On the Purchase of Greenland

 On the Purchase of Greenland

I do not see the Trump position and the Danish/Greenland/European positions as necessarily incompatible; though our media, and maybe also the principal participants, see the situation as a confrontation.

The sale/purchase of Greenland does not prevent the Greenlanders (with or without the Danes) from having complete control of the question of sovereignty of their island. The way these things normally work is that the would-be purchaser mentions a price. The potential seller then nods or shakes his head. The purchaser then mentions a higher price, and so it goes on until both parties agree that they have found a price at which a transfer of ownership can be mutually agreed. Or the bidder gives up. 

Does anyone know how the purchase of Alaska off the Russians was negotiated? The purchase of California/Texas/Arizona/New Mexico from the Mexicans was negotiated, but not without the threat of continuing a disasterous war. The Hawaiian Islands were merely taken; without (I understand) even so much as a 'by-your-leave'. 

(I believe, that the Hawaiian Islanders had gone so far as to design a flag (in 1848) that incorporates the British Union Jack in a corner as did the Aurtralian and New Zealand flags. Alas, in 1898, we let them down.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Hawaii)

Palestine could lease land to Israel

Palestine could lease land to Israel.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank are deemed illegal. 

(The Palestinian West Bank is land taken by Israel by force in the war of 1967, and the Israeli presence is thus against International law. )

Israel covets that land.

(There are many Israelis who want to live in Arab land with such a fierce craving that they break the laws of normal civilised life in attempts to oust the Arab residents. The political majority in Israel condones that barbaric behaviour, thus showing itself not competent to govern the area.) 

Land purchases between states have been agreed in the past.

(Admittedly with mixed success. Florida was acquired off Spain in 1819 for $5million of settled citizen claims. In 1848, by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the USA paid Mexico $15million plus $3million in claims for 1,360,000 square km of land, i.e. Arizona, California, western Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah. The USA, in 1867, purchased Alaska off Russia at a fair price; $7.2million for 1.5million square km of land. Neither side particularly wanted the land.)

Could Israel occupy and enjoy Arab land legally? 

(Perhaps Israel could buy some land. But, if Palestine did not want to sell, perhaps they could agree to let out the land for an annual rent. Or negotiate a 99 year lease, as the British did with Hong Kong.)

Or are we living in a more barbaric, Post-Enlightenment, age?