Abbas: Arab world was wrong to reject 1947 Partition Plan
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says in interview with Channel 2, 'it was our mistake, it was an Arab mistake as a whole,but do they (the Israelis) punish us for this mistake for 64 years?'
By The Associated Press Tags: Palestinians Mahmoud Abbas Palestinian statePalestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Friday in an interview with Channel 2 that the Arab world erred in rejecting the United Nations' 1947 plan to partition Palestine into a Palestinian and a Jewish state.
The Palestinian and Arab refusal to accept a UN plan to partition the then-British-controlled mandate of Palestine sparked widespread fighting, then Arab military intervention after Israel declared independence the following year. The Arabs lost the war.
"It was our mistake. It was an Arab mistake as a whole," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Channel 2 TV in a rare interview to the Israeli media. "But do they (the Israelis) punish us for this mistake for 64 years?"
Abbas also contended that he and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert were "very, very close" to reaching a peace agreement in 2008, before the Israeli leader left office under a cloud of corruption allegations.
"It was a very good opportunity," he said. "If he stayed two, three months, I believe that time we could have concluded an agreement."
He confirmed Olmert's account that the Israeli leader was prepared to withdraw from 93.5 percent of the West Bank. The Palestinians, Abbas added, responded by offering to let Israel retain 1.9 percent of the West Bank.
Peace talks stalled three years ago and last month, Abbas bypassed bilateral negotiations to ask the UN to recognize an independent state of Palestine.
In his TV interview, Abbas acknowledged the Palestinians might not be able to muster the necessary nine votes in the 15-member Security Council to approve the statehood bid. But majority support would be a moot point, anyway, because the United States has threatened to veto the statehood petition, which Israel also opposes, reasoning that only negotiations can yield a Palestinian state.
 |
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arriving for a meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Sept. 19, 2011. |
| Photo by: AP |
Why Facebook Connect?
Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.
- Latest
- Most Viewed
- Most Rated
- Open all
Admitted publicly on PA TV that his family fled from Safed to Damascus in fear of reprisals for their participation in the Safed Massacre of 1929 and the Arab riots of 1936-39. Where was Abbas' family and the rest of the Palestinian Arab elite when Ben-Gurion declared the State of Israel in May 1948? They were all in Damascus, Beirut, Cairo and Amman, after deserting the Palestinian Arabs who depended on them. In short, they ran away without ever seeing a Jewish soldier or hearing a shot fired. I call that cowardice. What's done is done--this is not a schoolyard game where the loser can cry "do over" and go back to square one. If I can hear that Abbas makes the same comments to his Arab audience, IN ARABIC, maybe I'll start to believe his sincerity.
But the megalomania of the Arab states around was unable to get used to the fact that a non-Arab country (and then a left democracy after all) would be established in the region. They preferred to attack, they lost, they lost again and again, getting into a neurotic state more and more, Israel will always be a pain in theirflesh.
The British and World War two slowed down the formation of Israel. Israel defacto existed under Ottoman rule. If Britain did not intervene most likely Jordan would also be part of the Jewish state and if not for Holocaust there would be six million more Jews living there.
so I suggest y'all get back into negotiations. This stuff is water under the bridge. Get all the extremists under control and start talking.
Mr. Abbas admits it. It is their mistake for not accept partition plan yet he demands Israel to forgive them after 64 years of terror? Yeah, right! Mr. Abbas obvious is making another attempt to paint arabs as victims of war that THEY started (and lost) so he hope to win 9 votes or more at UN Monday. When will this liar quit? Which one is worst? Abbas or Brett Favre?!
Remember Khartoun: No x3times Remember the PLO and Hamas Charter: NO to the jewish state Remember the offer of Barak/Olmert: You reject the offer or never respond! You dont reject the offer of palestinian state one time...you remember several times!
Abbas dreams of turning back the clock with UN help to the good old days when a sizable Palestinian State was offered to them on a silver platter but the mood then was one of covetousness, militancy, greediness, and jealously, exactly their same character and outlook of today.
Abbas should acknowledge that Jerusalem was and always will be the cradle, the birthplace, and the center of Judaism and Jewish life. Instead he rejects this as if Jews landed here from Mars. Start talking about the Jewish Temples Mr Abbas.
Thankyou Abbas for falling into our pre arranged traps to conquer most of Palestine.
In knowledge, that most of the Arab world was nothing else than a colony in those days and after reading Jpost I wonder, if Abbas is cited correct. Who knows? But what we know is the following: The first main wrongdoing was that of GB, to make a gift without asking the owners. And this came to a bad end, after the rulers of Germany commanded to murder the European Jews, the even greater wrongdoing, which brought the situation of 1948 to Palestine.
Israel isn't punishing anybody for anything but defending itself from relentless violence. If the Palestinian leaders through the years, including Abbas, had just once agreed to any of the many offers of a state in exchange for peace, all would be well. It's only because fools like Abbas continue to refuse to make peace that the occupation has to, repeat, has to be maintained. He knows this very well but prefers to play victim.
Abbas sold his heart and soul long ago leaving behind palestine's people languish in hell. People of Israel and Palestine should realise ground realtiy to agree for two state solution ,only way to lasting peace.
that Israel had nothing to do with West BAnk and Gaza and the palestinians residing there from 48-67...is Abbas going back to Israel 's right to exist ?? I hope that he is sincere buit am doubtful when he uses 1948 as his reference point
no Egyptian colonies, no Jordanian colonies, no mass expulsion of Palestinians--sounds like a military occupation NOT designed to steal land.
When the leaders of the Palestinians finally have the courage to confront their "street" with reality, we may just get to the point where a deal is possible.
they can't be trusted with human rights.
And get to the negotiating table.....it's time the palestinian people, along with the Arab world accept Israel....it is here to stay, period!!!! As soon as we lock Abbas and Netanyahu in a room, get rid of Hamas and their charter, their will be a palestinian state
For 62 years israel has to punish because the arabs are still divided whether to destroy israel wholly or partly. Now even the non arab iran is medelling into the palestine matter. Then should israel kiss the hamas. The palestinians ought to have born in china. Then they would have known what repression is
What was it Abba Eban said ... "The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity".
Abbas is an IDIOT, the 64 year punishment is the result of 64 years of aggression and terrorism.
I live in Ramallah, originally from Village of Saqya ( Or Yehuda now). The Arab took the right decision regardless of the results. Anyone would do the same. If a stanger who come from NOWHERE to ask you to share your hom, your answer is NO. especially when the partition is to give the minority group the larger share.
The larger part of the Palestine mandate when to Jordan which is Arab. Israel accepted the partition although, it was a fraction of what was right to offer but they took it anyway.
There in no punishment for a Palestinian "mistake", you lost. Life and history moves on with winners and loosers. Imagine a game of bridge or an athletic meet. Loosing is life and is permanent. Turn to your brothers Arabs for redemption and succor.
as we say in hebrew kol hakavod i wish he would take your advise please send him an email telling this he may not see this with all due respect
History is past. The choice to attack and the calamity that followed cannot be undone. Admission of a wrong is always a starting point for dialogue. The Israeli ruling establishment has to deal with this fact: if there is no two-state solution then you either have to grant the Palestinians in the occupied territories the right to vote or you have to deport them all and clear the land. The latter happened in Europe many times (Russian deportation of muslims from the Crimea, Turkish-Greek population exchange, to name a few). Anything else will leave the situation for all to see as an immoral occupation. Are the Israelis ready to accept the Palestinians as citizens? If not - how can you continue this weird arrangement?
The palestinians and the arabs HAVE to pay a price for aggressing Israel for 64 years, or does Israel have to forget all 64 years of war like if nothing happened? NO , the palestinians and the arabs have to pay a heavy price in territories and in other areas , so do the syrians, the egyptians had Sadat who got all the Sinai scotfree because of who he was , so did Hussain of Jordan, but that's not the case for the others
cause it is... It started driving Arabs out of palestine, not the other way around
I think, Haaretz interprets Abbas wrongly about his real judgement about the 1947/48 situation. But the Palestinians had to reckon, that the security council would not grant the fulfilment of resolution 181 and that the few Arab rulers where often only satraps of the old colonial powers. The attackers had made their strategy long before, to establish their invading society by all means, and had no mercy with the weak and poor people of Palestine. Where should the leaders in Palestine had come from, after Britain did all to destroy the possibility of their development.
That water has passed under the bridge.
He is honest forthright, a man of peace and yet not a pushover. He is a strong advocate for his peoples rights, yet he breaks the mold of ME leaders in that he goes beyond platitudes and finger pointing when it doesn't belong
that even if the PA did recognize israel as a jewish state and meet all israel's other demands, it wouldn't do them a bit of good and israelis would still insist they could never be trusted.
Corruption charges or not, he could have signed at the last minute, and then Olmert's successor would be legally bound to carry it out if approved by a public referendum and a vote in the Knesset.
I have always felt that no peace could ever happen befor esome arab leader stood up and admitted this. maybe one day there can be peace
This is one of the most hopeful articles on the israeli/arab seemingly insoluble conflict that I've ever read. Even some of the commentators seem to have been caught off guard. Peace is not a synonym for victory, but rather for kindness, collaboration and acceptance. Under these conditions partition may not even be necessary.
When will the pals stop the incitement.
I heard similar before. It sounds like “We didn´t choose our neighbours”
That water is long gone from under the bridge.
When will the pals stop the incitement.
indeed, the mistake was Arabs lost the war. they still want to wipe Israel off the map, no mistake about that. Ask Iran
"punish us for 64 years"? Funny way to describe a people who your precedessors mustered every effort to kill. Typical of the Arabs to claim that the Israelis are punishing them. They're lucky they weren't all thrown in the sea as they pledge to do to the Jews had the won.
You people only wake up once in 64 years !
Arab states behaviour became a barrier for an independent Palestine state. First of all, they didn't let state of Palestine according to resolution 181 which indicated "partition plan". Nor Egypt gave up from the Gaza Strip, neither Jordan gave up from the West Bank for an independent Palestine state until 1967. At least they could have let a temporary autonomy for "the Palestine parts of their land". After 1967 they began to behave as defenders of Palestine independency on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Abbas' confession is historical but many years have been lost for a sustainable peace between Israel and Palestine.
There was no such concept of a Palestinian people or Palestinian Nation in those days. The 'Palestinian Nation' was created by Yasser Arafat in the 1960s
I think his admission is an important truth which has never been acknowledged..this may be a good beginning as he admited that Published 22:54 28.10.11 Latest update 22:54 28.10.11 Abbas: Arab world was wrong to reject 1947 Partition Plan Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says in interview with Channel 2, 'it was our mistake, it was an Arab mistake as a whole,but do they (the Israelis) punish us for this mistake for 64 years?' By The Associated Press Tags: Palestinians Mahmoud Abbas Palestinian state Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Friday in an interview with Channel 2 that the Arab world erred in rejecting the United Nations' 1947 plan to partition Palestine into a Palestinian and a Jewish state. The Palestinian and Arab refusal to accept a UN plan to partition the then-British-controlled mandate of Palestine sparked widespread fighting, then Arab military intervention after Israel declared independence the following year. He also stated he does not want PAlestinian violence..if he can show his pople the truth that they rejected the 2 state solution and that they should embrace their neighbors instead of having hate then maybe there will be a lasting peace which Israel really wants
And they have been making the same mistake for 64 years. This sounds like Arafat talking when he painted himself in a corner
And absorbed into the IDF in 1948. I assume this question is rhetorical.
This public concession on Israel TV honors Abbas and demonstrates anew that he possesses all the hallmarks of a true statesman: insight, historical perspective and the courage to publicly admit shortcomings in order to promote unity and collaboration with his adversaries while furthering the cause of his people. Arafat would have never conceded (especially not publicly and to his "enemies") that he or the Arab world were wrong, because a) he didn't believe they were wrong; b) he would have considered such an admission a sign of weakness and c) he didn't possess either the insight or the willingness to make meaningful sacrifices for the sake of his cause and his people.
for this assessment. I hope others will perceive it this way too.
But palestinian leaders are always great at saying one.thing to israeli tv or.western.audiences, the moneys gonna be.if.he would.dare say.this to his people. I doubt it, it would.be grest.but.it.wont.happen. Arafat too would.say i.accept israel as.a.jewish state and.its right to exist but would tell his people opposite and promote.violence.
Then maybe I'll begin to believe he's sincere.
The last time you tried that the Alpha male of the Palestinians butted you out of Gaza all the way to the West Bank.
But he also blew his own chance in 2008, as did Arafat in 1999.
It got greedy, wanted more than 56% of Palestine and was attacked on Palestinian territory to stop it from stealing more
But if you look at a map of the partition lines, Egypt couldn't attack the newly-founded Israel without crossing the land allocated by the partition to Arabs, unless they wanted the "useless" Negev. Jordan also had a small section of border with the Galilee--so why did they decide to infringe on the Arab land to attack Israel on the coastal plain? No, the Arab plan was as declared--the total destruction of Israel. If the plan had really been for the protection of the Palestinian Arabs, the attack lines of the Arab armies would have been completely different. Once there was a cease-file, why didn't the Jordanians and Egyptians relinquish their claims on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, respectively? The Arab occupation of these areas was illegal under international law. When a country counter-attacks, it's not called greed, but self-preservation.
He must say this in arabic to the arabs
To suggest that the Arabs only know and speak Arabic only is a very naive statement. Luca you sound loco ....
JoeUSA, You are missing the poing 1million miles. What Luca means is that just like Arafat and rest of pals leadership, they only talk of peace when the message is meant for Westerners, but to their own people (Arabic), there is no difference btn hamas and PA.
He wasn't making an ignorant statement. It's actually a very clever suggestion that would have a bigger impact on the arab world.
its a call to the arabs and muslims to fellow the saudi programe " part of the sharia plan "
Sorry no take backs... So by 2065 the palestinian leadership will realize that Arafat should have accepted Barak's offer.
The Arabs in 1947 were rejecting an intruder who was taking part of their land, just as the Palestinians today reject the settlements on the West Bank. Any one in their place at that time would have done the same. Abbas is merely trying to present an argument which appeals to Israelis (he thinks) and circumvent the Israeli argument that the Arabs forfeited their rights to Palestine by rejecting the UN partition resolution. His is wasting his time. No argument will change the Jewish mindset. To them Palestinians do not exist, let alone have rights to what Jews do not even call Palestine. He should concentrate his energies on fighting the battle at the UN not among the Israeli public. You cannot make a dent in the Jewish mindset.
The Jews who came to Israel before, during and since 1947 were not intruders; they were people returning to their national home from the diaspora. The Arabs, then, considered Palestine nothing but "southern Syria" and only created the Palestine nomenclature for propaganda purposes.
... And probably never will. Funny, the forefathers of these "intruders" have their fingerprints and footprints all over that area and you're too blind and ignorant to recognize it. A Palestinian can not dig under his house without finding historical remnants of ancient Israel's millenia long history in the region before they were militarily forced out by the power of the Roman Empire. Anybody with a clue knows that the Palestinians also consider Tel Aviv a settlement on the West Bank of a future Caliphate. The Palestinians did not just stamp their feet, fold their hands in disgust and just pout after the UN partition proposal granting some of the area for a Jewish State, they chose to go to all-out war with neighboring help to crush the Jews in a ferocious battle on the threatened order of the Crusades.
Israel didn't punish you for 64 years...you kept killing Jews for more than 64 years.. Give it up.
If you are not aware of the Israeli crimes against humanity in the past 64 years, you are completely brainwashed.
inception had a devastating effect on all aspects of Palestinian society at the time. Some of the same concerns that Israel is raising now and fears of the creation of a Palestinian state , mirror the concerns the Arabs had in 1948. Nobody wants the Jews drowned in the sea , but unfortunately ,many Zionists want all the land w/o Palestinians , dead or alive.
"Nobody wants the Jews drowned in the sea"? Maybe not from your comfortable perch in America. Unfortunately, THE ELECTED government of the Palestinians in Gaza DO want the Jews drowned in the Sea. And they live on Israel's border. Wake up to the reality on the ground.
How do you know that nobody wants the Jews drowned? That was their blood-curdling threat in the past and underlies their thinking now. There are some Zionists who want all the land but most Zionists (at least, most Israeli voters) accept a two states for two peoples solution. Not acceptable to Mr. Abbas.
So when people are devasted ...they attack ? Is that what you are saying ? Well Israel defended herself in 1948. No land was lost by Palestine or taken by Israel. The lines remained as the partition lines. So from 1948 till 1967 no Palestinian land was occupied. So are we to believe that the devastation remained Logios. Was it devastation or hate ?
Loosers weepers, finders keepers Abbas.
The Arabs wanted to negotiate with the UN to divide the land and water resources more fairly, but were turned down point-blank. They were right to refuse such an unfair division.
Bravo on completely missing his point.
oh are we oblivious? Read a book.
So Abbas wants to simply turn back the clock to 1947 and accept the old partition plan? What a joke. History is over. He needs to live in the present - a present which generations of Arabs and Palestinians had a major hand in creating.
Abbas shouldn't have uttered these words. To begin with the decision in the context of 1947 was not wrong, on the other hand the people to whom Abbas has addressed his statements (Israelis) have completely missed his point.
Not only the Arabs opposed Partition, This was also opposed by M. Begin and his ideological group (proto-Likud) in the Yishuv. After all, how can you give a piece of Eretz Yisrael? Some Arabs learned the lesson, such as Abbas, and some Jews also learned it, the people from Likud who quit to form Kadima. But members of today's Likud haven't learned. They do recognize now that the Yishuv's majority was correct in 1947 on a tactical level, and they respect Ben-Gurion for his wisdom and courage. But they did not learn the lesson of real pragmatism. Do not bite more than you can chew, or you will end up suffocating.
Fatah will never allow israel to be a jewish state and they will demand massive right of return and will push to haev a majority arab state.
The fact that they did not and attacked in 1948 changed all that .You cannot assume that Israel would have attacked Palestine after the Partition.
You just stood in our way when we tried to re-establish our state.
Because they didn´t imagine they are going to fight an American zionist fortress in the M.East
The "punishment" you speak of is the result of the continuous conflict. Though you know now it was wrong to reject the partition plan , your Arab neigborhood leaders have never relented and your people have been used as pawns. But even realizing it now does not mean the clock can be turned back and we all go back to square one. Too much water under the bridge. Two-State borders need to be negotiated with tough concessions on both sides.
Is it just coincidental that long term bodies of the Israeli govt always coincidentally seem to act behind the scenes to forestall a peace deal? It looks a bit like the Turkish "deep government".
and yes, they plan on punishing us forever.
how could any of us accept giving half our land to European immigrants ?
all the Jews in my neighborhood are from Yemen and Iraq and speak Arabic better than I do, we cannot simply brand all Jews and Israelis as "european" that makes the bridge between us that much wider.
What compromise with Israel would you accept today?
The majority of Jews who came to Israel and their descendents today are from Arab countries (originally), not from Europe.The majority of Arabs in Israel in 1947 were,at the most, great-grandchildren of Arabs who migrated from surrounding Arab lands.
We liberated our homeland from Arab invaders. The land was never Arab to begin with and never will be. Be grateful Arabs still squat on the East Bank of Israel.
DNA tests of Ashkenazi Jews demonstrates that they are a semitic people. They were in European lands involuntarily due to the Roman conquest starting in 70 A.D.. The Arabs finally show up in Israel in the 7th Century A.D. by conquest.
Prior to 1948 a Palestinian could have been an Arab or a Jew. And neither Arabs nor Jews controlled the land or their own national futures; the land was ruled by Britain, and previous to that, the Ottoman Turks for centuries. Both Arabs and Jews had legitimate claims, and rather then being asked "to give half your land", you (the Arabs of Palestine) were offered for the first time in history your own state - provided you agreed that the Jews got the same. But, you rejected that compromise and went to war.
Palestinians are in 85-90 % of Hebrew origins - they are indigenous. The DNA proofs are shared. The land belongs to all the Israelites, including the Moslem Israelietes and Christian Israelites. It is DEAD-RIGHT that the majority of Israelis were not "Europeans" - likewise it is DEAD-RIGHT that the Palis are originally converted Israelites. See the Al-Hakim Edict of 1021 AD, see the genetic evidence and see a growing bulk of Historic evidence. Pls stop the Fratricide and accept each others....BOTH SIDES !!!
We are not the same and we do not share the same DNA. With very little exceptions most Israelis and Arabs can tell who is who automatically without speaking and even if dressed alike. This is not just cultural, but however Jews live everywhere since it's a religion just like Muslims. We are more like cousins than brothers and in any case the Jews want peace and prove so all the time.
It's mindblowing how many thumbs down this factual comment has. I guess Arabs hate when science proves their conspiracy theories wrong