Israel Matzav

Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander

What would happen if an ethnic minority on the borders of the United States demanded American land to make a state of their own? Would the United States show up at an Annapolis conference? Would the United States grant a state to a group that is unwilling or unable to police its own 'people' and combat terrorism on America's borders?

There actually is such a group. They are called the Atzlanistas and they want to return the United States to its pre-1836 borders, and place an Atzlanista 'state' in what is now the southwestern United States. It would look a bit like the map at the top of this post. J O S H U A P U N D I T speculates on what Atzlanista's Annapolis conference might look like:

What the Atzlanistas want is final status on a state of their own with contiguous borders, New Atzlan, to consist of the American territories of California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona with its capitol in traditionally Atzlanista Los Angeles. All non-Mexican American settlers would be evacuated outside these borders to the original pre-1836 US borders, with some modifications, perhaps, to reflect demographics. Part of Northern California, for instance, could be traded for land in southern Nevada, eastern Louisiana, Colorado or Utah as part of a final settlement.

Both the Mexicans and the Atzlanistas want justice for the descendants of the refugees of the original American-Mexican conflict. They want a full right of return for these refugees to Mexican lands still in the hands of the US and the right to settle in the US for those Mexicans dubbed `illegal aliens' who have been victimized by what both the Mexicans and the Atzlanistas denounce as the apartheid border wall and restrictive US immigration policies.They also want any agreement to have a deadline for implementation, and for all checkpoints within New Atzlan, especially on the current borders to be removed to allow the Atzlanistas freedom of movement, and the US occupation of New Atzlan ended during the interim before the final settlement agreement is implemented.

The Atzlanistas are also demanding full sovereignty and control over historic US sites like the Grand Canyon, the Alamo, and Yosemite.

And they also want all Mexican and Atzlanista prisoners currently in American custody, whom the Atzlanistas consider to be freedom fighters, to be repatriated to Atzlanista territory.

In exchange for this, the Mexicans and Atzlanistas promise to recognize the remainder of American territory as the sovereign United States, and to renounce illegal immigration and terrorism and dismantle the drug cartels currently operating out of Mexican and Atzlanista territory.

The problems of a final solution to this problem can't be underestimated. Much of the area in question is populated by right wing ultra-nationalist settlers who consider these territories part of their historic homeland, regardless of international law. Resettling them in the United States within the pre-conflict borders will entail considerable trouble and expense for the US. In the territories on the North Bank ( AKA Texas) in particular, opposition to a proposed land for peace settlement is particularly widespread, not least when it comes to control of the Alamo, which many settlers consider one of the most important sites in their history. The Atzlanistas are insisting on total control of the Alamo as part of their State, claiming that according to their tradition, Atzlanista hero General Santa Ana tied his horse there before ascending to heaven.

...

We may very well be on the verge of a peaceful, two state solution in the region. A land for peace agreement is undoubtedly an important step towards that goal, and proponents of a two state solution have pointed to Oslo and the Gaza disengagement by Israel of how well such a plan can work, properly implemented and with the support of the international community.

Read it all.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:57 AM