Reply #65: The Result Of The '48 War, Ma'am

[The Magistrate]

Met with acceptance from the United Nations, marked by the incorporation of Israel into that body, and also occured before the ratification of the current codes of international law. This gives it at least a solid appearance of legality, that is not going to be overthrown.

Both your conditions "a" and "b" have some validity, and a third condition "c", namely that some Arab Palestinians do not recognize as legitimate the present boundaries of Israel incorporating portions of the Arab Zone, could readily be added. Prominent militant bodies in Arab Palestine adhere to both "a" and "c", and certainly no political body in Arab Palestine has the authority to bind these bodies to any agreement it might reach that incorporated a recognition of Israel on its current widely accepted borders, or indeed, on any borders at all.

Political coherence in a group of people is not a necessary element for recognition that that group of people have grievances and have been wronged, and that a people lacks political coherence does not eliminate the grievances or erase the wrongs they feel and suffer. Support for Israel's existance and acceptance of its legitimacy as a state does not require denying that Israel was established at the expense of the people of Arab Palestine, and that they take this as a grievous wrong against them, and have every right to do so. Nor does recognizing the people of Arab Palestine have every right to feel aggrieved and wronged require adopting the view that all they have done in acting on these feelings is wise, or right and lawful. Under the strain of defeat and evident helplessness, people do not always behave rationally, indeed, they very seldom do. Often, they do things that only make their situation worse.