January 24, 2003
DAYENU!:
Officials: U.S., Israel Readying Call for Palestinian Statehood (NOGA TARNOPOLSKY, JANUARY 24, 2003, The Forward)Israel and the United States are preparing a new joint peace initiative for possible release following Israel's January 28 general election, the Forward has learned.The initiative, details of which are still being ironed out in high-level, behind-the-scenes talks, would reportedly include a joint American-Israeli call for the establishment of a "demilitarized Palestinian state with temporary borders," according to several sources familiar with the talks. A unilateral Israeli announcement of the establishment of such a Palestinian state is being considered. The new state reportedly would be led by an appointed prime minister, with Yasser Arafat barred from playing any role.
This has been inevitable since at least the moment that Arafat walked away from Ehud Barak's offer, and, we've long argued, was Israel's best option for several years before that. It should never have taken this long but it's a very good thing that they're finally going to do it. On the day that the US and Israel recognize the State of Palestine, regardless of its borders, the anger and violence of the Palestinians will be primarily refocused inwards (though there'll still be terrorist attacks on Israel) as the basic question moves from "whether a state" to how that state is run. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 24, 2003 12:56 AM
If history is any guide, as soon as anything is agreed (or even seriously entertained) the radicalists will immediately do something to force the deal's withdrawal -- such as blowing up even more pizza diners than usual -- thus scotching whatever was proposed.
As some wag said, the Palistinians never lose an opportunity to lose an opportunity.
The point is there will be no agreement. Statehood will be imposed.
Posted by: oj at January 24, 2003 6:46 AMI don't think I'd want to be an Israeli-appointed Palestinian PM.
I think this is a good idea on a number of levels, but it will only increase the number of suicide bombings in Israel. Killing Israelis is the way in which Palestinian factions jockey for power.
They won't have to appoint a PM. They just tell Palestine what its boundaries are and then we and they recognize the new state. How its governed is their problem.
Posted by: oj at January 24, 2003 10:54 AMEr... if the Palestinians gain their own state, and then it becomes clear that the Palestinians are carrying out attacks on Israel, wouldn't Israel logically say, "Sorry, you're a state that sponsors terrorism," and go in and trash the place?
If so... that's wonderfully devious! >:)
JJ:
That's one of the main benefits. You can't really repress an internal population these days without enduring some negative judgments, but you can nuke an enemy state and no one says boo. Create a Palestine and the terrorists from the territories become enemy combatants from a sovereign nation.
oj - Setting up a Palestinian state, without attending to who runs it so that it would surely fall into the hands of terrorists, with the intention of nuking them at the first act of terror, is tantamount to murder. Fortunately, that's not what this proposal is about.
The solution is that the Palestinian terrorists have to be killed or imprisoned, so that Israel can be left in peace and Palestinian democrats can emerge. What this proposal does is institutionalize Israeli "terrorist-cleansing" of Palestine -- target killings and imprisonments, basically ending the Oslo-state led by Arafat and replacing it with Israeli policing of the West Bank. (Obviously, the demilitarization is going to have to be enforced by Israel.) Once the terrorists are gone, there will be no barriers to economic and political reform and terrorism will cease -- which are the preconditions for Palestinian statehood in the plan. Only then does a Palestinian state come into existence. At that point, elections can determine the Palestinian PM.
pj:
I assume that you're kidding when you say that giving them a country of their own and then attacking them back if they attack first is murder but that leaving them an occuppied territory and killing them before statehood is okay.