By: Steven Plaut, JEWISH PRESS
For the past twenty years the quest for a Middle East peace and for resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict has rested largely upon one specific strategy. We’ll call it the “End of Conflict Proclamation.”
The key to ending hostilities, so goes the theory, and the formula for bringing about an acceptance of Israel by the Arab and Muslim world, is this: Israel must strike a deal with the Palestinians that will result in the Palestinian leadership proclaiming the conflict has ended.
Israel would need to buy such a proclamation from those claiming to speak in the name of the Palestinians. But the “purchase” would result in the Palestinians declaring that, as far as they were concerned, there was no longer any basis for conflict with the Jews.
Once they proclaimed they no longer had any residual grievances or claims against Israel, this proclamation of the End of Conflict between Israel and the Palestinians would neutralize anti-Israel hostility among Arabs and Muslims. Peace would be achieved.
According to the plan, such a proclamation would de-fang even the worst Islamists and Arab fascist regimes. True, believers in this fantasy concede, the Arab regimes have never really cared very much about the welfare of Palestinian Arabs. But that will not matter once the End of Conflict Proclamation is issued. Arab regimes and non-Arab Muslim regimes like Iran and their clients would be forced by the rule of logic to end their own belligerence toward Israel.
Since their anti-Zionism had always been founded upon the supposed mistreatment of Palestinians by Israelis and the alleged denial of Palestinian rights by the Jews, the moment the Palestinian leadership itself declared that Palestinian expectations had been satisfied, the rug would be pulled out from under the feet of those other regimes in the most dramatic way. Those regimes could not logically continue to war against Israel in the name of the Palestinians once the Palestinians themselves proclaimed themselves satisfied.\
Belief in the prospect of buying such an End of Conflict Proclamation has dominated Israeli policy ever since the early 1990s. It has been the driving force guiding the thinking of all Israeli governments since then, including those of the Likud and the so-called right. The immediate policy implication of the fantasy is that it is thought to be ultimately in Israel’s interests to “pay” for such a proclamation in the currency of concessions. This is true even when “payment” consists of granting to the Palestinians things no reasonable person could think they deserve.
The End of Conflict Proclamation was regarded as so important that it made no sense to quibble about its price, just as long as that price was something less than the total annihilation of Israel. The rationale for making concessions was that it was all part of the pursuit of Israeli self-interest. Even granting to the Palestinians concessions to which they clearly were not entitled would pay off because it would induce them to cooperate in the ultimate gesture to end the entire war – the Grand Proclamation.
Getting to the proclamation was the strategy pursued by the entire Israeli political spectrum, except perhaps for the far left, which has long demanded endless Israeli concessions not as a way to buy an End of Conflict Proclamation but as a means of weakening Israel, period.\
If a Palestinian conflict-ending proclamation ever became a feasible option, Israel’s radical left, led by the country’s tenured academic extremists, would protest against it.
* * * * *
The distance to which Israeli governments have been willing to go to barter for the enticing promise of a proclamation has been nothing short of mind boggling. Successive Israeli governments, including the current one led by Benjamin Netanyahu, have agreed to the creation
Of a Palestinian state in territories west of the Jordan river.
Perhaps more amazingly, they have agreed to acknowledge the existence of a Palestinian people – one entitled to self-determination, to a homeland, to political independence, and even to armed security
forces.
I emphasize this point because I doubt there are any serious people in Israel, even on the left, who believe the Palestinians are a people according to any historical standard. Certainly the Palestinians themselves, rhetoric notwithstanding, have never considered themselves to be a people. Palestinians are Arabs, part of the Arab nation that already controls 22 sovereign political entities spread over a territory nearly twice that of the United States.
The Arabs of Palestine are no more a separate and distinct people than are the Arabs of Detroit or of Marseilles.
Palestinian “nationalists” themselves concede the point. In an interview several years ago on Israeli television, Azmi Bashara, at the time a Knesset member but now in hiding because he is wanted by Israel for espionage and treason, said:
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I don’t think there is a Palestinian nation. I think there is an Arab
nation. I think that this [the term “Palestinian nation”] is a
colonial invention. Palestine, up to the end of the 19th century was
southern Syria.
In an earlier interview, Palestinian nationalist Zuhair Mohsentold the
Dutch newspaper Trouw:
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The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian stateis only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israelfor our Arabunity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct “Palestinian people” to oppose Zionism. For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifaand Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan.
But Israeli political leaders were so enthralled at the prospect of settling the conflict with a dramatic End of Conflict Resolution that they were willing to accept the historicity of a distinct Palestinian people. For if none existed, how could the Palestinians play the role that had been assigned to them and proclaim the end to the conflict?
The prospect of ending the conflict was so important that no one wanted to let any scruples about pretense stand in the way. If the Grand Proclamation could be obtained by means of Israel’s declaring that space aliens in flying saucers had landed on the roof of the Knesset, Israeli leaders would have been only too happy to comply.
The acknowledgement of the existence of such a Palestinian nation was not kept by Israeli leaders in reserve, as the currency for the final
payment for the Grand Proclamation. It was, instead, the down payment, the first installment paid in advance by Israel, with no quid pro quo whatsoever.
* * * * *
The obsession with a proclamation was so thorough that Israel’s governments were willing to go well beyond the pretense that Palestinians are a nation.
Successive Israeli governments abandoned all of the Gaza Strip, down to the last inch, to Hamas terrorists after expelling every single Jew living there.
And, denials notwithstanding, a surprising number of Israeli politicians are open to accepting at least in principle some sort of Palestinian “right of return,” quibbling only over the numbers involved. Meanwhile, Israel has repeatedly offered to grant the Palestinians the bulk of the West Bank – the term “bulk” usually ranging anywhere from 90 to 100 percent of the land – in exchange for a Grand Proclamation.
Israeli politicians have also made it quite clear that they are willing – as they were in Gaza – to expel most and perhaps all of the Jewish “settlers” living in the West Bank as part of the deal. And Israeli leaders have refused to challenge the axiom that any Palestinian state need be judenrein, containing no Jewish minority at all.
Challenging that notion would upset the grand strategy of ending the conflict via a Grand Proclamation. Why question the illogic of those who insist Arabs should have the right to live as a political minority within Israel after a peace settlement is achieved – while no such settlement can be sought unless Jews are expelled from any future state of Palestine?
Even more incredible is the fact that Israel’s pursuit of the Grand Proclamation has been so obsessive that Israeli politicians have expressed a willingness to divide Jerusalem and grant control over the shrines of East Jerusalem to terrorists and their enablers.
Even the Likud has turned a blind eye to Palestinian encroachments in Jerusalem, and, for a period of time, limited Jewish construction in Jerusalem, signaling its openness to considering Arab claims to the city as part of a deal. If the Likud has not yet gone on public record with an offer to abandon East Jerusalem, it is not because Likud leaders rule that out as a basis for a deal but rather because they know the Israeli public is not yet ready to accept that as the price for a proclamation.
The infatuation with the prospect of a grand End of Conflict Proclamation was based on shaky foundations from the start. First, it was not at all obvious that even if Israel were to strike a deal with the Palestinians that would culminate in a proclamation, the Middle East conflict would really end.
It is true that Arab regimes had long based their hostility toward Israel upon their supposed concern for the rights of the Palestinians. But if the basis for that pretense were really removed through a Grand Proclamation, who is to say Arab leaders could not find some other excuse to take its place?
Hitler’s Germany went to war supposedly out of concern for the “oppressed” ethnic German minorities in Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Lithuania. But had the respective regimes managed to strike deals with their own ethnic German minorities, leading to End of Conflict
proclamations by those Germans, does anyone seriously believe Hitler would have abandoned his plans to conquer Europe?
Similarly, what would stop the Arab world from finding a new cause requiring Israel’s eradication?
But the more serious problem is that the grand fantasy of an End of Conflict Proclamation is totally unworkable because the Palestinians understand perfectly well what Israel is up to. They know Israeli strategy makes them, the Palestinians, the brokers of the deal – the lynchpins, strategically the critical players, with veto power over the entire situation.
Since Israel’s approach to conflict resolution with the Palestinians involves buying a Grand Proclamation at almost any cost, the cost will always rise. If someone needed to buy a particular Chevy from a used car dealer no matter the sticker price, the price would be raised without limit.
Knowing they have ultimate veto power over Israel’s ability to buy a proclamation that supposedly would end the conflict with the rest of the Arab and Muslim world, the Palestinians have no motivation to sell the Chevy. To the contrary, the rational strategy for them is just to let the Israelis keep making higher and higher bids, especially when those bids involve growing down payments and up-front installments.
The problem is even more severe than that. The Palestinians understand that delivering to Israel the Grand Proclamation it seeks would, for all intents and purposes, remove the Palestinians from world attention and interest. In exchange for the deliverance, the citizens of a state of Palestine would end up with a flea-bitten Third World impoverished mini-state, ruled by a kleptocratic oppressive government and raked by internal violence and barbarism.
Indeed, this clearly explains Palestinian strategy. Because Israel is willing to make virtually any concessions short of outright instant self-annihilation, the only demands the Palestinians are willing to consider as payment for the Grand Proclamation are those that would end Israel’s existence – not instantly, of course, but over a period of time.
Essentially, the Palestinians’ position is that they are willing to issue that Grand Proclamation only on the condition that Israel ultimately be governed by an Arab government; that Israel be flooded with Arab “refugees” to create an Arab population majority; that Israel be stripped of any symbols suggesting Jewishness; and that Israel change its name to Palestine.
The “two states for two peoples” formula is part of this game of pretense. It has long been the fundamental basis for seeking a peaceful resolution, but one accepted only by the Israeli government, not by the Arab world.
The Arab world is willing to consider the “two states for two peoples” formula only so long as neither of those two states is Israel and so long as neither of those two peoples is the Jews.
It is impossible to overstate the universal rejection by the entire Arab world, including by Israel’s own Arab population, of the very idea of acknowledging the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish state.
The Arabs will continue to reject that idea even if Israel withdraws to its 1967 “Green Line” borders and turns East Jerusalem over to the Arabs, and even if a Palestinian state (or perhaps two, one dominated by Fatah and the other by Hamas) is formed in the West Bank and Gaza.
An Israeli politician with an ounce of common sense would understand that the Arabs’ refusal even to pay lip service to the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish state nullifies the dubious promise of extracting a grand End of Conflict Proclamation from them.
The constitutional incapability of the Palestinians – and their string-pullers in the existing Arab states – to proclaim an end to the conflict with an Israel that is a Jewish Israel exposes such a hoped-for proclamation as nothing other than a dangerous, and quite possibly suicidal, fantasy.
Many Jews are not genetically descended from Abraham either. I was referring to religious traditions tracing their origins to Abraham, not genetics. This is why Judaism, Christianity and Islam are referred to as Abrahaminical religions.
Poppycock. Your claims of “supernatural origin” cannot be proven. It is simply your faith belief based on rationalizations.
Some Arabs based on tradition and DNA might be said to be descendants of Abraham but certainly not Muslims in general and certainly no Christians unless they are Arabs. You confuse theological beliefs with genetics.
I never said that. Whether G-d wrote or dictated each word or letter to Moses is irrelevant. I just said that Hebrew of he Bible is of a supernatural origin and unlike other written languages did not evolve from a spoken language to a written one as has every other known written language. Neither Christians nor Muslims can make any of these claims.
The Torah itself unlike the Christian and Muslim scriptures never contradicts itself in any text or context.
You are the personification of self-serving ignorance, so, no, ignorance is not a great thing.
Yeah, right! And the Qu’ran was also dictated by Allah. How gullible can one person get?! But you got there allright!
Oh, so Hebrew was not dictated by Hashem! That’s what I told you to begin with. The Torah was written by MEN, not GOD.
YOU are a great example that some religions do not inspire its followers to be better people – just the opposite.
Poppycock. You are only “chosen” in your own minds.
More poppycock. There is only one God. Muslims are descended from Abraham just like Jews and Christians.
The Scriptures were written by MEN, not GOD. The same with the Qu’ran. Wise up. You are an excellent example to prove that some Jews are bigots, severely deficient – hardly chosen by anyone, leave alone by God.
Isn’t ignorance a great thing. It allows the ignoramus to say whatever he chooses whether or not it is based on fact or truth.
Well boychick, if you want proof the the Torah written in Hebrew was not man made here it is: In the Biblical Hebrew, almost all words are composed of three-letter roots. There are some two-letter roots from which the third letter drops out, a few very ancient two-letter roots, and a handful of four-letter roots consisting of duplicated two-letter roots (like klkl). These few exceptions need not distract us now, as we’re dealing with three-letter roots.
Such rigid root structure should already raise suspicion in people used to modern languages, where roots can be of any length. Add the fact that Hebrew roots are consonant-only; vowels create parts of speech: catav – he wrote, cotev. No other language group comes close to this mathematically structured rigidity. Take a few English words starting with, for example, n+s: nasal, nascent, nash, nasty, nest, nostalgia, and others. Nothing in common among those words. But marvel at what happens in Hebrew: n-sh-v – to breeze, n-sh-hey – to forget, dislocation (the sense of fleeing away, gone with the wind), n-sh-m – woman (soft wind-like fluidity), n-sh-c – to bite (cf. to kiss, related to mouth breezing), n-sh-l – to throw out (to blow away), n-sh-m – to breathe, n-sh-ph – to breathe at someone, cool weather, n-sh-k – to kiss cf. breathe), n-sh-r – eagle (from, to peck; cf. hover, move fluently with breeze), n-sh-t – to dry (to blow the vapor away). The common meaning is unmistakable: fluidity.
What does that mean? Quite simply, that Hebrew didn’t develop through evolution. Someone consciously created Hebrew words by adding a third letter to the two-letter root cells (such as making n-sh-k from the n-sh root cell). What’s more, this means that our “caveman grammarian” had the alphabet at his disposal when creating words, whereas the normal process is the opposite: alphabets crystallize from spoken languages. The presence of the alphabet means that Hebrew was a written language from the beginning; it did not pass through the standard stage of being a spoken-only language.
Hebrew did not appear from nowhere. Its concepts are traceable to the Ancient Egyptian and proto-Semitic. But at some point someone built a new language on the basis of those. The language was not for Jews only: Moabites used it, too. The language wasn’t static, but continuously evolved along the preset grammatical rules. But it couldn’t have appeared naturally. The Hebrew has yet another way of forming roots: concatenation. Simply, a root xyz would be made of xy+yz root cells. Such a process is also anything but natural evolution of language.
Think of this carefully. If you need proof of G-d, and the divinity of the written torah this is it.
In one sense we are better than everyone else: We are the Chosen People (didn’t you ever read or hear)? It is of no sense to fool you Gentiles with the “we’re chosen but not better than you” tune. Of course, it’s better to be chosen than not. Chosen-ness means the greatest imaginable advantage in the most valuable sphere of all, in the transcendental realm. The Torah is explicit: Jews were chosen in order to raise us up (Exodus 20:17). In our prayers, we thank G-d for having chosen us from among all nations and exalting us above all towns. It’s great to be chosen by the biggest authority in the universe.
The gods of Christians and Muslims are not the same as the G-d of the Jews based on comparative reading of each faiths description of their deity. You saying they are all one in the same only shows your complete ignorance of the scriptures of all three faiths and even that which you claim to profess.
Next time you call anyone a bigot first look up the term then take a good look at yourself in the nearest clear mirror. You are really quite hebetudinous.
What nonsense are your Rabbis teaching you?
Allah or “Islam’s God” is the same as the God of Abraham. Wise up and stick to the facts. There is no need to blame the Qu’ran on God and more than you can “blame” the Holocaust on God. The Qu’ran was written by mere men – just like the Jewish and Christian Bibles.
The truth is that every human being is born the same, and is then shaped by his surroundings. This includes you, which is why we we see such mind boggling bigotry on this web site from you and a few others – an inferiority complex turned upside down.
There is only one God. You may call HIM Hashem. The Muslims call HIM Allah. We Christians call HIM God. HE is one and the same. Wise up.
Jews are not inferior to anyone else, but they are not superior either, except in some of your own bigoted minds.
I agree with Ed Katz. There can be no peace as long as there is Islam. Israel had better understand that Islam’s god calls for their destruction. They are foolish to think that the problem is not from the Quran. Maybe if they had strong faith in the God of Abraham, they could understand the misplaced fanatical faith of the Muslims in Allah.
Not so! All people are not the same and all communities and nations are not the same so why would god treat them the same? Doesn’t your god allah reward the believer and punish the infidel? Seems like your god and your concept of any god is a mirror image of yourself ergo:…….! 😛
To believe that God favors one community over another is an insult to God. God, by definition, treats everyone the same. It is people who pretend that God favors them over others.
No relaxing here. We’re not going to rely on the Pali’s self destructing any longer. We demand our rights, will take our rights, and tough shit if the rest of the world doesn’t like it.
I wouldn’t care if every Pali and Arab becomes a clone of Mother Teresa, I would not cede an inch of land and still remove them from the Land of Israel to anywhere! I do not accredit them with any political or national rights in My Land under any condition any artificial formula and it has nothing to do with them.
Anyone who does not agree with this position can never really be counted upon when the chips are down. The Arabs are occupying my land and they have to go and they will sooner or later it’s just a matter of when and how.
Yamit82, yes! The Jewish people need to take God’s Word seriously, pay attention to the prophecies and put their trust in God, not in the “princes” of this world!
Each and every prophecy that has been fulfilled thus far, happened exactly as God said through His prophets, and those that still need to be fulfilled will also
happen exactly as the prophets said it would be. Another prophecy that is being fulfilled before our very eyes is that many, many Jews are making Aliyah just as
the prophets said they would, these are exciting times, fearful, but exciting! The prophets have also said that all Israel will be saved but before that happens
there will be great loss of life and tribulation. The world should be keeping an eye on Israel, not to bash the country and the Jews, but for different reasons, i.e.
the enemies of Israel WILL be dealt with harshly.
There can be no “end of conflict” until the Palestinians accept Israel as a Jewish state, renounce violence, lay down their arms and CHANGE THEIR CHARTERS ACCORDINGLY.
Based on the last 64 years, this will only take place after Hell freezes over, so, Israelis concerned about what a two-state solution will mean, can relax. It ain’t gonna happen in your lifetime.
The only possibility I see for a change of heart by the Palestinians and other Arabs is if Iran breaks out and has to be returned to its pre-civilization condition. Then, like Japan after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we MAY see a sudden change of heart.
I have always been of the belief that the conflict is NOT over territory. It is the lack of tolerance for a non-Muslim entitiy within their midst that drives their hostility. Until their is an Islamic reformation only military defeat to the point of submission will be the only solution.
Excellent analysis! I have always been of the belief that the conflict is NOT over territory. It is the Muslims inability to tolerate a non-Muslim state within its midst that is the root of the conflict. Military defeat to the point of submission is the only solution to this conflict.
Although some would like to partition Jerusalem I doubt it can happen with/out a civil war or sorts. The Temple mount is as far as Israel is concerned ex-territorial de facto. Abortions are a national and indiviual tragedy but can be reversed in time. Jews have always fought other Jews so what’s surprising today? There is more real Torah study happening in Israel today than at any previous time in our history.
We have some 400 nuclear devices that says we won’t ever be scattered again. BTW if there is a Jewish community at risk you are living in it.
Despite all the apparent threats and obvious risks to us, we have never been stronger both militarily and economically in our history.
2,700 year ago a great wall surrounded First Temple Jerusalem. It was some 25 feet high and six feet thick. The lower remains of this wall were recently uncovered.
One of the most famous Biblical pairs, King Hezekia and the prophet Isaiah stood together atop the wall facing the challenge of their lives. Sancehrev, king of Assyria and world conquerer, sent Ravshaka, who spoke perfect Hebrew, to the starving and frightened Jewish population to demand surrender. He suggested they serve his master and live, or rely on the god of Israel and die a terrible death.
King Hezekia and his court were distraught, and asked Isaiah what they should do. The prophet replied, “Don’t worry, G-d has promised that ‘not one arrow will strike Jeusalem and Sancherev will go back the way he came.'”
The Assyrian king boasted that each one of his soldiers would take one stone out of the walls and the city would be taken the next day. But that night a plague swept the vast army by morning, 185,000 soldiers were dead.
The king fled back to Ninveh, his capital, and there he was overheard by his two sons promising his favorite idol ” that which is most dear to him if he saves him from this predicament.” Deeply suspicious, the sons killed their father — and Jerusalem stood for another 100 years, until the Babylonians broke through the walls.
As the Jews were exiled from their beloved Jerusalem to the waters of Babylon and all were distraught, it was the prophet Zacharia who comforted them with a vision shown him. He said “There will yet be children playing in the streets of Jerusalem…”
The Last time I was in Jerusalem I saw old men and old women sitting in parks and on tree covered boulevards and children playing everywhere. Yet you doubt?
Harry,
Where are you getting your information from? This couldn’t be further from the truth. Be careful casting aspersion over the entire Jewish people.
OK Ted so what happens now. We have a government in Israel that has disarmed people in the territories…wonder why? And they are going to partitiion Jerusalem, and give Temple Mount to the Arabs/United Nations. 50,000 Jewish babies are aborted each year for economic reasons courtesy of the government, while contemplating the right of Arab return. Jew fights against Jew, and few study or follow the Torah anymore.
Perhaps what will happen unless things change very quickly, is that Hashem will scatter us again, and start over. That would be very sad!
Ed Katz is 100% right. Nothing else need be said.
Obama is busy pouring gasoline on every fire in the Middle East. I don’t see much chance for disillusionment, but…
Oh no! It’s getting worse! and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0drwfnGlF_E and ugh.
God help us.
The source for the concessions policy is the luck of faith in our prophets. Our policy should be “we wants to uproot all the Arabs from our country” They have 22 countries. Why should not the Jews thinks about Arabs the same way as the Arabs are thinking about Jews?! The government has the tools to fulfill it by economical means. Stop giving to Gaza strip electricity and money. Stop employees from the west bank entering Israel. boycotting the “Palestinians” production (as they are doing ) decrease the amount paid as national insurance. enforcing the Arabs to pay real income text by investing in investigations of their income. decrease the amount of national insurance paid to the Arabs families by the economical values and damages of their illegal houses. Each Arab family will received National insurance after deducting these amounts. Giving the insurance companies the ability to take a price for insuring drivers according their economical understanding (Arabs are involved in accidents double then Jews) . Increasing the tax of land holders (80% in the hand of Arabs). Enforcing the law of polygamy. Forbidding studying Islam in schools etc. because it preaches to kill others especially Jews. And so on a lot of legitimate steps.
Marines of the United States have the mental attitude that in combat they are going to die that day and will fight their enemies to the death. Israelis should take that mindset, that there will never be peace with the Islamist terrorists, consequently, they will fight their enemy to the death. They must stop living with the faith and hope that the Arabs will negotiate. Now that being the case, Israel must annex Judea and Samaria from which Arabs will be given the choice of becoming loyal Israeli citizens or be moved to another Arab country.
The terrorists of Gaza would never entertain that choice so it is inevitable the another war will be fought where Arab survivors will be expelled. Any other mindset is too stupid to contemplate.
So have I.
I’m one of those people who never ever has been victimized by delusions, including those about peace for Jews or anyone else outside the orbit of Islam, granted to them by Moslems.
It’s too damned bad delusional thinking about peace has been in a long contest with guilt, as the number one Jewish disease. Somehow, long ago, I acquired immunity from both.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI