Israel Matzav

The more things change, the more they stay the same - Part 2

On Friday, I posted a 50-year old video of an interview with then-Israeli ambassador to the US and the UN Abba Eban. I titled the post The more things change, the more they stay the same, because the charges Eban was being called to answer were so remarkably similar to the charges made against Israel today.

This post is also entitled The more things change, the more they stay the same, but this time we are going to look at the flip side. We are going to look at how little the aims of the PLO and Fatah have changed over the last sixty years.

The video you are about to watch is the first part in a six-part series on al-Jazzeera about the history of Fatah and the PLO. The first thing I want you to notice is the date of the PLO's founding, which happened before the 1967 war. That ought to be enough to prove to you that the PLO's goals - which have never been changed - are to destroy the Jewish state of Israel and not just to create a 'Palestinian' state.

But let's go to the videotape and then I'll point out a couple of other things as well.



I want to point out first that the CIA expected Israel to lose the War of Independence. I do so only so that you will appreciate the overwhelming odds that Israel fought against.

Around the 8:00 mark, the film tells us that in 1964 Ahmed Shukari, who was the first titular leader of the PLO, promised Jordan that the PLO had no designs on the 'West Bank' and only sought to recover land from Israel. So much for the theory that the 'Palestinians' are only seeking a 'state' or the lands that they lost in 1967.

Notice how Nasser speaks of the 'injustice' of Israel being unwilling to overwhelm itself with 'Palestinian refugees' in the 1960's.

Notice the total defeat of the Arab countries in 1967 and their 'realization' that the 'Palestinians' would have to fend for themselves. From that point on, the Arab countries have essentially abandoned the 'Palestinian cause' and are prepared to have it fester forever as a means of maintaining power over their own populations.

The truth is that the Arab countries and the 'Palestinians' all wish to destroy Israel. For them, that is the only 'solution.' All of Barack Obama's talking cannot and will not change that basic fact. This conflict is existential. It's us or them on this small patch of land in the Middle East. Always was and always will be.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:12 PM