Who’s to Blame? In Media, Palestinians Avoid Responsibility. By Barry Rubin. PJ Media, January 2, 2014. Also at the Jerusalem Post.
Why Is There Really No Palestinian State?: The 1-State Solution. By Barry Rubin. PJ Media, January 3, 2014.
Rubin [Who’s to Blame?]:
The
presentation of the Palestinian Authority’s arguments is pitiful. Take, for
example, the December 25, 2013, New York Times op-ed by Ali Jarbawi, “The Coming Intifada.”
These
days, life appears to be going along as normal for Palestinians in the West
Bank and Gaza. Appearances can be deceptive, however. Prior to the 1987
intifada, too, things appeared to be normal – until they exploded, much to
everyone’s surprise. But no one should be surprised if a new intifada erupts in
the next few months. Many experts, even those within the Israeli security
apparatus, like the former Mossad chief, Meir Dagan, are predicting it.
Note
that this is supposed to be the victimization argument. Thus, even if
Palestinians refused the UN Partition Plan (1947) as well as Camp David (2000)
and don’t even pay their electric bills, they are nonetheless eternal victims;
their problem does not have anything to do with their actions.
Actually,
ex-Mossad chief Meir Dagan did not predict an intifada. He said it was possible
that an intifada could occur. In fact, the Mossad report said that it was quite
possible that an intifada would not occur. Dagan was thus misquoted, and an
intifada is not definite.
“We
Palestinians are living through the worst situation in years. And, despite
surface appearances of normal, mundane, routine everyday life under occupation,
four significant factors have begun to interact that may disrupt the seemingly
stable status quo,” wrote Jarbawi.
Indeed,
it is certain that the conditions of the Palestinians have not improved over
time – despite having received billions of dollars in aid, much of which was
stolen or wasted.
And if
they truly are in the worst situation in 50 years, who is to blame? The
situation of the Palestinians is due to decisions made by Palestinian rulers,
negotiators and terrorists.
The
first, and most potent [factor], is the collapse of any hope that the
occupation will ever end and Palestinians will attain their freedom and
independence. This hope had allowed Palestinians to endure the daily injustices
of occupation in the expectation of a better future. It is this same hope that
led them to support negotiations with Israel and the idea of a two-state
solution.
Again,
this is an extremely selective view of the situation over the past
half-century. For example, “The Palestinians’ strategic mistake was to think
that conceding 78 percent of the land of historical Palestine in 1993 would be
enough.” Note the subtlety here, as the author is in fact hinting that the
Palestinians should have demanded a one-state solution.
The
peace negotiations (1993-2000) were based on the premise that there would be a
two-state solution. “It didn’t occur to them that Israel wanted to split this
remaining land with them, leaving them with – in the best of cases – a state of
leftovers. And the price that is being demanded for this state is so exorbitant
that the Palestinian Authority cannot sell it, nor can the Palestinians accept
it.”
In
fact, the “exorbitant” price for the Palestinians consisted of the recognition
of a Jewish state in exchange for the recognition of an Arab state, the
cessation of terrorist attacks on Israel, and other similar conditions. Yet in
the previous month alone there were at least five murderous attacks on
Israelis, a bomb on a bus within Israel, a border attack against Israel from
Gaza, and the – especially creative – effort of a member of the PA security
forces who had requested to be treated for an eye injury in Israel, intending
to use that humanitarian gesture as an opportunity to commit a terror attack on
an Israeli hospital.
Every
day, there are verbal attacks on Israel as well. In other words, Israel is only
offered peace as a propaganda measure.
“The promised
Palestinian state will be nothing but a shadow entity completely ruled by
Israel,” Jarbawi continues. Remember that if the Gaza Strip is being included
in the 22% allegedly offered to Palestinians, Gaza is not controlled by the PA
. Therefore the PA has no authority to be negotiating about Gaza and Hamas is
not ready to accept Israel under any conditions.
Meanwhile,
another op-ed, “Israel’s Jim Crow Treatment of Palestinians Continues” by Ahmed
Tibi in The Hill – a publication that
is widely read by Congressional staff – claims that in the negotiations on a
two-state solution Israel is subjecting Palestinians to “‘Jim Crow’ treatment.”
In other words, Tibi’s claim is that the problem is not a conflict between two
national groups, but rather a systematic racist one, in which Palestinians are
always the victim.
Note
that since 1994, Palestinians have had self-government and have voted to
determine who would rule in the West Bank and Gaza. After two decades of
Palestinian selfrule, including its own armed forces and economy, and after
having received billions of dollars in aid, Tibi is arguing that the
Palestinians should never be held responsible for ruling themselves.
In a
recent poll, two-thirds of Jewish Israelis agreed that they would hear the Palestinian
narrative in school. Can you imagine the opposite? Of course not. Some years
ago, I actually lectured at a Palestinian university and apparently my
affiliation was omitted from the syllabus.
Despite
50 years of cross-border terrorist attacks against Israel, missiles fired
against Israel, attempts of boycotts against Israel, and failure to pay Israel
for providing electricity to the Palestinian territories, The New York Times
article claims, “The Authority’s financial insolvency is creating more problems
for Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, especially the young.” If a PA
government that has existed for two decades wants a situation in which
stability is impossible, how can the virtual state of war be blamed on
Israelis? Note that when Israel withdrew from the Gaza settlements in 2005, the
equipment that was left behind was either stolen or broken by Palestinians. And
who started the rocket wars? For 50 years, Palestinian attacks and victims have
been bragged about.
The
basic construction of the argument is this: We fought and attacked Israelis and
yet throughout the years, only the Israelis were responsible for our suffering.
How can the PA make peace with Israel? How credible can it be? After two
decades of self-rule, Palestinian public figures can say that Israelis don’t
want peace and that Jews subject Palestinian to Jim Crow treatment, yet
Israelis and Jews say nothing of the kind and yet are condemned as horrible
oppressors and racists.
