In spite of all rumors to the
contrary and all machinations at the United Nations, the Palestinian people are
really stateless. They have two governing bodies, one in Gaza ruled by Hamas
and the other is located in portions of the West Bank ruled by Fatah. In spite
of all of the trappings of sovereignty, neither entity seems to be interested
in or engaged in state-building. Their stated avowed purpose, repeated
forcefully, violently and aggressively is to destroy the one stable, democratic
and free state that does exist in the immediate area – the State of Israel.
With enormous financial aid from the rest of the world both groups prefer to
invest in arms, repression, propaganda and other forms of aggression against
Israel and are not really concerned in building a true infrastructure,
educational or economic or governmental, that could serve as a template for
creating a viable state of their own. An educational system built on incitement
to violence, demonization and hatred of the “other” will not succeed in
producing the necessary leadership and skills, knowledge and commitment,
necessary to create a viable national state. Any state that will emerge from
such a witches’ brew of skewed values and hatreds will not be a peaceful neighbor
of us. The Palestinian street has been educated to vote Hamas and therefore
Fatah refuses to hold elections even though they are long overdue. A Hamas
state sitting to the west of us is a security threat that no Israeli government
can allow or endure. Thus the prospects of a Palestinian state under today’s
circumstances arising are truly dim and unlikely. The realities of our
situation will of necessity trump all of the fantasies of the remaining “peace
at any price “advocates in our midst.
I believe that this is true no
matter who wins the general election soon to be held here in Israel. I cannot
imagine an Israeli government repeating the mistakes of unilateral withdrawal
from territories in the Holy Land. Ehud
Barak gave us Hezbollah on our northern border by his flight from the security
zone in Lebanon and Ariel Sharon gave us Hamas in Gaza at our southern border.
One would hope that the results emanating from those two badly mistaken
policies and actions would prove instructive to all later Israeli governments
as well. It is so fashionable in today’s secular and practically amoral world
to be against Israel, its people, its products, its accomplishments, that the
Palestinians are apparently convinced that they have to do nothing and Israel
will somehow disappear of its own accord and world pressures. The Jewish story
throughout history is littered with the bones of those who thought that way in
the past. They all underestimated Jewish will and tenacity, strength and
vitality. The world has fallen into the
same anti-Semitic trap that has cost it do dearly in the past. Boycotting Israeli products will not bring
the Palestinians one step close to statehood of their own. It only exhibits the
unreasoning hatred of Jews that has infected the world so deeply. Only the
Palestinians can build their own state. And they seem determined not to do so
currently.
There was once an administration
in the United States that declared that it would follow a policy of “benign
neglect” regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict. But it could not stay the course
and for the past number of decades we have been witness to various plans,
policies and solutions advanced to end the conflict. Unfortunately none of them
were able to match the realities on the ground here in the Middle East. The
latest non-starter is the “two-state solution” to which even the Israeli
government has given begrudging lip service approval. But this plan is also a
non-starter since there is no one on the other side interested or able to
create a state on any other basis than the destruction of the Jewish state.
Thuds we are left with a one state reality and that one state is Israel. So
again no matter who heads the Israeli government or for that matter the
American government, the Quartet (remember those guys?), the European Union,
the United Nations, etc. the two state solution cannot be implemented simply
because there is no Palestinian state to two state with. The Palestinians are
willfully and purposely stateless. And therefore until they are willing to
change this situation in a positive and almost radical manner the current
situation will continue to prevail and we will all just keep on muddling along.
That may not be very good but it is not so bad either. It is what it is.
Shabat shalom.
Berel Wein
