The myth of Palestinian statehood
9 December 2022
According to the European Union, the establishment of a fully sovereign Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip is the only possible solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict – and the only way to achieve peace in the Middle East. This has been official European policy since 1980.
The previous Israeli government agreed. “An agreement with the Palestinians, based on two states for two peoples, is the right thing for Israel's security, for Israel's economy, and for the future of our children," Israel's interim prime minister, Yair Lapid, told the UN General Assembly's 77th Session on 22 September 2022. "We have only one condition: That a future Palestinian state will be a peaceful one. That it will not become another terror base from which to threaten the well-being, and the very existence of Israel."
Today, Chairman of the PLO Mahmoud Abbas parades the world as “President of the State of Palestine”.
Yet, everyone knows that “Palestine” is not really a state. It is a dream, an Arab aspiration supported by many in the West, but far from reality. As Professor Efraim Karsh writes this week, the idea of a Palestinian state is a “delusion” based on Western idealism that ignores realities on the ground. There is “one insurmountable obstacle: the century-long Palestinian rejection of the idea of Jewish statehood—from the Jerusalem mufti Hajj Amin Husseini who led the Palestinian Arabs from the early 1920s to the late 1940s; to Yasser Arafat, who dominated Palestinian politics from the mid-1960s to his death in November 2004, and his successor Mahmoud Abbas; to the Islamic Resistance Movement (or Hamas as its Arabic acronyms know it).”
In a report launched last week in the European Parliament, the Hague based NGO The Hague Initiative for International Cooperation (thinc.) argues that the EU’s two-state policy towards the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is based on false assumptions, and must be urgently reformed.
According to the report, “Despite decades of strenuous E.U. efforts, expending tens of billions of euros, the reality is that there is no independent, democratic and peaceful Palestinian state. Democratic institutions of government are lacking, Palestinian institutions and society are corrupt and radicalized. Major Palestinian organizations continue to promote the destruction of Israel and reward attacks on and the killing of Jews.”
This Report reassesses the EU’s current Middle East interests and critiques the legal rhetoric that covered for its 1970s interests, and suggests a new way forward towards peace, consistent with legal, historical and political realities. “To be clear, Palestinians have a right to self-determination but not an à priori right to a full-fledged sovereign state. The EU two state policy fails to acknowledge Israel’s legitimate territorial rights in these territories. A negotiated peace should address both Palestinian and Israeli needs in a more balanced way, consistent with the way international law is applied in other situations.”
From a Biblical perspective, one thing is sure: the Lord is bringing His people back to settle the land, never to be uprooted. This includes Jerusalem, and Judea and Samaria (known as the "West Bank"). He who scattered Israel is gathering them, and will watch over them, like a shepherd watches His flock (Jeremiah 31). Whether or not a Palestinian state is created, Jews cannot be (and will not be) prevented from living in the land. So, a "judenrein" (Jew-free) State of Palestine is clearly contrary to God's laws. May this be a warning to the nations. European countries, particularly, are on a collision-course with God.
The Editorial Team - Israel & Christians Today
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