A federal path to Middle East peace
Semite, n., a member of any of the peoples supposed to be descended from Shem, son of Noah (Gen.10:21 ff.), including esp. the Jews, Arabs, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Phoenicians. ( The Concise Oxford Dictionary, 1995). A futile war of attrition in the ancient land of Palestine continues without end. Previous peace-settlement initiatives have all failed because they did not address key philosophical issues. For instance, for present-day Israelis, returning to the pre-1967 boundary would mean that their fallen soldiers and civilians had died in vain during the past 45 years. For Palestinians, the right of return of the refugees who were dispossessed in 1948 must never be extinguished. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was created in 1949 is a relief and human development agency. It was originally intended to provide jobs on public works projects and direct relief for 652,000 Arabs who fled o...