Poking a gaping hole in the Palestinian narrative

[shira]

Fifty-one years ago this week, the youthful Jewish state proposed a peace plan that could have altered the course of Middle East history and settled the Arab-Israeli conflict once and for all, had it not been soundly ignored by the Arab states and the Palestinians. And while it might seem pointless to look that far back, it is precisely now, when Israel is coming under increasing international pressure and criticism, that we need to remind the world – and ourselves – about the real underlying cause of the dispute with our neighbors.

It was May 17, 1965, when Levi Eshkol, Israel’s third prime minister, ascended the podium in the Knesset to lay out a remarkably detailed plan for regional harmony. This was before the 1967 Six Day War was even on the horizon, at a time when there was no “occupation,” no “settlements” and no “Judaization” of Jerusalem.

....He didn’t communicate in slogans or catchphrases, as many politicians do today. Eshkol spoke in clear sentences and in no uncertain terms, offering to launch direct talks with Arab leaders with the goal of transforming the 1949 armistice agreements into lasting treaties of peace.

...Most people have never heard of the Eshkol plan, and you might be wondering why. The answer is really very simple: it pokes a gaping hole in the narrative put forward by the Palestinians and their supporters, who assert that the root of all Israeli-Palestinian discord lies in the events of 1967, rather than in the long-standing and deep-seated Arab desire to wipe Israel off the map.

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