The Myth of the Generous Offer

A favorite talking point of the Israel Lobby is the lie that "inflexible" Palestinian President Yassir Arafat "chose war over peace" by rejecting Israel's "generous offer" at Camp David in July 2000. The truth is the exact opposite. It is the inflexible Israelis who continually choose war over peace as they greedily build settlements on stolen Palestinian land in disregard of UN Resolution 242. The UN 1947 Partition Plan, (shown in the map on page xiii in Jimmy Carter's "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid"), divided historic Palestine into roughly equal Jewish and Arab states with Jerusalem, holy to three religions, left as an international zone. The next map (p. xiv) shows Israel in 1967. Then after the 1967 war, Israel occupied all of Palestine. UN Resolution 242 (see Carter, p. 217 Appendix 1) called for Israel to withdraw from occupied territories "emphasizing the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war" in accordance with the UN Charter. Israel believes that it is the exception and that it is admissible for Israel to acquire territory by war as long as settlements are built on it. In contrast, it was Arafat who was flexible and generous in accepting UN Resolution 242 in 1988 as it only allots 22% of historic Palestine to the native Palestinian Arabs. Israel, however, wants more than 78% as shown in the Camp David negotiations. Arafat was tricked into attending the Camp David summit since Israel and the pro-Israeli-biased US team had no intention of making him a just offer. As is well-documented in Clayton E. Swisher's "The Truth About Camp David," President Clinton falsely promised Arafat he would not be blamed if the summit failed (p.226). Then Clinton tried to browbeat Arafat into accepting an unjust offer consisting of less land than that to which Palestinians were legally entitled, inadequate control or sovereignty over Arab East Jerusalem and Islamic holy sites, lack of solution to the refugee situation, etc. Arafat heroically stood for justice and refused. Furthermore, Arafat pleaded with Israeli Prime Minister Barak to prevent Ariel Sharon from parading himself around the Islamic holy sites showing off Israeli sovereignty, since that was sure to provoke violence. (See Swisher, p. 380) Yet Sharon was allowed to strut up to the holy sites and the second intifada was born. Arafat was then blamed for "choosing war over peace," an outcome pleasing to the Israel Lobby. Meanwhile President Clinton was madly pursuing Jewish votes and money for his wife's senate campaign. (Swisher, p. 361) It is important to remember that Arafat accepted the 2002 Saudi (Arab League) Peace Plan, whereas Israel still steadfastly rejects it.