I don't know what the farmers are going to do now. They have been screwed by the government. SO, most of 'em have already planted next year's crop because they figure that, in the end, they are going to STAY! Ya gotta love these folks, you really do! :-)
If there is such a place as 'Palestinian Lands' historically, it includes all of Jordan, part of Syria, all of Lebanon and parts of both Egypt and Iraq.
For 500 years prior to the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, 'Palestine' (then called 'Southern Syria) was a minor province of no particular importance. Jerusalem was of such little importance that it wasn't even a territorial capital.
The name, 'Palestine' isn't even an Arab word. 'Palestine' is from the Greek "Palaistina" which is derived from the Hebrew "Pleshet" which means, "Land of the Philistines" and historically, referred to a a small coastal strip north east of Egypt, also called "Philistia."
In the 2nd century BC, the Romans renamed it "Syria Palaestina".
The modern name, "Palestine" was revived when the British were given their mandate following World War I. Until 1967, the Arabs used the term 'Palestinian' to describe the JEWS.
There is no such thing as an Arab 'Palestinian people'. There never was.
The 'Palestinian people' were created in a single day in 1967 by Yasser Arafat. He created them out of the expatriate Jordanians and Egyptians left behind after Egypt and Jordan were defeated by Israel.
The White House knows all this. It isn't a secret. Neither is it revised history. The maps existed long before the 'Palestinian people' did. What has Abbas done to inspire such confidence that the White House would modify its position?
Bush not only promised to keep up the pressure to force Israel to accept an enemy state within its territorial boundaries. He also agreed to a fifty million dollar grant for the Palestinian Authority.
So far, Congress has given $200 million in US tax dollars to the PA. Arafat stole ALL of it, not to mention hundreds of millions more from other donor countries.
Now that he has the president's ear, Abbas is reportedly planning to launch a fresh uprising against Israel. Geo-Strategy direct reports that Abbas hopes Israel will respond with "terrorist force and organized fire."
According to the plan, the Israeli response would lead to massive Western pressure on Israel that would isolate the country and embarrass the United States. As a result, the Israeli people and American Jews would protest Sharon's policies.
Gertz quotes Abbas advisor Abu Sharif who contends that an uprising represents, for the Palestinian side, a no-lose proposition. It would bolster the Palestinian stand, reverse the pro-Israeli policies of the United States and strengthen Abbas. As Palestinian violence rages back home, Abbas could be tough with the US.
Abbas was expected to delay any uprising until at least after the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, sources said. At the same time, he would not stop the escalation of Fatah and Hamas attacks on Israeli communities and military outposts in West Bank and Gaza Strip.
If this were any country except Israel, the entire farce would never have gotten off the ground. Were Israel not a Jewish state, the world would instantly reject the PA claims as historically and transparently invalid. Anybody with access to an atlas knows there has never been an Arab Palestine.
A hundred years ago, 'Palestine' was Southern Syria. For the next forty years, 'Palestinians' were Jews -- Arab residents vehemently rejected the label of 'Palestinian' and insisted they were citizens of Southern Syria.
Thirty-eight years ago, following the defeat of Jordan and Egypt, an Egyptian-born Arab named Yasser Arafat invented the 'Palestinian' people.
The modern 'Palestinian people' have no unique language, no unique culture, no unique history and cannot be found identified anywhere in any historical records that date earlier than the mid 1960's.
But somehow, we find one Mahmoud Abbas, 'president' of the 'Palestinian people', meeting at the White House with President George Bush to discuss creating a 'Palestinian State' on what is both historical and modern Israel.
And nobody seems to have a problem with it -- except the Jews of Israel.
"Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it." (Zechariah 12:2-3)