Israel Matzav

Goldblog and the future of Jerusalem

The problem with Jeffrey Goldberg is that he's one of the most widely read bloggers on Israel, and therefore his opinions are gospel to many. Unfortunately, he has bought into the ideas that there can be peace with the 'Palestinians,' and that Israel is going to have to cut out its guts in order to save itself from an imaginary demographic time bomb. Therefore, despite his convictions that Jews should be able to live anywhere they want in Israel, Goldberg believes that we should restrain Irving Moskowitz from building on the land he bought in Jerusalem's Nachlat Shimon neighborhood 25 years ago. And Goldberg is wrong.

Let me also stipulate, however, that the settlement of Jews in Sheikh Jarrah -- even if it is what God allegedly wants (I've submitted the question, but haven't heard back) -- is not necessarily in the Jewish self-interest. If a Jewish person's only concern as a Jew is the acquisition of every square inch of biblical Israel on behalf of the Jewish people, then I suppose it is a Jewish interest. But if a Jewish person has other interests as well -- such as in peace, or in the idea that Palestinians, though a much newer people than the Jewish people, deserve a state just as Jews do, or in the continued survival of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state -- than the slow takeover of Sheikh Jarrah is not in the best Jewish interest.

Peace will not come from creating a 'Palestinian state' or from dividing Jerusalem. Peace (in the official sense) will come only from the total military defeat of the Arabs and their grudging acceptance that they will never be able to move us from here. Almost everything we have done since 1993 has set back the day that peace might come, because we have shown weakness and left our security in the hands of others. And so, we are destined to live with the status quo for the foreseeable future, because to change it for something less than real peace would be foolish and suicidal. I will discuss further evidence regarding the truth of those statements when I get to Goldberg's next paragraph.

The 'Palestinians' are a fiction invented by the Arab world to avoid having to accept Israel's existence. They are not a 'people' who are distinct (ethnically, racially, culturally or in any other sense) from the Arab world generally, and especially given the existence of 22 Arab countries, including one with a 70% 'Palestinian' population on 78% of the land of original mandatory Palestine, they do not deserve another state 'just as the Jews do.' The Arabs have admitted as much:

In an interview given by Zuhair Mohsen to the Dutch newspaper Trouw in March 1977, Mr. Mohsen explains the origin of the 'Palestinians':

The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan.

Please note that interview took place in 1977 - 13 years after the PLO was founded, and four years after the last time the Arab states made war in a bid to destroy Israel.

Goldberg also alludes to the abominable demographic time bomb when he mentions "the continued survival of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state." But the demographic time bomb is a myth, as I have argued countless times, most recently just last week here. The real motivation for the creation of the mythological time bomb has nothing to do with real demography or statistics. The real motivation for creating the mythical demographic time bomb is to ensure that the State of Israel will never be taken over by the revenants and the charedim (ultra-Orthodox).

Goldberg continues:

Peace will not come without the birth of a Palestinian state on the West Bank which has its capital in East Jerusalem. I'm as sure of that as I am of anything in the Middle East. Of course, peace may not come even with the birth of this state -- I'm no longer quite so sure in the possiblity, or at least in the availability, of peace -- but it will surely never happen without it.

Peace will not come until Israel totally defeats the Arabs militarily or until - God forbid - it is totally defeated militarily. The 'Palestinian' struggle is not about creating a state. It's about destroying the Jewish state. If what the 'Palestinians' really wanted was a "Palestinian state on the West Bank which has its capital in East Jerusalem," they could have had that in 2000 at Camp David, in 2001 at Taba, in 2008 during the Annapolis process, and - if the Arabs had wanted it - they could have had it at any time between 1948-67 when Jordan controlled the area and no one mentioned a 'Palestinian state.'

But the 'Palestinians' don't want a 'Palestinian state' and even Goldberg himself realizes that is possible - saying that he no longer is quite sure of the possibility or the availability of peace. For Israel to pretend that peace is around the corner and therefore not allow Jerusalem (or Judea and Samaria for that matter) to continue to grow and develop is to encourage the Arab recidivism that has led to the state of limbo in which we currently find ourselves. It ensures that there will never be peace. So why continue the state of limbo?

And why is Goldberg assuming that it is Israel that is preventing the birth of a 'Palestinian state' when it is the 'Palestinians' who have found one excuse after another to avoid coming to the table for the last two years?

Given that peace won't come from dividing Jerusalem, that there is no separate, distinct 'Palestinian people' that is as worthy of having a state as is the Jewish people (who have no other state), and given that the demography time bomb is a myth, why is Goldberg going against his own stated beliefs and arguing not to let Jews live in Nachlat Shimon?

Goldberg concludes:

Israel will survive without the Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. It will not survive if it becomes a pariah state, and, in this unfortunate world in which we must exist, Israel is in danger of becoming an outcast among nations.

Israel may be destined to be a pariah state regardless of what it does. The Europeans hate us no matter what we do. The Arabs and Muslims hate us no matter what we do. The Obama administration's being in power means that the US is unlikely to do anything to prevent our becoming pariahs despite our overwhelming popularity among the American people. And when friends like Goldberg lay the blame for the lack of peace in our region at our doorstep, it only hastens the day when that pariah status will come.

Labels: Jeffrey Goldberg, Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, Nachlat Shimon

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:38 AM