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| Thanksgiving Greetings |
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(I suggest readers of Jackspotpourri first review the postings of October 18, 2023 and November 3, 2023, accessible from the
archives off to the right, for some very important background information.)
To the best of my recollection, here is the
substance of that missing November 8 posting, a posting that logically
followed these two earlier postings. To some, it might appear controversial.
‘The only real solution to the
Israel-Hamas war is to bring about a solution to the conflict between Israel
and the Palestinians, which underlies the motivation for Hamas’ October 7
attack, and other efforts over the years by Palestinians and neighboring Arab
states aimed at destroying the State of Israel.
In 1947, the United Nations
partitioned the former British Mandate in Palestine into what were supposed to
be two nations, an Israeli state (which was established by the UN in 1948) and
a Palestinian state.
Palestinian refusal to accept that
partition, with the support of neighboring Arab nations, resulted in Israel
taking over the entire former British Mandate after its victories in wars in
1948 and in 1967, both Arab-initiated wars that had been intended to destroy
the State of Israel, but which failed.
This left Israel in possession of ‘occupied territories’ chiefly
consisting of the Gaza Strip (which Egypt had seized), and the West Bank (which
Jordan had seized), many of whose residents had fled, expecting to return
shortly after Arab victories that never occurred.
For security purposes, the State
of Israel has not discouraged Israelis from settling in those ‘occupied
territories, comprising the West Bank and including East Jerusalem. I see the
‘settlements’ built there at as one of the obstacles to a two-state
solution, Removing that obstacle, along
with a full acceptance by Palestinians of the existence of the State of Israel,
must be part of ending the Israeli-Hamas war.
Otherwise, these obstacles will flare up again with violence elsewhere.
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| Proposed 1947 United Nations Map of Palestine Partition (Original two-state solution) |
The solution I propose would be a two-state solution, whereby the land intended be a Palestinian state by the UN back in 1947, would be used for that purpose. For that to happen, I pointed out that:
1. Hamas must first be destroyed because of its stated purpose of destroying the State of Israel. Nothing gets done until that is accomplished.
2. Once that is permanently accomplished, and a government with UN backing put in charge of the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian state can be formed with a government agreeable to a two-state solution in tandem with Israel. If possible, the Palestinian Authority which cooperates with Israel on the West Bank might fill that role. Reconstruction of the Gaza Strip would be financed by neighboring Arab states.
3. Israel would cease allowing new ‘settlements’ on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem and those already there would be removed incrementally over a twenty-year period. The Israeli government would finance the resettlement of Israelis living there to locations within the State of Israel.
4. This would provide the land for the Palestinian state envisioned in 1947, and provide a place to which Palestinian refugees who fled after the unsuccessful attempts to eliminate Israel in 1948 and 1967, might return.
5. The Palestinian state, while policing itself, would not have a military force.
6. There would be no restrictions on access to the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem by Muslims or Jews.
7. Any attempts to attack the State of Israel by Palestinians or outside Muslim nations would immediately cancel this entire arrangement. That is why it must be accomplished incrementally, over twenty years, a period during which there would be ongoing negotiations between the two states.’
Right now, I suspect that the
Palestinian Authority would be able to work with such a proposal, as would the
people of Gaza, once Hamas were destroyed.
Unfortunately, until there is a change in the right-wing government
currently in power in Israel, I do not think Israel would go along with these
steps, particularly as they pertain to the ‘settlements.’ That position may eventually be changed because, in my opinion, a majority of Israelis desire a ‘two-state’ solution and will vote for
a government which agrees with that.’
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Any other ‘one-state’ solution means accepting the
goals of Hamas or of those in Israel who envision a return to Israel’s exclusionary
biblical borders, either course guaranteeing continued conflict.
JL
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The Transfer Portal for Quarterbacks Only
I have often written in Jackspotpourri about how the ‘transfer portal’ is ruining college football and ought to be ended. Let me modify that a bit:
The one position that requires the kind of college
level experience that only the ‘transfer portal’ provides is that of
quarterback.
Recruiting from high schools provides an
adequate supply of offensive and defensive linemen, linebackers, receivers, and
running backs … but that is not true for the quarterback position.
That role demands experience in managing a
team’s offense at the college level, a whole different level from that in which
they may have excelled in high school. It
is owed to the rest of a team that their quarterback’s role should not be one
of a ‘learning experience’ amounting to ‘on the job’ training.
To document this, here is a
summary of the quarterbacks in major college football today who started at
another school and ended up where they are via the ‘transfer portal’ within this past year. (Ones like Oklahoma’s Dillon
Gabriel, a Heisman Trophy possibility, transferred in earlier years, starting
out at the University of Central Florida.)
Be sure to note the number of ‘Power Five’
teams that acquired their quarterbacks that way. The numbers are astonishing!
To check them out, visit https://www.on3.com/transfer-portal/top/football/2023/?position=qb or
simply CLICK HERE.
JL
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Invited for Thanksgiving Dinner?
A recent New York Times article suggested three great ideas for 'what to bring' for your Thanksgiving dinner hosts. Rather than the usual wine or flowers, they suggested either (1) an apron indicating you were ready to pitch in with serving, (2) plastic containers to take home leftovers, or (3) an instant spot remover pen for those drips on clothing or tablecloths.
(The illustration up on top of this posting is the famous Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover.)
JL
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Housekeeping on Jackspotpourri
Email Alerts: If you are NOT receiving emails from me alerting you each time there is a new posting on Jackspotpourri, just send me your email address and we’ll see that you do. And if you are forwarding a posting to someone, you might suggest that they do the same, so they will be similarly alerted. You can pass those email addresses to me by email at jacklippman18@gmail.com.
Forwarding Postings: Please forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it. Friends, relatives, enemies, etc.
If you want to send someone the blog, exactly as you are now seeing it, with all of its bells and whistles, you can just tell folks to check it out by visiting https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com or by providing a link to that address in your email to them. I think this is the best method of forwarding Jackspotpourri.
There’s another, perhaps easier,
method of forwarding it though! Google Blogspot, the platform
on which Jackspotpourri is prepared, makes that possible. If you click on
the tiny envelope with the arrow at the bottom of every posting, you will
have the opportunity to list up to ten email addresses to which that blog
posting will be forwarded, along with a comment from you. Each
will receive a link to the textual portion only of the blog that
you are now reading, but without the illustrations,
colors, variations in typography, or the 'sidebar' features such as access to
the blog's archives.
Either way will work, sending them the link to https://jackspotpourri.blogspot.com, or clicking on the envelope at the bottom of this posting, but I recommend sending them the link.
Again, I urge you to forward this posting to anyone you think might benefit from reading it.
JL
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