OCCUPIED OR DISPUTED AREAS?

• "We shall not enter Palestine with its soil covered in sand. We shall enter it with its soil saturated in blood." - Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, Mar 8, 1965
• "Our forces are now entirely ready.... the time has come to enter a battle of annihilation." - Gen. Hafez al-Assad, Syria's Minister of Defense, and later President, on May 20, 1967
• "It is either us or the Israelis. There is no middle road. The Jews of Palestine will have to leave. We will facilitate their departure to their former homes. Any of the old Palestine Jewish population who survive may stay, but it is my impression that none of them will survive....We shall destroy Israel and its inhabitants and as for the survivors - if there are any - the boats are ready to deport them." - Ahmed Shukairy, founder and then-chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Jun 1, 1967

Poster reading 'Conquering Rome is the answer'and displaying an Islamic flag hoisted over Italy, during a "Day of Rage" of Palestinian Muslims against Pope Benedict XVI on Sep 22, 2006 (Reuters)


Iranian stampcelebrating the violent Muslim conquest of Mecca | Arabs and Iranians have 22 states = 10% of world's land area; not thanks to their skills or their great virtues, but because they conquered, murdered or forced out those conquered. The Muslim wars of imperialist conquest have been launched for almost 1,500 years against hundreds of nations, over millions of square miles (significantly larger than the British Empire at its peak). The lust for Muslim imperialist conquest stretched from southern France to the Philippines, from Austria to Nigeria, and from central Asia to New Guinea.

Presently, Arabs and Muslims are involved in 22 active conflicts across the globe. The bloodletting against nearly every non-Muslim civilization from Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Chinese to African animist, demands attention. Looking at a map of Israel in relationship to the Arab world and Iran tells us that Arabs and Iranians don't need land; they need tolerance. There is no shortage of land. There is a shortage of freedom.

On May 15, 1948 the Arab League declared the invasion of the former Palestine Mandate of the League of Nations, sixteen years before the West Bank and Gaza Strip came under Israeli control

Egypt invaded Israel in 1948 with the declared intent of destroying her and eventually occupied the Bethlehem area near Jerusalem. Egyptian stamp, 1948

Arab Jordan occupied in 1948 the West Bank, annexed her in 1950 and in 1964 claimed Israeland the then Egyptian occupied Gaza Strip, three years before the West Bank and Gaza Strip came under Israeli control. Jordanianstamp from 1964; does not mention Palestinians or Palestine.

Arab Egypt occupied Arab Palestinians in Gaza Strip from 1948-1967, sixteen years before the West Bank and Gaza Strip came under Israeli control. Egyptian stamp, Gaza Strip shown in 1957 on Egyptian fake map as if within Egypt. In reality, the international border of Egypt was (and is) at Rafah. The stamp does not mention Palestinians or Palestine.

Egyptian stamps| 1967: "Arab Solidarity for Palestine Defense", not including the West Bank (at that time occupied by Arab Jordan) | 1962: "Gaza Part of Arab Nation" (Gazans - at that time under Arab Egypt's occupation - with Egyptian flag, Palestine not mentioned)

Arab Syria occupied Arab Palestinians in Himmah area from 1948-1967.

In 1964, the Arab League founded the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) whose raison d’etre was to destroy Israel, three years before the West Bank and Gaza Strip came under Israeli control. 1964 Palestine Liberation Organization Charter, article 24: “This Organization [the PLO - MEI] does not exercise any regional sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, in the Gaza Strip [in 1964 ruled by Arab Egypt - MEI] or the Himmah area [in 1964 ruled by Arab Syria - MEI].” Today, the Arab League and Iran assert right to 22nd Arab state, 2nd one in Palestine.

Almost all Arab states & Iran have disputes over enormous territories and populations. Arab Syria occupied Arab Lebanon (50% larger than the West Bank) and claims the Turkish Hatay province (larger than the Golan). Arab Morocco occupies the Saharawi Arab Republic (45 times as big as the size of the West Bank) while the Saharawi Arabs have been vegetating for decades in the world's worst refugee camps.

1,300 years of inter-Muslim and inter-Arab conflicts have transformed the Mideast into the most violent region in the world: No comprehensive inter-Arab peace, no inter-Arab ratification of all borders, no compliance with all inter-Arab agreements/treaties, no Arab democratic regimes and no Arab regime which stays in power without the use of violence. Is it reasonable to assume that the Arabs are ready to accord to the Jewish ("infidel") State that which they have yet to accord to one another?!

As Jordan no longer makes any claim to the West Bank and Egypt makes no claim on the Gaza Strip, the only remaining claimants are Israel and the Palestinians. As to who has the stronger claim, the Palestinians never had any title to these territories, a Palestinian state never existed. Israel clearly has a superior title to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Small Israel supports creation of Arab Palestinian state in disputed West Bank and Gaza Strip, if democratic and peaceful. In 2005 Israel disengaged completely from the Gaza Strip which became the first independent Palestinian territory ever, but te Palestinians do not bother to create their own state.

Occupation is not, in and of itself, illegal. It does not violate international law. Rather, international law attempts to regulate situations of occupation through the application of pertinent international conventions and agreements.
Today, the defense of Israeli population centers against Palestinian terrorism necessitates the partial (re)occupation of the West Bank.

Of the original 1922 League of Nations Palestine Mandate to establish the Jewish National Home (120,000 km²), Israel got only 17% (20,330 km²), while Arab Jordan got 77% (91,971 km²). Golan Heights (1,200 km²): 1%.

The West Bank and the Gaza Strip are the remaining 5% of the former British Mandate and are today under Israeli or Arab Palestinian home rule, their current status subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement, their permanent status to be determined through further negotiation.

The United Nations General Assembly partition resolution of November 29, 1947 envisioned the creation of three separate entities: a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an internationalized Jerusalem. The Arab Palestinians rejected the United Nation's partition plan. When the mandate ended on May 15, 1948, only one of the three projected entities – Israel – emerged. In clear violation of the UN assembly resolution and of international law, five Arab countries invaded Israel in an attempt to destroy the nascent Jewish state. At war's end, Israel survived, the Gaza Strip came under Arab Egyptian occupation, and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, came under Arab Jordanian occupation.

During the 1967 war, Israel seized the West Bank (5,860 km²) from Arab Jordan and took the Gaza Strip (360 km²) from Arab Egypt, not from the Arab Palestinians. Following peace agreements with Israel, today Egypt and Jordan do not claim former mandate territories.

When the cease-fire lines of 1948-49 were drawn, neither Israel nor any of its neighbors accepted them as borders and, moreover, in the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, those lines did not serve as the basis for determining the borders between them.

In 1995 and 1997, Israel relinquished control over virtually all of the West Bank’s and Gaza Strip's Palestinian residents. Since that time, nearly 60 percent of them –in main cities– have lived entirely under Palestinian jurisdiction. Another 40 percent live where the Palestinian Authority exercises civil authority but, in line with the Oslo accords, Israel has maintained "overriding responsibility for security."

The disputed West Bank and Gaza Strip area of 6,220 km² is matching equivalent to a circle with a radius of 45 km. This is 1/2400 (0.04%!) of the total area of the Arab world & Iran (15.15 million km²):

Land cannot possibly be the contentious issue as the Arabs and Iran already have 750 times as much territory as Israel and 2,400 times as much territory as the disputed West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Arabs and Iran have 60 times the population of Israel, all of the oil reserves of the region and 22 states of their own – all varying shades of police states.

The "peace process" whose main watchword is "territories for peace", involves a paradox whereby a minuscule democracy is being forced to provide its totalitarian enemies - scores of times its size - the only thing it lacks: territory. In exchange, the surrounding tyrannies are being asked to provide the one and only thing that they lack: peace.

Even peaceful Western states like Denmark have territorial disputes, often over huge overseas areas. The United States & Great Britain occupy distant lands & preemptively overthrow overseas governments for security reasons. Great Britain went to war for the Falkland Islands, 14,000 km from London. France holds vast overseas territories with two million inhabitants in America, Africa and the Pacific. But Israel is singled out for occupying small areas, harbours of terrorism, bordering the Capital Jerusalem and Israeli population centers:



Tiny Israel: in the foregroundthe Jewish village Beit El in the disputed West Bank, in the background Tel Aviv on the shore of the Mediterranean sea

View of Tel Avivand the Mediterranean from the West Bank


A World Without Israel (Josef Joffe, Foreign Policy, Jan/Feb 2005): "Imagine that Israel never existed. Would the economic malaise and political repression that drive angry young men to become suicide bombers vanish? Would the Palestinians have an independent state? Would the United States, freed of its burdensome ally, suddenly find itself beloved throughout the Muslim world? Wishful thinking. Far from creating tensions, Israel actually contains more antagonisms than it causes."

Libyan Reformist Writer Dr. Muhammad Al-Huni Criticizes Abuse of the Term 'Resistance' in Arab Political Discourse (MEMRI/Elaph.com, Aug 5, 2006)

Germany's eastern border was shiftedwestwards, effectively reducing Germany in size by approximately 25% compared to her 1937 borders
The German populations living beyond the new eastern borders of Germany (more than 10 millions) were expelled


Poland's new borders post-WWIIin red, borders before WWII in blue
Poland lost 43 percent of its pre-WWII territory to the Soviet Union

CIA World Factbook (Denmark): Rockall continental shelf dispute involving Denmark, Iceland, and the UK (Ireland and the UK have signed a boundary agreement in the Rockall area); dispute with Iceland over the Faroe Islands' fisheries median line boundary within 200 NM; disputes with Iceland, the UK, and Ireland over the Faroe Islands continental shelf boundary outside 200 NM; Faroese are considering proposals for full independence." CIA World Factbook (Greenland): "The world's largest non-continental island ... Denmark continues to exercise control of Greenland's foreign affairs ... Land Area: 2,166,086 km² (410,449 km² ice-free, 1,755,637 km² ice-covered)."
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km² & Greenland: 2.2 million km²]

Denmark - Greenland and the Faroe Islands (Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs): "Greenland and the Faroes are part of the kingdom of Denmark, but are largely self-governing. Legislation formally comes under the Danish Folketing which includes two representatives from Greenland, but in practical terms the Greenland Landsting administers almost all legislative matters. This does not apply to the country's foreign policy, Greenland's mineral rights, the police and judicial system, or to the Greenland Command in Grønnedal. The most senior Danish representative in the area is a Commissioner appointed under the Royal Seal."

Genocides, Crimes and Massacres Committed by the PLO and the Syrians Against the Lebanese, 1975-2002 (Guardians of the Cedars)

Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkeyrefuse 27 million Kurdish Muslims independence

Palestinian betrayal of the Kurds (Alan Dershowitz, professor at Harvard Law School, JP, Aug. 9, 2004): Their [Palestinian] leadership is adamantly opposed to the Kurdish efforts to end their occupation and establish their state. The Palestinians support the occupiers, namely Syria, Turkey and Iraq, and they always have. ... THE CASE for ending the occupation of Kurdistan and establishing an independent Kurdish state is at least as strong, and in many ways stronger, than the case for ending the occupation of the West Bank and establishing a Palestinian state. (The occupation of Gaza will soon be ended.) There already is one state with a Palestinian majority – Jordan – whereas the Kurds are not a majority in any nation, despite the fact that there are many more Kurds than Palestinians. The Kurds have suffered far more than the Palestinians, as many as 100,000 of them being gassed by Saddam Hussein while the world stood idly by. The Kurds have been promised a state since the end of World War I, when Woodrow Wilson made such a commitment and the treaty of Sevres said they could have a state if a majority of Kurds supported statehood. The Palestinians, on the other hand, have repeatedly rejected offers of statehood, first in 1937, then in 1947 and, most recently, in 2001-2004 at Camp David and Taba. Most Palestinians, according to recent poll, would not be satisfied with a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. They want to see the destruction of the Jewish state of Israel."

Freedom for Araby? (Amir Taheri, Iranian author, JP, Feb 27, 2003):) "The new Arab regime had waged war not only on its own society; almost inevitably, it also became involved in a series of external wars none of which reflected the national interests of the countries concerned ...

In 1960 Nasser intervened in Yemen, first through covert operations, and then by despatching a 60,000-strong occupation army to be bogged down there for almost seven years. In the early 1960s Nasserist agents and sympathisers engineered the annexation of Syria to Egypt. In 1967 Nasser provoked another, and more disastrous, war with Israel, ending up with the loss of the Sinai Peninsula and the Israeli army dipping its feet in the Suez Canal. Syria, Jordan and Iraq also participated in that war, thus sharing Egypt's defeat. Egypt also became involved in smaller military operations in the Sudan, Congo, Somalia, and the British protectorates of southern Arabia.

The Iraqi military regime flexed its muscles with an attempted annexation of Kuwait in 1961 setting a pattern that was to continue for three decades. Between 1969 and 1975 it was engaged in a major, but highly unpublicised, frontier war against Iran that ended with Iraqi capitulation in 1975. In 1977 Iraq was involved in a military showdown with Turkey over the waters of the River Euphrates. Border clashes took place between Syria and Iraq in 1978. In 1980 Iraq invaded Iran, starting a war that lasted eight years and claimed a million lives on both sides. And in 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait and has been in a state of war against the United Nations ever since.

The Syrian military regime, for its part, clashed with Turkey, over the Iskanderun enclave, and fought several battles with the Jordanian army under the pretext of protecting the Palestinians. From the late 1950s onwards, military intervention in Lebanon was to become a permanent feature of Syrian policy. Syria, alongside Egypt, was involved in the 1973 war against Israel.

Other Arab military regimes had their share of war on varying scales.

Algeria triggered a war against Morocco over Spanish Sahara from the 1970s onwards. In the 1980s Libya invaded Chad which, despite the investment of billions of dollars, ended up with a decisive defeat for Colonel Muammar Kaddhafi's regime."

Statement by the Arab League upon the Declaration of the State of Israel, May 15, 1948 (Hashd, Mar 28, 2003). Upon the Israeli Declaration of Independence, the states of the Arab League declared war on the new state, and issued the declaration below, in defiance of UN resolution 181. The statement makes it clear that the intent of the invasion was to destroy Israel, and not just to defend the portions of Palestine alloted to the Palestinians under resolution 181.

CIA World Factbook (United Kingdom): "Spain and UK are discussing "total shared sovereignty" over Gibraltar, subject to a constitutional referendum by Gibraltarians, who have largely expressed opposition to any form of cession to Spain; Mauritius and Seychelles claim the Chagos Archipelago (British Indian Ocean Territory) and its former inhabitants, who reside chiefly in Mauritius, but in 2001 were granted UK citizenship and the right to repatriation since eviction in 1965; Argentina claims the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; Rockall continental shelf dispute involving Denmark and Iceland; territorial claim in Antarctica (British Antarctic Territory) overlaps Argentine claim and partially overlaps Chilean claim; disputes with Iceland, Denmark, and Ireland over the Faroe Islands continental shelf boundary outside 200 NM."

Falkland Islands War (Encyclopaedia Britannica): "... also called Falklands War, Malvinas War, or South Atlantic War, a brief, undeclared war fought between Argentina and Great Britain in 1982 over the control of the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and associated island dependencies."
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km² & Falkland Islands: 12,000 km²]

Turkish occupation and ethnic cleansing in Cyprus (Le Monde diplomatique): "After the Turkish occupation of the north of the island and the forced transfer of populations, the two communities - Turkish in the north and Greek in the south - are now strictly separated by a demarcation line."
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]

Greek and Turkish claims in the Aegean (Le Monde diplomatique)
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]

The Russian kaleidoscope (Le Monde diplomatique): The plethora of religions and ethno-linguistic families in the 21 republics of the Russian Federation, on 17 million km².
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]

Conflict in the Caucasus (Le Monde diplomatique)
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]

Regions disputed by Pakistan, India and China since 1947 (Le Monde diplomatique)
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]

Rivalry in the China Sea (Le Monde diplomatique)
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]

Millions of refugees in Africa (Le Monde diplomatique)
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]

CIA World Factbook (France): "Madagascar claims Bassas da India, Europa Island, Glorioso Islands, Juan de Nova Island, and Tromelin Island; Comoros claims Mayotte; Mauritius claims Tromelin Island; territorial dispute between Suriname and French Guiana; territorial claim in Antarctica (Adelie Land); Matthew and Hunter Islands, east of New Caledonia, claimed by France and Vanuatu."
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km² & French Guiana in South America: 83,534 km²]

French Overseas Departments (Wikipedia, Mar 30, 2009): "Under the 1946 Constitution of the Fourth Republic, the French colonies of Algeria in North Africa (independent since 1962), Guadeloupe and Martinique in the Caribbean, French Guiana in South America, and Réunion in the Indian Ocean were defined as overseas departments. As integral parts of France and the European Union, they are represented in the National Assembly, Senate and Economic and Social Council, elect a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), and also use the euro as their currency." Screenshot of map published on the official website of the French Ministry of the Overseas Departments andTerritories. Mar 30, 2009.

CIA World Factbook (Norway): "Norway asserts a territorial claim in Antarctica (Queen Maud Land and its continental shelf); despite recent discussions, Russia and Norway continue to dispute their maritime limits in the Barents Sea and Russia's fishing rights beyond Svalbard's territorial limits within the Svalbard Treaty zone."
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]

CIA World Factbook (Lebanon. Sep 27, 2005): "intense international pressure prompts the removal of Syrian troops and intelligence personnel from Lebanon" [occupied from 1976-2005 - MEI]
Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003, H. R. 1828, signed into law by U.S. President Bush on Dec 12, 2003: "To halt Syrian support for terrorism, end its occupation of Lebanon, and stop its development of weapons of mass destruction, and by so doing hold Syria accountable for the serious international security problems it has caused in the Middle East, and for other purposes."
End the occupation (Alan Dershowitz, professor at Harvard Law School, JP, Sep 20, 2004): "When is the last time you heard about a demonstration on a university campus calling for the end of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon? How about never?"
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]
Jordan demands land back from Syria (Reform Party of Syria, Oct 29, 2004)

Jordan occupies land belonging to Arab Syria (JP, Nov 25, 2004)

The Kurds, a people divided (Le Monde diplomatique)
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]

CIA World Factbook (Western Sahara): "Morocco virtually annexed Western Sahara in 1976, and the rest of the territory in 1979. Part of the people of Western Sahara live as refugees for decades. A referendum on final status has been repeatedly postponed. The territory is contested by Morocco and Polisario Front (Popular Front for the Liberation of the Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro), which in February 1976 formally proclaimed a government-in-exile of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); territory partitioned between Morocco and Mauritania in April 1976, with Morocco acquiring northern two-thirds; Mauritania, under pressure from Polisario guerrillas, abandoned all claims to its portion in August 1979; Morocco moved to occupy that sector shortly thereafter and has since asserted administrative control; the Polisario's government-in-exile was seated as an OAU member in 1984; guerrilla activities continued sporadically, until a UN-monitored cease-fire was implemented 6 September 1991 ... Area: 266,000 km²"
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]

CIA World Factbook (Morocco): "Claims and administers Western Sahara, but sovereignty remains unresolved; UN-administered cease-fire has remained in effect since September 1991, but attempts to hold a referendum have failed and parties reject other proposals; Spain controls three small possessions off the coast of Morocco - the islands of Penon de Alhucemas, Penon de Velez de la Gomera, and Islas Chafarinas and two autonomous communities on the coast of Morrocco - Ceuta and Mellila; Morocco rejected Spain's unilateral designation of a median line from the Canary Islands in 2002 to explore undersea resources and to interdict illegal refugees from Africa.
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]

Moroccan Agenda: Not Just an Islet. Envoy Revives Subject of Spain's North African Enclaves (Desmond Boylan, Wahington Post, Jul 20, 2002): "... dispute over ownership of a tiny island off North Africa, as Morocco injected the thorny subject of two enclaves that Spain controls on the Moroccan coast."

Yemeni stamps, 1967: tax benefiting Arab Yemeni poison gas victims massacred by the Arab Egyptian occupiers
Yemeni stamp, 1963: Arab Yemenis fighting Egyptian aggressors

CIA World Factbook (Egypt): "Egypt and Sudan each claim to administer triangular areas which extend north and south of the 1899 Treaty boundary along the 22nd Parallel (in the north, the "Hala'ib Triangle", is the largest with 20,580 km²); in 2001, the two states agreed to discuss an "area of integration" and withdraw military forces in the overlapping areas."
[Compare: size of disputed Westbank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]

CIA World Factbook (Libya): "Libya claims about 19,400 km² in Niger as well as part of southeastern Algeria in currently dormant disputes."
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]

CIA World Factbook (Iran): "Despite restored diplomatic relations in 1990, Iran lacks maritime boundary with Iraq and disputes land boundary, navigation channels, and other issues from eight-year war; UAE seeks United Arab League and other international support against Iran's occupation of Greater Tunb Island (called Tunb al Kubra in Arabic by UAE and Jazireh-ye Tonb-e Bozorg in Persian by Iran) and Lesser Tunb Island (called Tunb as Sughra in Arabic by UAE and Jazireh-ye Tonb-e Kuchek in Persian by Iran) and attempts to occupy completely a jointly administered island in the Persian Gulf (called Abu Musa in Arabic by UAE and Jazireh-ye Abu Musa in Persian by Iran); Iran insists on division of Caspian Sea into five equal sectors while Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan have generally agreed upon equidistant seabed boundaries; Iran threatens to conduct oil exploration in Azerbaijani-claimed waters, while interdicting Azerbaijani activities."
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]

CIA World Factbook (Iraq): "Despite restored diplomatic relations in 1990, lacks maritime boundary with Iran and disputes land boundary, navigation channels, and other issues from eight-year war; in November 1994, Iraq formally accepted the UN-demarcated border with Kuwait which had been spelled out in Security Council Resolutions 687 (1991), 773 (1993), and 883 (1993); this formally ends earlier claims to Kuwait and to Bubiyan and Warbah islands although the government continues periodic rhetorical challenges; dispute over water development plans by Turkey for the Tigris and Euphrates rivers."
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]

CIA World Factbook (Oman): "Oman signed a boundary treaty with the UAE in 1999, but the completed boundary is not expected until the end of 2002; undefined segments of the Oman-UAE boundary remain with Ra's al-Khaymah and Ash Shariqah (Sharjah) emirates, including the Musandam Peninsula, where an administrative boundary substitutes for an international boundary."
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]

CIA World Factbook (Saudi Arabia): "Demarcation of delimited boundary with Yemen involves nomadic tribal affiliations; because details of 1974 and 1977 treaties have not been made public, the exact location of the Saudi Arabia-UAE boundary is unknown and status is considered de facto."
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]

CIA World Factbook (Somalia): "Most of the southern half of the boundary with Ethiopia is a provisional administrative line; in the Ogaden, regional states have established a variety of conflicting relationships with the Transitional National Government in Mogadishu, feuding factions in Puntland region, and the economically stabile break-away "Somaliland" region; Djibouti maintains economic ties and border accords with "Somaliland" leadership while politically supporting Somali Transitional National Government in Mogadishu; arms smuggling and Oromo rebel activities prompt strict border regime with Kenya."
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]

CIA World Factbook (Sudan): "Sudan agrees in 2002 to demarcate whole boundary with Ethiopia; Egypt and Sudan each claim to administer triangular areas which extend north and south of the 1899 Treaty boundary along the 22nd Parallel (the north "Hala'ib Triangle" is the largest with 20,580 km²); in 2001, the two states agreed to discuss an "area of integration" and withdraw military forces in the overlapping areas; since colonial times, Kenya's administrative boundary has extended beyond its treaty boundary into Sudan creating the 'Ilemi Triangle'".
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]

Real map of Syria (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Jan 16, 2006)
Fakeofficial map of Syria (Syrian Ministry of Tourism website, Jan 16, 2006) [red - MEI]

CIA World Factbook (Syria): "Golan Heights is Israeli-occupied; dispute with upstream riparian Turkey over Turkish water development plans for the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; Syrian troops in northern, central, and eastern Lebanon since October 1976; Turkey is quick to rebuff any perceived Syrian claim to Hatay province"
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]

We need another PLO (Arab-American journalist Joseph Farah, WND, Sep 2, 2003): "Syrian troops deny Lebanon – one of only two Middle East nations with a recent history of representative government – its sovereignty and freedom. ... In addition, under Syrian control, Lebanon has become a haven for terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations. It has become a major producer of heroin and other drugs. Syrian domination has resulted in the worst imaginable human-rights abuses. People just disappear off the streets."

CIA World Factbook (United Arab Emirates): "Oman signed boundary treaty with the UAE in 1999, but complete UAE-Oman boundary line is not expected until the end of 2002; undefined segments remain with Ra's al-Khaymah and Ash Shariqah (Sharjah) emirates, including the Musandam Peninsula, where an administrative boundary substitutes for an international boundary; because details of 1974 and 1977 treaties have not been made public, the exact location of the Saudi Arabia-UAE boundary is unknown and status is considered de facto; UAE seeks United Arab League and other international support against Iran's occupation of Greater Tunb Island (called Tunb al Kubra in Arabic by UAE and Jazireh-ye Tonb-e Bozorg in Persian by Iran) and Lesser Tunb Island (called Tunb as Sughra in Arabic by UAE and Jazireh-ye Tonb-e Kuchek in Persian by Iran) and attempts to occupy completely a jointly administered island in the Persian Gulf (called Abu Musa in Arabic by UAE and Jazireh-ye Abu Musa in Persian by Iran)."
[Compare: size of disputed West Bank & Gaza Strip: 6,220 km²]

Geneva Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Part I, Art. 3: "(1) Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria. To this end the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons: (a) violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;"

Without distinction - attacks on civilians by Palestinian armed groups (Amnesty International): "The deliberate killing of Israeli civilians by Palestinian armed groups amounts to crimes against humanity. As defined in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, crimes against humanity are various acts committed as part of a ''widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population'', ''pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organization's policy to commit such attack''. (71) The specified acts include murder, torture and ''other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.'' (72) Crimes against humanity do not require a link to an armed conflict - they can be committed either in peacetime or in wartime. The deliberate killings of Israeli civilians by Palestinian armed groups and individuals are both widespread and systematic, and are perpetrated as part of a publicly announced policy to target civilians. They therefore satisfy the definition of crimes against humanity included in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which is recognized as reflecting customary international law. War crimes and crimes against humanity are among the most serious crimes under international law, and represent offences against humanity as a whole. Bringing the perpetrators of these crimes to justice is therefore the concern and the responsibility of the international community. This view is illustrated in the Preamble to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, adopted in July 1998, which affirms that the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole must not go unpunished and that their effective prosecution must be ensured by taking measures at the national level and by enhancing international cooperation."

Israel and Gaza (Professor Louis Rene Beres, Washington Times, May 27, 2004): "the Hague Regulations disallow placement of military assets or personnel in heavily populated civilian areas. Further prohibition of perfidy is found in Protocol I of the 1977 addition to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, and it is widely recognized that these rules also are binding on the basis of customary international law. Perfidy represents an especially serious violation of the Law of War, one identified as a "grave breach" in Article 147 of Geneva Convention IV. The full legal effect of perfidy committed by Palestinian terrorist leaders is to immunize Israel from any responsibility for counterterrorist harms done to Arab civilians. All combatants, including Palestinian terrorists, are bound by the Law of War of international law. This requirement is found in Article 3, common to the four Geneva Conventions of Aug. 12, 1949, and at the two protocols to these Conventions. Protocol I applies humanitarian international law to all conflicts fought for "self-determination," the stated objective of all Palestinian fighters. This protocol brings all irregular forces within the full scope of international law. Israel has both the right and the obligation under international law to protect its citizens from criminal acts of terrorism. Should it ever decide to yield to Palestinian perfidy in its indispensable war against escalating Arab violence, Israel would surrender this important right and undermine this fundamental obligation."

Which Came First - Terrorism or "Occupation"? (MFA)
Myth: United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 calls for immediate Israeli withdrawal to pre-1967 borders: Fact: Resolution 242 makes two points in relation to drawing borders in the Middle East. First, it calls for a "withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict." Notably, there is no article or modifier applied to the word "territories." This is in fact not a semantic detail; the omission was deliberate and meant to highlight the fact that there was no expectation that Israel would be forced to resume the pre-1967 borders. Efforts by Soviet First Deputy Foreign Minister Vasily Kuznetsov failed to convince the council members that adding the word "all" would be productive; the Security Council rejected the Soviet draft and unanimously adopted the British-drafted text as Resolution 242. Moreover, Resolution 242 calls for "Termination of all claims or states of belligerence and respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area, and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." Such recognition by the Arab powers of Israel's right to peaceful existence has never occurred. Eugene Rostow, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law and Public Affairs at Yale University and Chairman of the Interdepartmental Control Group responsible for shaping U.S. policy in the Middle East at the time, wrote, "until the states concerned in the dispute make peace in accordance with Resolution 242, the Security Council decided, Israel could remain in the territories it held after the Six Day War as occupying power. The legality and legitimacy of its presence as occupying power is thus certified by the Security Council."
Mapping Survival (George F. Will, Washington Post, Apr 18, 2004): Passed after the 1967 Six Day War, 242 required the withdrawal of Israel "from territories occupied in the recent conflict." Not from "the territories." Israel insisted on deletion of the "the" because it implied, as Arab and other powers acknowledged by vehement opposition to the deletion -- withdrawal from all territories. This was strategic ambiguity. On Wednesday ambiguity was abandoned. In his letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, President Bush said: "In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli population centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of the final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949, and all previous efforts to negotiate a two-state solution have reached the same conclusion."
From "occupied territories" to "disputed territories" (Dore Gold): "The politically-loaded term "occupied territories" or "occupation" seems to apply only to Israel and is hardly ever used when other territorial disputes are discussed, especially by interested third parties. For example, the U.S. Department of State refers to Kashmir as "disputed areas. Similarly in its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, the State Department describes the patch of Azerbaijan claimed as an independent republic by indigenous Armenian separatists as "the disputed area of Nagorno-Karabakh."
INTERNATIONAL LAW AND THE ARAB-ISRAEL CONFLICT
(Extracts from "Israel and Palestine - Assault on the Law of Nations", Prof. Julius Stone): (PDF 1.4 MB) "The legality of Israel's presence in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and Gaza has been the subject of heated argument since 1967. Some regard these areas as illegally occupied, others as disputed territories and there is an obvious need for clarity if the subject is to be discussed rationally in terms of facts rather than assumptions."
From "occupied territories" to "disputed territories" (Dore Gold, JCPA, 16 Jan 2002 ): "The politically-loaded term "occupied territories" or "occupation" seems to apply only to Israel and is hardly ever used when other territorial disputes are discussed, especially by interested third parties. For example, the U.S. Department of State refers to Kashmir as "disputed areas. Similarly in its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, the State Department describes the patch of Azerbaijan claimed as an independent republic by indigenous Armenian separatists as "the disputed area of Nagorno-Karabakh."
Israeli Settlements and International Law (MFA, May 2001)
Analysis: What is the US policy on Israeli settlements? (Dore Gold, JP, Jun 9, 2009)
The Legal Aspects of Jewish Rights: (PDF 1.3 MB) "The “Mandate for Palestine,” an historical League of Nations document, laid down the Jewish legal right to settle anywhere in western Palestine, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, an entitlement unaltered in international law. ... Fifty-one member countries—the entire League of Nations—unanimously declared on July 24, 1922: “Whereas recognition has been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country. It is important to point out that political rights to self-determination as a polity for Arabs were guaranteed by the same League of Nations in four other mandates—in Lebanon and Syria (The French Mandate), Iraq, and later Trans-Jordan [The British Mandate]. Any attempt to negate the Jewish people’s right to Palestine—Eretz-Israel, and to deny them access and control in the area designated for the Jewish people by the League of Nations is a serious infringement of international law.
How aboriginal rights shaped the 20th century: The Jewish people's claim to Israel (Allen Z. Hertz, JP, Apr 12, 2009): "The 1919-1920 Paris Peace Conference was concerned with the task of accommodating the political interests of the victorious Allied and associated powers with the claims to self-determination of well-known peoples which had long histories of national self-affirmation and bitter suffering under foreign oppression. Thus, considered were difficult and entangled issues touching the self-determination of such famous peoples as the Chinese, the Poles, the Germans, the Finns, the Letts, the Latvians, the Estonians, the Czechs, the Slovaks, the Serbs, the Slovenes, the Croats, the Italians, the Hungarians, the Romanians, the Bulgarians, the Greeks, the Turks, the Kurds, the Armenians, the Arabs and the Jews. In this larger context, just one decision among many was creation of an entirely new country called "Palestine" as "a national home for the Jewish people".
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Art. 60 - Termination or suspension of the operation of a treaty as a consequence of its breach (UN official website, Sep 12, 2005)

Lausanne Peace Treaty of Jan 30, 1923, Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations (Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs): "The Government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and the Greek Government have agreed upon the following provisions: Article 1 As from the 1st May, 1923, there shall take place a compulsory exchange of Turkish nationals of the Greek Orthodox religion established in Turkish territory, and of Greek nationals of the Moslem religion established in Greek territory. These persons shall not return to live in Turkey or Greece respectively without the authorisation of the Turkish Government or of the Greek Government respectively."

Forced Population Transfers: Institutionalised Ethnic Cleansing as the Road to New (In-) Stability? The European Experience (Stefan Wolff, Department of European Studies, University of Bath/UK)

My new Muslim hero (Arab-American journalist Joseph Farah, WND, Nov 28, 2001): "... Zohair Hamdan, the muktar of the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sur Bahir, was gunned down by would-be assassins who fired nine rounds, hitting the Arab peace crusader with five. When Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods were scheduled to fall under Palestinian Authority control under the peace plan of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Hamdan protested, saying he would prefer to remain under Israeli sovereignty rather than Arafat's. Courageously, Hamdan did something that is without precedent in the world of Arab politics. He launched a petition campaign, collecting more than 10,000 signatures of Jerusalem Arabs opposing Arafat's rule."

Revisiting the Six-Day War (Arab-American journalist Joseph Farah, WND, Jan 23, 2003): "Occupation, occupation, occupation. If you listen to Arabs, that's the cause of the conflict with Israel – occupation."

Medina, Islam's second holiest city, was originally a Jewish "settlement": "The city of Medina, some 280 miles north of Mecca, had originally been settled by Jewish tribes from the north, especially the Banu Nadir and Banu Quraiza. The comparative richness of the town attracted an infiltration of pagan Arabs who came at first as clients of the Jews and ultimately succeeded in dominating them. Medina, or, as it was known before Islam, Yathrib, had no form of stable government at all. The town was tom by the feuds of the rival Arab tribes of Aus and Khazraj, with the Jews maintaining an uneasy balance of power. The latter, engaged mainly in agriculture and handicrafts, were economically and culturally superior to the Arabs, and were consequently disliked.... as soon as the Arabs had attained unity through the agency of Muhammad they attacked and ultimately eliminated the Jews." (Professor Bernard Lewis, Arabs in History, p. 40).

"I worked for 18 months to try to put in place a plan that would allow Chairman Arafat to demonstrate his leadership. We would have been way along if the violence had been brought down. Chairman Arafat simply did not seize any of these opportunities to bring the violence under control. Moreover, after the Israelis pulled back from the recent occupation ... we thought maybe we have some movement. What we saw instead were more bombing. Bombing after bombing after bombing after bombing, day after day. Frankly, we also saw continuing indications that there was complicity with the senior levels in the Palestinian Authority."
- US Secretary of State Colin Powell, CBS' "Face the Nation", June 30, 2002

President Bush's call of June 24, 2002 to the Palestinians, to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure, end incitement to violence in official media, elect new leaders not compromised by terror, and embrace democracy.

The National Security Strategy of the United States of America (President George W. Bush, White House, Sep 2002): "We must adapt the concept of imminent threat to the capabilities and objectives of today’s adversaries ... The targets of these attacks are our military forces and our civilian population, in direct violation of one of the principal norms of the law of warfare. As was demonstrated by the losses on September 11, 2001, mass civilian casualties is the specific objective of terrorists and these losses would be exponentially more severe if terrorists acquired and used weapons of mass destruction. The United States has long maintained the option of preemptive actions to counter a sufficient threat to our national security. The greater the threat, the greater is the risk of inaction— and the more compelling the case for taking anticipatory action to defend ourselves, even if uncertainty remains as to the time and place of the enemy’s attack. To forestall or prevent such hostile acts by our adversaries, the United States will, if necessary, act preemptively."

US National Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction (White House, Dec 2002)
(PDF, 424 KB)

U.S. Congress Peace Through Negotiations Act of 2000 (H. R. 5272) providing for a United States response in the event of a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state (Sep 27, 2000) (PDF, 16 KB)

Iraq, Israel and the United Nations. Double standards (Economist, Oct 10, 2002): " ... a quite distinct sort of claim is also made in the “double standards” debate. This holds that Israel stands in breach of Security Council resolutions in just the way Iraq does, and therefore deserves to be treated by the UN with equal severity. Not so."

Is Jordan Palestine? (Daniel Pipes)

Palestine for the Syrians? (Daniel Pipes, Commentary, Dec 1986): During a meeting with leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1976, Syrian President Hafiz al-Asad referred to Palestine as a region of Syria, as Southern Syria. He then went on to tell the Palestinians: "You do not represent Palestine as much as we do. Do not forget one thing: there is no Palestinian people, no Palestinian entity, there is only Syria! You are an integral part of the Syrian people and Palestine is an integral part of Syria. Therefore it is we, the Syrian authorities, who are the real representatives of the Palestinian people."

Indian Reservations, Bantustans, and the Dimensions of the Palestinian State Offered by Israel's PM Ehud Barak in 2000 - Are They Comparable? (Source: Edah)

Stuck on a Barrier That's Not on the Road Map (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, Aug 8, 2003): "There have been nearly 100 Palestinian suicide bombings. All the terrorists came from the West Bank, where the barrier is being built. Not a single one has come from Gaza. Why? Because there already is a fence separating Gaza from Israel. ... In America, we build stretches of fence along the Mexican border to prevent foreigners from coming in to take jobs. It takes a lot of audacity to demand that Israel stop building a fence whose purpose is to prevent foreigners from coming in to commit mass murder. As part of the propaganda campaign against the barrier, it has been called a wall. In fact, it is a fence, with electronics on either side to prevent infiltrators. It is wall-like for only about a tenth of its length -- in just two places, both along the Trans-Israel Highway. Why? Because Palestinian gunmen had been shooting from Palestinian territory onto the highway and killing innocent Israelis."

Palestinian Pretense & Israeli Reality. What the world knows, but can’t say, to be true (Victor Davis Hanson, NRO, Mar 18, 2003): "Much of the problem, then, quite simply is also psychological and arises because a Jewish state is right smack in the middle of the Arab world — and by every measure of economic, political, social, and cultural success thriving amid misery. Without oil, without a large population, without friendly countries on its borders, without vast real estate, and without the Suez Canal, it somehow provides its citizenry with a way of life far more humane than what is found in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, or Egypt. Yet the world listens to the Palestinians' often-duplicitous leadership — despite the corrupt nature and murderous past history of Mr. Arafat's regime — because its sponsors sell a good part of the globe's oil. And to risk their wrath, one would have to support a few million Jews, not hundreds of millions of, say, British, Swedes, or Italians. And so we give not a damn over millions of innocents elsewhere butchered over millions of acres each year worldwide, but instead focus on what the Palestinians lost while attempting to destroy their neighbors."

The Jews took no one's land (Arab-American journalist Joseph Farah, WND, Apr 23, 2002)

Who Stole the Holy Land? (Steven Plaut, FrontPageMagazine, Dec 9, 2004): "So why exactly do the anti-Zionists claim that a thousand-year old claim by Arabs who were never ruled by Palestinian Arabs has legitimacy, while a 1900-year claim by Jews to the land should be rejected as absurd, even though the United Nations granted Israel sovereignty in 1947? The anti-Zionists say it is because the thousand-year-old Arab claim is more recent than the older Jewish claim. But if national claims to lands become more legitimate when they are more recent, then surely the most legitimate of all is that of the Jews of Israel to the lands of Israel, because it is the most recent!"

The 'military solution' works (Evelyn Gordon, JP, Oct 7, 2003): "Far from proving a failure, the 'military solution' has proven its efficacy over the last year."

Partial list of conflicts in the Middle East (Fact-Index, June 6, 2004):
1 Arab-Israeli conflict:
2 Jordan-Syria conflict
3 Egypt and Yemen
4 Iraq-Kuwait clashes
5 Yemen-Oman war
6 Libya-Chad conflict
7 Libya-Egypt conflict
8 Libya-Sudan conflict
9 Morocco and Mauritania invasion of Western Sahara
10 The 1980 Iran-Iraq war
11 United States and United Kingdom invade Iraq
12 Fighting Terrorism
13 Lebanon occupied by Syria

The main conflicts of the 1990s (Le Monde diplomatique, accessed Oct 9, 2007)

Ranking of conflicts since 1950 with over 10,000 fatalities (Gunnar Heinsohn and Daniel Pipes, FrontPageMagazine.com, Oct 8, 2007):
1 40,000,000 Red China, 1949-76 (outright killing, manmade famine, Gulag)

2 10,000,000 Soviet Bloc: late Stalinism, 1950-53; post-Stalinism, to 1987 (mostly Gulag)

3 4,000,000 Ethiopia, 1962-92: Communists, artificial hunger, genocides

4 3,800,000 Zaire (Congo-Kinshasa): 1967-68; 1977-78; 1992-95; 1998-present

5 2,800,000 Korean war, 1950-53

6 1,900,000 Sudan, 1955-72; 1983-2006 (civil wars, genocides)

7 1,870,000 Cambodia: Khmer Rouge 1975-79; civil war 1978-91

8 1,800,000 Vietnam War, 1954-75

9 1,800,000 Afghanistan: Soviet and internecine killings, Taliban 1980-2001

10 1,250,000 West Pakistan massacres in East Pakistan (Bangladesh 1971)

11 1,100,000 Nigeria, 1966-79 (Biafra); 1993-present

12 1,100,000 Mozambique, 1964-70 (30,000) + after retreat of Portugal 1976-92

13 1,000,000 Iran-Iraq-War, 1980-88

14 900,000 Rwanda genocide, 1994

15 875,000 Algeria: against France 1954-62 (675,000); between Islamists and the government 1991-2006 (200,000)

16 850,000 Uganda, 1971-79; 1981-85; 1994-present

17 650,000 Indonesia: Marxists 1965-66 (450,000); East Timor, Papua, Aceh etc, 1969-present (200,000)

18 580,000 Angola: war against Portugal 1961-72 (80,000); after Portugal’s retreat (1972-2002)

19 500,000 Brazil against its Indians, up to 1999

20 430,000 Vietnam, after the war ended in 1975 (own people; boat refugees)

21 400,000 Indochina: against France, 1945-54

22 400,000 Burundi, 1959-present (Tutsi/Hutu)

23 400,000 Somalia, 1991-present

24 400,000 North Korea up to 2006 (own people)

25 300,000 Kurds in Iraq, Iran, Turkey, 1980s-1990s

26 300,000 Iraq, 1970-2003 (Saddam against minorities)

27 240,000 Columbia, 1946-58; 1964-present

28 200,000 Yugoslavia, Tito regime, 1944-80

29 200,000 Guatemala, 1960-96

30 190,000 Laos, 1975-90

31 175,000 Serbia against Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, 1991-1999

32 150,000 Romania, 1949-99 (own people)

33 150,000 Liberia, 1989-97

34 140,000 Russia against Chechnya, 1994-present

35 150,000 Lebanon civil war, 1975-90

36 140,000 Kuwait War, 1990-91

37 130,000 Philippines: 1946-54 (10,000); 1972-present (120,000)

38 130,000 Burma/Myanmar, 1948-present

39 100,000 North Yemen, 1962-70

40 100,000 Sierra Leone, 1991-present

41 100,000 Albania, 1945-91 (own people)

42 80,000 Iran, 1978-79 (revolution)

43 75,000 Iraq, 2003-present (domestic)

44 75,000 El Salvador, 1975-92

45 70,000 Eritrea against Ethiopia, 1998-2000

46 68,000 Sri Lanka, 1997-present

47 60,000 Zimbabwe, 1966-79; 1980-present

48 60,000 Nicaragua, 1972-91 (Marxists/natives etc,)

49 51,000 Arab-Israeli conflict 1950-present

50 50,000 North Vietnam, 1954-75 (own people)

51 50,000 Tajikistan, 1992-96 (secularists against Islamists)

52 50,000 Equatorial Guinea, 1969-79

53 50,000 Peru, 1980-2000

54 50,000 Guinea, 1958-84

55 40,000 Chad, 1982-90

56 30,000 Bulgaria, 1948-89 (own people)

57 30,000 Rhodesia, 1972-79

58 30,000 Argentina, 1976-83 (own people)

59 27,000 Hungary, 1948-89 (own people)

60 26,000 Kashmir independence, 1989-present

61 25,000 Jordan government vs. Palestinians, 1970-71 (Black September)

62 22,000 Poland, 1948-89 (own people)

63 20,000 Syria, 1982 (against Islamists in Hama)

64 20,000 Chinese-Vietnamese war, 1979

65 19,000 Morocco: war against France, 1953-56 (3,000) and in Western Sahara, 1975-present (16,000)

66 18,000 Congo Republic, 1997-99

67 10,000 South Yemen, 1986 (civil war)

List of disputed or occupied territories (Wikipedia, Oct 1, 2005): "This list includes only disputes between widely-recognized countries, and does not cover regions which have proclaimed independence but have not been recognized, nor regions which are seeking independence. For such a list, see List of active autonomist and secessionist movements."
Major wars index (World Statesmen, Oct 6, 2005)
Possessions and colonies index, past and present (World Statesmen, Oct 6, 2005)
Field Listings - Disputes - international (CIA World Factbook, Oct 6, 2005)