Solidarity

Green: Jewish state. Orange: Arab state. Purple: International area. 

In typical disgusting fashion, the UN spent today marking a day of solidarity with the Palestinian people, as it has on this date, I believe, since 1977. Why the disgust? Because today, of course, is the 29th of November -- the anniversary of the UN vote to partition Palestine, which essentially led to the creation of the state of Israel.
It could, of course, also have led to the creation of an Arab state, had the Arabs not rejected the plan. It's been a long time since I've seen the map of the partition plan, and when I found it, I actually gasped aloud when I saw how generous the offer was to the Arabs -- and what a terrible deal was offered to the Jews (a state cut off in 2 places; Jerusalem in the middle of an Arab state; no Galil; the coastal plain barely a strip of land; most of the territory, desert).
This is why I don't buy the argument that Arafat could not possibly have accepted the deal Barak offered him in 2000, because the Palestinian state on offer would have been too cut up and as a result, unviable. The Jews were willing to accept a much more unrealistic state, because they were so desperate for independence. Don't the Palestinians, theoretically, have the same priority?
If the Arabs aren't sitting pretty on that big chunk of land today, they have only themselves to blame. Today is not a day to show solidarity with their victim status and lack of statehood, but a day to urge them not to make the same mistakes -- yet again.