A leading sticking point in Israel/Palestine peace negotiations certainly has to be the rights to the land seized by Israel as a result of the Six Day War in 1969. The Palestinians want the land returned to Palestine, while Israel is currently occupying the land, and expanding settlements in the West Bank much to the chagrin of the Palestinians and many in the World Community.
The Obama administration has not asked Israel to forfeit the land in question (indeed Obama has talked about a single Jerusalem), just that it not expand the settlements in the West Bank. How the land ownership is to be ultimately settled has been left to intractable negotiations between the two parties, with no resulting success.
The United States typically does not retain ownership of land captured through wars, although often military bases are developed in those countries, i.e. Germany, Japan, Italy and now Iraq. And looking back even further, we must note that our “perpetual lease” for the Guantanamo Bay area of Cuba was included in the Cuban-American Treaty of 1903 at the conclusion of the Spanish-American War. More specifically, it was defined within the Platt Amendment, other provisions of which were repealed by Roosevelt’s “Good Neighbor Policy” in 1934. The lease called for use as a Naval Station and/or Coaling Station by the United States. The current use as a Detainee Prison is somewhat of a stretch to the terms of that agreement.
So, shouldn’t the United States consider further “good neighbor policy” in negotiations with Cuba and not only close the prison at Guantanamo, but trade the lease rights for concessions in human rights and democratic principles in Cuba, and an end to any strategic safety concerns that the island nation may pose to the US? This withdrawal could strengthen our hand as facilitators of the Mid East peace negotiations.
Well, we still have Texas, New Mexico, and California. We didn’t win them from Mexico at poker.
Texas was an independent republic following its break from Mexico. It then sought union with us. I believe we ultimately paid Mexico for the land we gained from the war.