Balfour Declaration: A Case of Missed Opportunity

is a telling example of what would have been had the two communities entered a collaborative exercise. The Jewish-ruled Palestine, which, before 1948, was a barren desert, has been converted into green fields and orchards. By contrast, the Arab-ruled Palestine is still in the same backward condition as before 1948. The Palestinians are still waging a futile battle under their unwise leaders. Earlier, their goal was to return Palestine to its original state, as it was in the pre-1948 period. Now, their goal is to bring Palestine to the state of 1967. Meeting both these targets is impossible. This is akin to reversing the course of history, and history itself is a witness to the impossibility of such a reversal. The Palestinians’ first option was to accept the status quo of 1948 willingly. Now, their second option is to accept the present status quo. If they lose this second opportunity, they will not find a chance to exercise a third option. Their third option will be death and destruction rather than life and construction. ‘Status-quoism’ means acceptance of the current situation as it is. This is not a matter of weakness. It is a wise policy of a high order by the law of nature. In this world, there always exists some controversial issue or the other. Along with this, the very system of nature demands that there should be opportunities to solve problems in every situation. However, given the present state of affairs, a result-oriented policy would be to ignore the problems and seize opportunities to improve the situation. Becoming