29 Days to Go – KABOOM – Do the Palestinians Want a State?

By Sherwin Pomerantz

Today the border went KABOOM and with 29 days to the opening of the UN General Assembly in New York and the vote a day or two after that on Palestinian statehood the question must be asked: Do the Palestinians really want a state or is all this just another smokescreen?

Israel Harel in an article in today’s Ha’aretz makes the statement that “If the Palestinians knew their bid for UN recognition would lead to the establishment of a state in the 1967 borders, they wouldn’t make it. Rather their application is meant to serve their strategy of delay, which has many stages and stratagems.”

In the context of that theory, at noon today Israel time armed gunmen stationed at the border between Israel and Egypt near the southern port city of Eilat fired on an Egged bus traveling the road on the Israel side following which there were additional attacks on other Israeli vehicles as well. Seven people are now dead and at least 26 were wounded from an unprovoked, terror attack on Israeli citizens going to their homes for the weekend. As I write this at 5:40 PM Thursday afternoon, the story is still developing so information is somewhat sketchy but everyone does agree that this is yet another terror attack aimed at the citizens of Israel.

While it is not yet clear who the terrorists were, one thing we know for certain. These were people who were not in favor of any sort of peace with Israel or an eventual two state solution to end the conflict. If that were not the case, there would be no reason to engage in terror. There never has been any reason to engage in terror other than to derail whatever chance might exist for normalization of life in this part of the world.

One can only conclude that in reality, there really is no desire on the part of the Palestinian Arab leadership for the creation of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. If one looks at the history going back to the generous offer made by former Prime Minister Ehud Barak at Camp David in 2000, or even the amendments proposed later by Israeli peaceniks such as Yossi Beilin, followed by the extensive discussions between former Prime Minister Olmert and Chairman Abbas, it becomes painfully obvious that the Palestinian Arab leadership had multiple opportunities to end the conflict and move on to a Palestine within the same parameters that they are now demanding at the UN. But they did not take them then and, sad as it is for me to admit, they will not take them now or probably anytime in the future.

One can only conclude that the real goal of the Palestinian Arab leadership is to put an end to the enterprise called Israel and to wait, delay, and posture for as long as it takes to get to that goal. The move to get the UN General Assembly to vote for Palestinian statehood then becomes just one more event in the process. What will happen the day after regardless of how the vote goes? No one knows for sure but the possible scenarios include, but are not limited to:

• Massive demonstrations in Judea and Samaria (i.e. the West Bank) as well as Gaza against Israel (and, of course, the US as well if it goes ahead with its Security Council veto) either because the vote was “no” or the vote was “yes” and Israel has not immediately left the settlements.
• Demonstrations that then turn violent even though the Palestinian Arab leadership claims that they will prevent violence, although history shows that these always turn violent.
• The possibility that this will lead to a third uprising (or, as they tend to call it: intifada).
• Nationalist elements in Israel convince the government to annex the settlement blocs and claim that they are now officially part of Israel causing widespread violent demonstrations.

The list is endless of course, only limited by one’s imagination. In a word, as Harel said in his article “Because Israel cannot be destroyed by force, as both conventional and non-conventional wars and terrorist wars have proved, they have embarked on a different sort of campaign: a global campaign (aided by more than a few Jews both in Israel and abroad) to undermine the Jewish people’s right to sovereignty in its homeland. Meanwhile, they are avoiding all negotiations until this goal is achieved.”

While I have been advocating for some months that the UN should vote “no” on statehood in September, perhaps, just perhaps, the better alternative would be for all the delegates to abstain, which is, officially, a refusal to vote. At least that way the world can effectively throw the problem back in the laps of the two parties involved and say “you deal with it” and the Palestinians can’t blame any single country for their disappointment.

Hearst journalist Ambrose Gwinnett Pierce, who died in 1913, once said, succinctly “When you doubt, abstain.” Good advice to the world on this sad day for so many families in Israel, yet again.