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Israel Haters Bully for Palestinian State
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
December 29, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Working the backrooms at the U.N. and in the
European Union, Palestine Liberation Chairman 79-year-old Mahmoud Abbas hoped to
bypass direct talks with Israel to establish a Palestinian state. Shopping around a proposal for Israel to end “occupation” in the West Bank and East
Jeruslaem, Jordan’s U.N. Amb. Dina Kawar’s committed to bring her proposal for
Israel to withdraw from “occupied” lands by 2017 for a Palestinian state. “We will be doing what the
Palestinians want and in conformity with the Arab League,” said Kawar, referring
to her Palestinian-backed proposal to rid East Jerusalem and the West Bank of
Israel. It’s no accident that
Jordan, who lost the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day-War,
presents the proposal to the U.N. Security Council. Knowing they face a certain U.S. veto, Jordan still wants to grandstand on the world
stage.
Jordan was part of a handful of Arab states led by Egypt’s Gamal Abdel
Nasser and the PLO’s Yasser Arafat with Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, that rolled the
dice June 5, 1967 to destroy Israel and return land given to the Jews by the
British in 1948, known as the British Mandate of Palestine. Initiating a war of annihilation, the Arab states never accepted Israel’s spoils of the
1967 War, including Egypt’s Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula, Jordan’s West Bank
and East Jerusalem and Syria’s Golan Heights.
Had they not attacked Israel in 1967, Israel would not have seized the
land as spoils to guard against another attempt to destroy the Jewish State. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
“Bibi” Netanyahu knows firsthand the Arab intent to wipe Israel off the map, as
Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in 2015.
Watching the same Arab states that attacked Israel in 1967 now demand the
land back is so ironic.
Members of the Security Council, in considering the Palestinian-backed
Jordanian proposal, can’t forget the context in which Arab states lost land to
Israel. No nation that opts for war
can complain when things don’t go its way.
Speaking to Netanyahu directly Dec. 27, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a
member of the Armed Service Committee, reassured Bibi that the new Republican
Senate “has Israel’s back.” Since
Abbas joined Hamas April 23, the PLO takes the same position as Hamas seeking
Israel’s destruction. No U.N.
Security Council or EU member can possibly think they can impose an independent
Palestinian state with a mission of destroying Israel. U.S.’s U.N. Amb. Samantha Powers
understands that failure of the PLO-Hamas entity to formally declare peace with
Israel makes a Palestinian state impossible.
No responsible party could accept such a deal.
Instead of running away from direct talks with Israel, the combined
PLO-Hamas entity must declare publicly peace with Israel, stop firing rockets,
suicide bombing and sniping and prepare to negotiate with Tel Aviv. Netanyahu put the Security Council and EU on notice that Israel will not accept any
unilateral declaration. “Seeking to
impose on use a diktat that would undermine Israel’s security, put it future in
peril,” said Netanyahu, “Israel will oppose conditions that endanger our
future.” Palestinians can’t return
“to the same cycle of failed negotiations,” said Palestinian U.N. Amb. Ryad
Mansour, not admitting that his delegation remains at war with Israel. Palestinians don’t want to
compromise on key security conditions that would move forward the peace process. Since peace talks began seriously
with former President Jimmy Carter’s 1979 Camp David Accords, the PLO’s position
remained the same.
Arafat went to his grave Nov. 11, 2004 under suspicious circumstances
without a peace deal because he always believed the Arabs would eventually
defeat Israel. Ten years later, the
PLO-Hamas entity still wants to destroy Israel and rejects bilateral
negotiations for in independent state.
When the Republican Congress convenes after the New Year, Obama no longer
has the clout to pressure Israel into making self-destructive concessions. Arabs would love to bully Israel
into compromising its security, leaving a chink in the armor to finally attempt
to destroy the Jewish State. While
Arab states and some members of the EU rail against Israel’s 2014 war with
Hamas, the same outcome follows attempts to destroy Israel: Arab nations pay a draconic price. Since the 1948 Israeli War of
Independence, Israel has faced periodic Arab attempts at annihilation, all
beaten back with heavy Arab losses.
If Palestinians U.N. Amb. Ryad Mansour or Jordan Amb. Dina Kawar really
wish to make progress toward a Palestinian state, they need to write into the
U.N. record an unconditional peace accord with Israel. As long as the PLO-Hamas entity is
committed to Israel’s destruction, it’s premature to be talking about an
independent Palestinian state. With
Republicans back in control of U.S. foreign policy, the U.S. won’t do anything
to sacrifice Israel’s security.
Since Sept. 11, former President George W. Bush understood firsthand the special
U.S. relationship with Israel in fighting global terrorism. Bush officials watched Palestinians
dance in the streets in Gaza and Ramallah after Osama bin Laden destroyed the
World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon.
No foreign policy expert in the U.S. or elsewhere can expect Israel to
make peace with a group sworn to its destruction.
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