Israel's right of return ... to Auschwitz borders

Here's a real jawdropper, but don't expect anyone to even blink.

.... U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is pressuring Israel and the Palestinian Authority to try to agree on a document of understandings by September, ahead of the United Nations General Assembly, according to Palestinian sources. The sources said Rice wants to be able to present the document during the General Assembly to show progress in the talks.

The document would include agreed-on points particularly on borders, an issue where, according to an American diplomat, the gap is not significant.

According to Palestinian sources, the gap regarding a right of return for Palestinian refugees has also narrowed.

The United States is pressing for an agreement by which Palestinian refugees will have the right of return to what were the Palestinian territories before 1967, except for a yet-unclear small number of family reunifications.

Ironic, isn't it, that Rice wants to show "progress" by returning to "before 1967" ?

Not that she's listening or cares to know, but here's what went on "before 1967," starting in 1948-49:

... the Jewish Quarter of the Old City was destroyed and its residents expelled.

In direct contravention of the 1949 armistice agreements, Jordan did not permit Jews access to their holy sites or to the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.

.... Jews were denied access to the Western Wall, the Jewish cemetery and all religious sites in eastern Jerusalem. The armistice lines were sealed as Jordanian snipers would perch on the walls of the Old City and shoot at Israelis across the lines.

Fifty-eight synagogues ... were destroyed, their contents looted and desecrated.

Sacred Destinations: Construction of the Hurva Synagogue (not its original name — hurva means "ruins") began in 1700 but "riots" in 1720 resulted in Jewish expulsion from Jerusalem.

The Hurva Synagogue was finally completed in 1856. Designed in a grand Neo-Byzantine style, it was one of the largest buildings in the Old City.

... after less than a century in operation, the synagogue was destroyed by the Jordanian Arab Legion during the war of 1948. Conservation and investigation of the ruins began in 1977.

Power Line reminded us in 2005 of this history, "lost down the memory hole" --

After the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem was captured, the destruction, desecration and systematic looting of Jewish sites began and continued. 57 ancient synagogues (the oldest dated to the 13th century), libraries and centers of religious study were ransacked and 12 were totally and deliberately destroyed. Those that remained standing were defaced, used for housing of both people and animals.

The city's foremost Jewish shrine, the Western Wall, became a slum. Appeals were made to the United Nations and in the international community to declare the Old City to be an 'open city' and stop this destruction, but there was no response. This condition continued until Jordan lost control of Jerusalem in June 1967.

On the Mount of Olives, the Jordanian Arabs removed 38,000 tombstones from the ancient cemetery and used them as paving stones for roads and as construction material in Jordanian Army camps, including use as latrines. When the area was recaptured by Israel in 1967, graves were found open with the bones scattered. Parts of the cemetery were converted into parking lots, a filling station, and an asphalt road was built to cut through it. The Intercontinental Hotel was built at the top of the cemetery. Sadar Khalil, appointed by the Jordanian government as the official caretaker of the cemetery, built his home on the grounds using the stones robbed from graves.

In 1967, the press published extensive photos documenting that Jewish gravestones were found in Jordanian Army camps, such as El Azariya, as well as in Palestinian walkways, steps, bathrooms, and pavement.

Lucky you. You can see this "monstrous scene of wanton destruction" at BtB... 24 March 2005.

Mount of Olives 1910, when Jews were tending the cemetery

Mount of Olives 1967, Jordanian desecration

Jordanian occupiers used Jewish tombstones as pavement,

... as benches

... and for walls of the Arab Legion barracks.

Rest assured, today's "palestinians" will be just as fair and considerate as their Jordanian brothers, if not more so.

And where will be the outrage? What outrage?

See also - from the White House, May 2008:
"If you need anything" (like maybe a terror state of your own)