Why Can’t Jews Stay in a Palestinian State? By Jonathan S. Tobin. Commentary, January 27, 2014.
Naftali Bennett: Jews living under PA rule would be killed. By Herb Keinon. Jerusalem Post, January 28, 2014.
Bennett’s ignorant and dangerous distortion of Jewish history. By David Landau. Haaretz, January 28, 2014.
Naftali Bennett: Netanyahu’s Annoying Alter Ego. By Tom Wilson. Commentary, January 29, 2014.
Tobin:
For 20
years Israeli governments of both the left and the right have agreed on one
thing: Jews and Jewish settlements could not be left behind in any territory
handed over to the Palestinians. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has indicated that he is willing to change that policy and that seems to have upset
almost as many Israelis as Palestinians. Netanyahu stated that even in the
event of a peace agreement he had no intention of repeating the precedent
established by Ariel Sharon in Gaza in which every single settlement, soldier,
and individual Jew was uprooted. According to Netanyahu, if there is a peace
treaty, there’s no reason that Jewish communities could not remain in part of
the Palestinian state along with the Palestinian inhabitants, if they were
willing to do so.
It was
not surprising that the Palestinians would immediately and angrily reject the
suggestion that Jews could live in their putative new state. Palestinian
Authority head Mahmoud Abbas had already denounced the idea, but lest anyone be
in doubt about the Palestinian position, PA negotiator Saeb Erekat sought to
clarify the official view:
Anyone
who says he wants to keep settlers in the Palestinian state is actually saying
that he doesn’t want a Palestinian state. No settler will be allowed to stay in
the Palestinian state, not even a single one, because settlements are illegal
and the presence of the settlers on the occupied lands is illegal.
It was
interesting to note that both right-wing and left-wing critics of Netanyahu as well
as members of his own Cabinet were almost as angry as the Palestinians. The
right is appalled at Netanyahu’s tacit willingness to accept a Palestinian
state, and the left thinks the prime minister was just playing a cynical
tactical game designed solely to embarrass the Palestinians. The concerns of
both factions may well be justified. Netanyahu, however, was right to raise the
issue and to provoke a debate about the nature of the Palestinian state that
is, after all, one of the goals of the current peace talks. Regardless of
his motives, this is a topic that must
be addressed if the negotiations are truly aimed at ending the conflict.
The
reason that Israeli governments have always agreed with the Palestinians about
the need to evacuate any Israelis living in what might become a Palestinian
state is no secret. It’s not just that the Palestinians don’t want Jews in
their state and the fact that the settlers don’t want there to be a Palestinian
state. It’s that any Israelis who chose to remain in their homes wouldn’t last
any longer than the greenhouses that wealthy Americans purchased from Gaza
settlers who were uprooted from their homes in 2005. Within hours of the
Israeli army pullout, every one of these valuable facilities that could have
been used to help revive the strip’s moribund economy was burned to the ground.
The same fate awaited every other building left by the Jews, including every
synagogue.
Without
the protection of the Israel Defense Forces, Jews in Arab territory haven’t a
chance. That’s a basic fact of life in the country that predates Israel’s
birth. Without self-defense forces, Jewish settlers in those lands inside the
pre-June 1967 borders were exposed to relentless harassment, terrorism, and
even pogroms. And there is no reason to believe the situation would be any
different in a future West Bank state where the Palestinian population has been
educated for decades to believe Jews have no right to live in any part of the
country.
But, as
Netanyahu rightly pointed out, a peace treaty that would actually end the
conflict rather than merely pause it until the Palestinians felt strong enough
to resume hostilities must entail an acceptance on both sides of the legitimacy
of the rights of the other side. Just as Arabs are equal before the law in the
State of Israel, have the right to vote, and serve in its Knesset, a democratic
and peaceful Palestinian state must not exclude the possibility of allowing a
Jewish minority within its borders. If that is something that the PA is unable
to countenance, it proves once again that it isn’t interested in peace. A state
where Jews are, as Erekat says, “illegal” is one that is committed to a
permanent state of war against Israel.
Israeli
right-wingers are angry at Netanyahu’s acceptance in principle of a Palestinian
state. Without the threat of repeating the traumatic scenes that characterized
the Gaza withdrawal, a division of the West Bank would, at least in theory, be
more likely.
Yet the
prime minister’s suggestion also angered supporters of a two-state solution. In
particular, Israeli negotiator Tzipi Livni, who as Tom Wilson wrote earlier today seems to understand that the talks have little chance of success,
bitterly denounced Netanyahu’s statement as designed more to prove the
Palestinians weren’t negotiating in good faith than achieving a deal.
Livni
may well be correct about Netanyahu’s intentions. Goading the Palestinians into
repeating their intolerant and anti-Semitic objections to Jews living within
their borders undermines their cause. Like previous generations of negotiators,
Livni seems to think peace can be achieved by ignoring the hatred on the other
side. But merely drawing a line between Israel and the Palestinians and calling
it a border won’t end a conflict that is rooted in the Arab and Muslim
rejection of the idea of legitimacy for any Jewish state no matter how large or
small it might be.
It has
become a cliché of Middle East commentary to speak of the painful sacrifices
that Israel must make if it is to have peace. That is true. But the path to
peace is a two-way street. If the Palestinians want a state, it cannot be on
genocidal terms that require the ethnic cleansing of Jews. Until they’re ready
to live alongside Jews inside their state—and to guarantee their
security—genuine peace is nowhere in sight.
