User:MUHAMMAD SALEEM SHAIKH

How Can the Palestinian Issue Be Resolved?

By using the principles of compassion and moderation outlined above, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has caused so much bloodshed over the last 50 years, can be solved. In our view, establishing peace depends upon two conditions: 1) Israel must immediately withdraw from all the territories it occupied during the 1967 war and end the resulting occupation. That is an obligation under international law, various U.N. Security Council resolutions, and mere justice itself. All of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip must be recognized as belonging to an independent State of Palestine. 2) East Jerusalem, the site of significant places of worship belonging to three divinely revealed religions, must be administered by the Palestine authority. However,it must have a special status and be iturned into a city of peace that all Jews, Christians, and Muslims can visit comfortably, in peace and wellbeing, and where they can worship in their own sanctuaries. When these conditions are fulfilled, both Israelis and Palestinians will have recognized each other's right to live, shared the land of Palestine, and solved the contentious question of Jerusalem's status in a way that satisfies the adherents of these three religions. In the upcoming pages of the book, we will deal with and analyze the history of the Palestinian issue based upon our view outlined above. Our hope is that the constant hostility of the last 50 years or so, as well as the resulting prejudice, killing, and slaughter, will come to an end; that the Palestinian people can secure a homeland that can provide them with the peace, security, and well-being they deserve; and that Israel will abandon its policy of aggression and occupation, which wrongs its own people as well as the Palestinians, so that it will be able to live in peace with its neighbors within its legal pre-1967 borders.