Abu Mazen's pyrrhic victory
Even if the 'Palestinians' 'win' at the United Nations in September, their victory is for all practical purposes only a pyrrhic victory. Here are some of the reasons, why a unilateral move will create a non-starter situation, that cannot work: Even if the UNGA passes a resolution, calling for the creation of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders of the West Bank, it will still remain a landlocked entity, fully dependent on Israel’s goodwill to provide access to Mediterranean ports – which Palestine will depend on for its import and export. Palestinian dependence on water supply also rests on Israeli sources which themselves suffer acute shortage and will more and more rely on seaside desalination plants – hardly accessible under the circumstances which will prevail if Palestine is unilaterally created. A simple look at the West Bank map will show that a non-negotiated unilateral Palestinian statehood, call it what you will, presents an impossible geo-political maze which cannot be ruled by central administration. Even if we discount the Jewish settlements, its remaining territory is partitioned, and subdivided into cantons, without directly controlled links between them, a situation that would scarcely be a state worthy of the name.There's more, although there are also some reasons why a 'Palestinian' win at the United Nations might make Israel uncomfortable.
To be more specific the Palestinian West Bank is divided into two parts, the northern part (Samaria) with Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin, Tul-Karem and Qalquilya as Palestinian enclaves, and the southern section (Judea) with Bethlehem, Jericho, and Hebron. In between there is Jerusalem, that has now been expanded eastwards to such a degree that it encroaches upon the Judean Desert and cuts the Palestinian territory in half. The Jordan Valley, that should normally mark the natural boundary between the future Palestine and the Kingdom of Jordan, is practically a military zone, and Israel has already made it clear that it does not intend to demilitarize it. In other words, the future Palestine will be a land-locked State, surrounded completely by Israel or Israeli controlled territory.
An alternative using Jordan’s Aqaba port instead of Ashdod or Haifa, might be useless, as any transports would have to cross the Jordan River bridges, which Israel will continue to control – moreover it is highly doubtful if the current Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan will welcome such a move, fearing more Palestinian influence on the already large population of Palestinian origin, including Islamic radicals among them, causing instability in the Kingdom.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Palestinian state RIGHT NOW syndrome, United Nations General Assembly
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:23 PM
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