Israel Matzav

Why the 'Palestinians' don't adopt non-violence

Jonathan Chait explains why the 'Palestinians' don't adopt non-violence as a tactic.

I agree that it would be fantastic if Palestinians adopted such tactics. But to do so, they actually have to want a two-state solution. And the evidence for that proposition is weaker than the evidence that Netanyahu is willing to make sacrifices for peace. A 2009 poll I've cited before shows that 71% of Palestinians deem it essential that their state comprise all of Israel and the occupied territories. (Only 17% of Israelis deem it essentially that their state control all that land.) And this isn't a crazy or inherently hateful view. From the Palestinian perspective, Israel is a colonial state that was suddenly dropped on their head as a result of European crimes. Most Palestinians seem to think, like Helen Thomas said, that the fair solution is for the Jews to go back to Europe.

Daily Alert adds:

From this perspective, Palestinian political tactics are not an endless series of blunders but a perfectly rational strategy of alternating guerrilla or terrorist attacks on Israel with ceaseless political pressure designed to make Israelis, like the Crusaders, unwilling to pay the price of defending their state over however many decades or centuries it takes.

If it became clear that the Palestinians’ primary goal was to create a homeland living peacefully next to a Jewish state, the Israeli political spectrum would shift back toward a more dovish government.

That's a big "if." And the longer Israelis believe that the 'Palestinians' primary goal is not just creating a homeland living peacefully alongside Israel, the more difficult it will be for such a shift to take place.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:05 PM