Tony Karon writes this bit of inanity in his survey of President Obama’s foreign policy challenges:
Unlike Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is fully committed to the two-state solution being championed by the Obama Administration. The problem, however, is that Abbas is plainly no longer representative of those on whose behalf he negotiates – and that means he has precious little ability to deliver on any promises he makes to the Israelis or Americans. His term of office formally expired in January, and that month’s Israeli offensive in Gaza reduced his popularity to an all-time low. Were a new Palestinian election to be held today, it’s doubtful that Abbas would even win the nomination of his own Fatah party, much less be able to beat a Hamas candidate at the polls. Hamas remains the majority party in the Palestinian legislature; it controls all of Gaza following a violent showdown in 2007 that saw Abbas’ supporters ejected from power. Hamas may also be even more popular than Fatah in the Abbas-controlled West Bank, where free political activity is suppressed by Israeli and Palestinian security forces. (See pictures of Gaza after Israel’s offensive)
Quite apart from the fact Abbas and Fatah don’t accept the notion of Jewish state of Israel, do they even accept a two state solution?
The evidence says that they don’t. Consider this op-ed by an adviser to the “moderate” Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad that claimed:
Israel had surpassed the Fascist and Nazi deeds of the era of Mussolini and Hitler and that it was perpetrating a new kind of holocaust against the Palestinians.
(h/t Backspin)
Or this interview with the PLO’s ambassador to Lebanon:
With the two-state solution, in my opinion, Israel will collapse, because if they get out of Jerusalem, what will become of all the talk about the Promised Land and the Chosen People? what will become of all the sacrifices they made–just to be told to leave?
They consider Jerusalem to have a spiritual status. The Jews consider Judea and Samaria to be their historic dream. If the Jews leave those places, the Zionist idea will begin to collapse. It will regress of its own accord. Then we will move forward.
(h/t Elder of Ziyon)
Barry Rubin observes something about Sheikh Tamimi, whose tirade prompted the Pope to walk out.
It’s a pity that the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) chief Islamic judge Tayseer Rajab Tamimi will be criticized for rudeness rather than incitement to genocide. And the whole political context of Tamimi’s statements shouldn’t be missed either: he is an appointee of the PA. When he demands that Israel be wiped out either he’s speaking for his bosses or if not they should fire him. Of course, they won’t because in large part he is.
It’s taken for granted among many “experts” that Abbas and Fatah accept a peaceful settlement with Israel. They don’t. They seek to supplant Israel. They’re just a bit more subtle about it than Hamas is, but it doesn’t make them less hostile.
(Sometimes I wonder if the reason that so many believe that Fatah is moderate is because they have to believe that. If one doesn’t believe that the problems in the Middle East are not soluble in the near term. And if peace isn’t just around the corner, that’s just too terrible for some people to believe. In that context, believing that Fatah is moderate and the only obstacle to peace in the MIddle East is Israel’s failure to be reasonable is rather comforting.)
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
I think that they do indeed believe in a two state solution However, neither of the two states would be Israel. They want the two states to be Hamastan and Fatahland. Then the two states would go to war so that Hamastan can “unite” the two.
Sabba,
They may not get the opportunity to kill each other. Other Arabs will do it for them.
I suspect that, if Israel did not exist, a huge intra-Arab war would break out over the Levant. Egypt would want to expand up the coast. Indeed it’s an old policy of Egypt’s, including Muslim rulers like the Fatimids. As a policy it goes back about four thousand years or more. Muhammed Ali Pasha invaded the Levant in the 1830s. Only the support of the British Navy for the Turks stopped him. Jordan would probably ally with Egypt, because th other chief claiment is Syria, which views the whole area as “Greater Syria”. Syria would move to take over the place. Iraq doesn’t like Syria and would balk at increased Syrian power, but then Syria is Iran’s lapdog and so Iran could be drawn in. Would Turkey sit by while potential enemies take over the place? They may not want to restore the Ottoman Empire, but the Turks are liable to dread expansion by Syria and Iran, and maybe Egypt.
Now since the chief strategy of Arab armies over the past several decades seems to be the competitive slaughter of civilians there would not be much left of the Arab population of Eretz Israel after a few go rounds of this war. Ironically the existence of Israel probably is saving the lives of a couple of million or more Muslim Arabs from death, and many others from being forced to flee due to violence by their “Muslim Brothers”.
I think you have hit on an important part of all this, Dad. The world is a dangerous place and a lot of problems may be subject to amelioration but simply aren’t going to be solved. Realizing this leads to a lot of frustration and tenseness and a way of dealing with this is to insist that one side–yours–holds the key to the situation.
By the way, for much more and incomparably better analysis of this sort of thing, I strongly recommend Dr. Sanity: http://drsanity.blogspot.com/
Michael – I think you’re absolutely correct here.
Ironically, it is the existence of Israel that keeps the Palestinian population alive. If they should ever (God forbid) get their way and take over Israel, the other Arab nations would immediately sweep in, massacre everybody, and take over the land themselves.
One has only to look at Palestinian concentration camps in Syria (which the world still turns a blind eye to) to know what the rest of the Arab world thinks of them.
David,
A good example of how their “Arab Brothers” think of the Palestinian Arabs was given a couple of years ago when the Wahhabist Entity revised its naturalization law. Only Muslims are allowed of course, and one must be a resident for 20 years to become a subject of His Wahhabist Majesty. But Palestinians are excluded, they may not become subjects of His Wahhabist majesty, they may not become naturalized Saudi citizens. Their role in life is to act as cannon fodder against the Jews, and are othewise persona non grata.
The Palis should reflect on this. They should realize that if they cannot bring themselves to live at peace with Jewish neighbors, then one day they are liable to have to go find neighbors with whom they are willing live at peace. Since their “Arab Brothers” hate, despise, and fear them, and have massacred them in wholesale lots, that may be a difficult thing to do.