Israel Matzav

'Palestinians' want peace, just not with Israel

Israel declared itself a state on May 15, 1948, and within about five hours the “rejectionist” Arab states attacked it. That is the war that continues to this day. It’s a conflict the Arab world can afford to lose over and over again. Israel’s first loss would be its last.

It follows that peace is the only way Israel can win, and peace is the only way the Arab side can lose. Under such circumstances, Israelis would be fools not to give land for peace, while Arabs would be fools to give peace for land. Neither side are fools.

Last year, the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, named a promenade along the River Seine after David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel. Shimon Peres, Israel’s president, at 88 probably the only Israeli politician still active from Ben-Gurion’s generation, was among the dignitaries attending.

“For Ben-Gurion, the most realistic thing was the vision,” Peres said. “He used to say that a realistic person must believe in miracles.”

From an 1895 pamphlet to a 1948 statehood in 53 years was indeed miraculous for Israel. Creating a Palestinian state following a unilateral declaration wouldn’t require a miracle in the current ambiance of the UN, so by the logic of the Middle East, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas doesn’t have to be a realistic person to believe in it.

It’s hard to say whether Abbas believes in the unilateral Palestinian state or not. Perhaps he just believes in retiring with a bang rather than a whimper. This would be quite realistic and I’d give it a 50-50 chance. The only thing that has no chance in the Middle East is peace.

Labels: Palestinian state RIGHT NOW syndrome, unilateral declaration of statehood

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:35 PM