Israeli Sovereignty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Israeli Sovereignty - Essay Example in Palestine was estimated to be around 590,000 as compared to approximately 1,320,000 Palestinians, making the Jews equal approximately 31 percent of the total population (Kjeilen, 2006). The Arab nations voiced immediate opposition to the UN’s 1947 plan, joined soon after Israel’s foundation by Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, in a struggle that continues to this day. At the opening ceremony of the Syrian-Israeli peace talks on December 11, 2000, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara stated, â€Å"It goes without saying that peace for Syria means the return of all its occupied land. Those who reject to return the occupied territories to their original owners in the framework of international legitimacy send a message to the Arabs that the conflict between Israel and Arabs is a conflict of existence in which bloodshed can never stop.† The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, at the 2002 Arab League summit in Beirut, said, â€Å"I propose that the Arab summit put forward a clear and unanimous initiative addressed to the United Nations Security Council based on two basic issues: normal relations and security for Israel in exchange for full withdrawal from all occupied Arab territories.† Irans Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, in a September 21, 2002 Washington Post interview entitled â€Å"The War and Iran,† stated â€Å"We do not recognize Israel as a government. We believe that eventually Palestinian refugees have to return to their homeland† (Israeli-Palestinian Pro-Con 2004). Since the state was founded, much of the world’s population, including opinion in the Israel-friendly United States, has become opposed the existence of Israel as an independent state. In the U.S., from Boston to San Francisco, people openly espouse this belief. â€Å"No country has a right to exist, certainly not one that was founded through the destruction of another country. Was Palestine ever afforded a right to exist?† claims a San Franciscan