Why Can’t the Palestinians Recognize the Jewish State? By Ahmad Samih Khalidi. Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Summer 2011). Also here.
Israel’s celebration remains a Palestinian catastrophe. By Ahmad Samih Khalidi. The Guardian, May 11, 2008.
Palestinian statehood: Thanks, but no thanks. By Ahmad Samih Khalidi. The Guardian, December 12, 2007.
History is irrelevant: Why Palestinian Arabs can never accept a Jewish state. The Elder of Ziyon, August 30, 2011. [Comments on Khalidi]
Nakba nonsense floods in. The Elder of Ziyon, May 11, 2008. [Comments on Khalidi]
Abbas: PLO Charter Reflects What Palestinians Want. By Evelyn Gordon. Commentary, June 6, 2013.
Muslim scholars assert normalization with Israel is treason. Al-Qassam Brigades, June 3, 2013.
When your neighbor unfurls a Nazi flag. By Abraham Cooper and Howard Brackman. Jerusalem Post, June 2, 2013.
Even if there is a peace settlement, which is doubtful in the near or midterm future, the Israeli and Palestinian historical narratives will not be reconciled, nor can they be. The respective Israeli and Palestinian national identities are based on the historical and moral priority of their own claims to the land, and the illegitimacy of the other’s. Palestinians will always believe that their land was stolen by the Jews, deny the moral legitimacy of a Jewish state, and look to a Judenrein Palestine as their ultimate ideal.
Of course when it comes to the subject of Israel and the Jews it’s rarely possible to be calm, neutral, or objective. For Israel and the Jews push too many hot buttons for too many people – religious, historical, cultural, psychological, and political, positive and negative – for Jews and Gentiles alike.
