The Illusion of a Palestinian ‘Demilitarized’ State

By Bassam Tawil, GATESTONE                                         5 March 2024

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is welcomed by PLO Secretary General Hussein al-Sheikh, in Ramallah on February 7, 2024. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

  • [A]ny commitment to a demilitarized state by the Palestinian leadership would be legally worthless.
  • “Any treaty is void if, at the time it was entered into, it conflicts with a ‘peremptory’ rule of general international law (jus cogens) – a rule accepted and recognized by the international community of states as one from which ‘no derogation is permitted.’ Because the right of sovereign States to maintain military forces essential to ‘self-defense’ is such a peremptory rule, Palestine, depending upon its particular form of authority, could be entirely within its right to abrogate any pre-independence agreement that had compelled its demilitarization.” [Italics in original.] — Louis René Beres, professor emeritus at Purdue University, and an expert in international law and political science, jurist.org, December 23, 2023.

  • “Therein lies the jurisprudential core of the Palestinian demilitarization problem: International law would not necessarily require Palestinian compliance with any pre-state agreements concerning the use of armed force. From the standpoint of such authoritative law, enforcing demilitarization upon a sovereign state of Palestine would be sorely problematic.” [Italics in original.] — Louis René Beres, jurist.org, December 23, 2023
  • “Unhidden, both the Arab world and Iran still have only a ‘One-State Solution’ for the ‘Israel Problem.’ It is a ‘solution’ that eliminates Israel altogether, a physical solution, a ‘Final Solution.’ Even today, official Arab maps of ‘Palestine’ (PNA and Hamas) show the prospective Arab State comprising all of the West Bank (Judea/Samaria), all of Gaza and all of Israel. They knowingly exclude any references to a Jewish population and list ‘holy sites’ of Christians and Muslims only.” — Louis René Beres, jurist.org, December 23, 2023
  • No one can stop a future Palestinian state from becoming a lawless and militarized state. Such a state on Israel’s doorstep would pose a direct and grave threat to Israel’s existence and actually facilitate the mission of the Iranian regime and its terror proxies to murder more Jews.

As part of its effort to promote the idea of a “two-state solution,” the Biden administration has been talking about the need to establish a “demilitarized” Palestinian state next to Israel.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is reported to have asked the State Department for a “review of what a demilitarized Palestinian state would look like based on other models around the world.”

The purpose of such a review is to look at options for how a “two-state solution” can be implemented in a way that assures security for Israel, a US official told the American media outlet Axios.

The Biden administration is homing in on a new doctrine involving an unprecedented push to immediately advance the creation of a “demilitarized” but viable Palestinian state, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman reported in early February:

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March 5, 2024 | 1 Comment »

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  1. The Biden administration is homing in on a new doctrine involving an unprecedented push to immediately advance the creation of a “demilitarized” but viable Palestinian state.

    Not illusion but rather disillusion.

    The plan] would involve some form of U.S. recognition of a demilitarized Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that would come into being only once Palestinians had developed a set of defined, credible institutions and security capabilities to ensure that this state was viable and that it could never threaten Israel.

    Would they credible for Israel? Would the US train the police and arm them just like in J&S so that when they are in the mood, the can go on a killing spree?

    Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi has also voiced support for the establishment of a “demilitarized” Palestinian state.

    “There must be a Palestinian state on the June 4 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, side by side with Israel,” the Egyptian president said in November 2023.

    This is the sort of Taqiyya agreement we would expect from our peace partners rather than our allies.

    After the Hamas takeover, Israel and Egypt tightened their respective border crossings and placed restrictions on shipping to prevent smuggling and the infiltration of terrorists and weapons.

    So tell me again how all these weapons got into the Gaza strip.

    The Palestinians have proven over the past few decades that when it comes to murdering Jews, they will use anything they can get their hands on as a weapon, including knives, cars, swords, screwdrivers, clubs, daggers, stones, Molotov cocktails, and explosive belts.

    Right! Anything can become a weapon. That’s why criminals have no problem finding them. It reminds me of the obnoxious way all our plastic water bottles are confiscated at the security checks before boarding, but a criminal can grab a wine bottle and smash it to create a very ugly weapon whenever the stewardess comes by.

    Even today, the PA is virtually doing nothing to foil terrorist attacks against Israelis from areas under its control in the West Bank. It is hard to find one Palestinian family in the West Bank that does not possess an assault rifle, pistol, or some other weapon.

    So how come the Israeli security services can confiscate weapons from Israelis in J&S and leave them defenseless while this is going on? I think every citizen of Israel should be demanding answers to this question. Of course, the lefties in Tel Aviv couldn’t care less…

    @Bassam Tawil: many thanks for this disclosure.

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