bThere never was anything but bitter Arab hostility, resent-
bment, and hatred of the Jewish stranger who wanted “his”—the
bArab’s—land. Nothing the Zionist did contributed to this hate,
bexcept one thing: he existed.
bIn 1921, in 1929, and in 1936-38 there were no Jewish “oc-
bcupation” troops patrolling “the West Bank.” There was no
bsuch thing as “occupied Arab lands of 1967.” All the reasons for
bbloodshed, violence, war, and hatred that today’s Arabs and
bconfused Jews point to as being at “the heart” of the Arab-Jew-
bish problem did not exist then. Hebron and Shechem and
bTulkarm and Ramallah and Bethlehem and Jericho were not
bunder Jewish military occupation, and there was no need for
bworld organizations and national governments to issue resolu-
btions calling for withdrawal from and return of the “occupied
bterritories to their rightful owners.” In fact, there was not even a
bJewish state in existence, and by all logic the “Palestinians” should
bhave coexisted peacefully and in friendship with the Jews.
bThey did not. And it is important to recall the reality of the
bPalestinians’ “coexisting” with their Jewish cousins before the
b“Zionist aggression of 1967,” for it appears to me more than
bnecessary to teach the past to a foolish generation that insists on
brepeating it. It is essential to rid ourselves of the illusion that if
bonly Israel would be more “flexible” and “reasonable” and
b“compromising,” peace can be attained. It is vital that we cease
bbabbling about the “obstacles to peace” that are the Jewish set-
btlements of Kiryat Arba or Kedumim or Tekoa. It is of para-
b