>
> Omar Kusturica wrote:
> > What does a "right to exist" mean exactly? There
> is no
> > "right to exist" for states under international
> law.
> > The formula has arisen in international diplomacy
> > uniquely regarding Israel. It does not mean simply
> > diplomatic recognition, which is the "fact" of
> > existence. It does not mean recognizing Israel's
> > "right to self-determination," either, or we would
> be
> > using that famous term.
> >
> > Let us pretend for a moment that Hamas is being
> asked
> > to recognize Israel in the normal diplomatic
> sense. In
> > this case, however, the EU position is
> unsupportable,
> > because diplomatic recognition of a state
> routinely
> > requires one bit of vital information: "right to
> > exist" where? Israel's borders are not set. Even
> its
> > plans for those borders are not known; with
> impressive
> > brashness, Mr. Olmert has announced that we will
> not
> > know until 2010.
> >
> > It is entirely legitimate for Hamas to require
> firm
> > confirmation of Israel's borders before
> recognizing
> > it. It should also be incumbent on the
> international
> > community to confirm where those borders will be
> > before insisting that Hamas recognize Israel's
> "right"
> > to them. Otherwise, recognizing Israel's "right to
> > exist" could be construed to mean that Israel has
> a
> > "right to exist" within whatever borders it
> chooses in
> > coming years.
> >
> > As the Palestinians stand to lose most of what is
> left
> > of their homeland to this fuzziness, Hamas is
> refusing
> > to endorse it. Is this extremist Islamic
> > intransigence, warranting a funding freeze? Let us
> run
> > a little thought experiment: Would Canadian, or
> > Norwegian, or English, or French governments be
> called
> > on the international carpet for not recognizing
> the
> > "right to exist" of a neighboring state that is,
> with
> > military force, settling its own ethnically
> defined
> > population within contiguous walled cities and
> > enclaves in Canadian, Norwegian, English or French
> > national territories, while promising to carve
> those
> > nations into "cantons?"
> >
> > Absent clear borders, recognizing Israel's "right
> to
> > exist" must mean something else. And of course it
> > does. Clearly implicit in the term is Israel's
> right
> > to exist as a Jewish state. In other words, the
> > "right" Hamas is being required to endorse is that
> > Israel can legitimately compose itself as a state
> in
> > Palestine that is populated and run primarily by
> Jews,
> > primarily for Jews. Such a state would thus be
> > authorized by Hamas to sustain whatever laws and
> > policies necessary to preserving its Jewish
> majority,
> > even rejecting the return of Palestinian refugees
> > mandated by international law. Or building a
> massive
> > Wall on Palestinian land designed to protect the
> > Jewish state from the "demographic threat" of mass
> > non-Jewish citizenship-i.e., the Palestinians.
> > Israel's would also be legitimized for past
> actions on
> > the same agenda, such as expelling the
> Palestinians
> > from their homes in 1948, and for its future
> plans,
> > such as confining Palestine's indigenous people to
> > cantons.
> >
> > http://www.counterpunch.org/tilley05112006.html
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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> >
>
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