Regardless of the visiting UN Director-General and his anti-Israel bias, the U.S. sponsored peace talks must be based on the fact that Israel has int’l legitimacy, & is prepared to compromise on its legal rights.

By Ryan Jones

As Israel and the Palestinian Arabs once again return to land-for-peace negotiations, it is vital that these talks be based on legitimate historical fact and international law for there to be any hope of success.

Peace talks must be based on fact, not fiction

For decades, Israel’s antagonists have argued that the very existence of the Jewish state is illegitimate, and that Israel has no actual right to any of the land, neither historically nor legally.

But a review of legal documents going back to the time that the region was freed from centuries of Ottoman Turkish rule reveals that the Jews have every right, from a historical and legal viewpoint, to exercise sovereignty over this part of the Middle East.

As Israeli international law expert Dr. Dori Gold points out in the video below, the gathering of world powers at San Remo, Italy in 1920 decided upon the “reconstitution” of Jewish national rights in this land.

The use of the word “reconstitute” is important, as it signifies that the international community recognized the historic validity of the Jews’ claim to this land. The Jews were not foreigners colonizing a new land, but an indigenous people returning home.

Another important point is made by Professor of International Law Dr. Howard Grief, who explains that the binding decisions made at San Remo granted national rights to the Jews alone in the area labeled as “Palestine.” Local Arabs were granted individual rights, but national rights for Arabs were granted elsewhere in the Middle East.

When the UN was formed decades later, it fully adopted the decisions made at San Remo.

Unless the current US-driven peace talks are based on these historic and legal facts, unless they are based on the reality that Israel is ready to compromise on legal rights granted to it by the international community, than any piece of paper that results will be based on half-truths and lies.

Watch this important video produced by the European Coalition for Israel:

View original Israel Today publication at: http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/24054/Default.aspx?hp=article_title

To learn more on what’s Israel’s Rights, visit: Israel’s Rights Spelled Clearly