Destructive Palestinian state
Op-ed: Past experience shows that dreams of utopian Palestinian state will crush and burn
In trying to comprehend the world’s love fest and obsession with a Palestinian state, one must conclude that it is deluding itself into believing that such a state would greatly contribute to the wellbeing of the world.
However, a reality check reveals that such a belief is wishful thinking and has no basis in fact. One should just look at the nature of the autonomous Palestinian entity in the West Bank and Gaza created after the implementation of the 1993 Oslo agreement, with the Palestinian Authority controlling the daily internal affairs of most of the Palestinian people.
According to past evidence the Palestinian state will have the following characteristics:
Terrorism and militancy - After the IDF left many Palestinian cities and villages in 1999 and the PA took civil control of 98% of its people, the Palestinians began their war of terror, sending suicide bombers inside Israel daily, murdering more than 1,000 Israeli civilians and injuring more than 5,000. Since the Israeli army and all Jewish settlers unilaterally left Gaza in 2005, it has become a safe haven for terrorists and more than 6,000 rockets and mortar shells have been fired toward Israeli cities.
No democracy - President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian legislature have stayed in power for the last two years without new elections and no independent judiciary is in place to this day.
Welfare state - The Palestinian Economy is artificially resuscitated by handouts from foreign donors. Economic studies show that 60% of its GNP comes from donations by the US, Europe, UN and other parties. The Palestinian people receive the largest amount of per capita donations worldwide, which amounts to an average of $560 per family, per month.
Corruption - Most donations go to the pockets of ruling party bureaucrats and senior officials in the Palestinian government rather than to build an independent economic infrastructure or help the people.
Historical revisionism - The PA has repeatedly misrepresented history by claiming and acting as if a Palestinian Arab state existed before the establishment of Israel in 1948 with Jerusalem as its capital.
The PA also denies any historical Jewish connection to the land. However, in reality, there was never an Arab or Muslim state called “Palestine” in the area west of the Jordan River and no state ever existed there except a Jewish state. Moreover, Jerusalem was never the capital of any entity other than a Jewish one.
Glorifying death and martyrdom - In the West Bank and Gaza, streets, schools, soccer teams, summer camps and trading cards are named after suicide bombers. TV shows for school children and school textbooks extol hatred for Jews and praise suicide bombings.
Apartheid and racism - The Palestinian representative to Washington, Maen Areikat, told American reporters on September 14 that a future “Palestine” would ban Jews and homosexuals. It would be the first state to officially prohibit Jews since Nazi Germany.
Rejectionism - Abbas refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and Hamas does not recognize the existence of Israel at all. Arafat and Abbas both rejected two Israeli government’s offers in 2000 and 2008 to end the conflict by establishing a Palestinian state within almost all disputed territories and a capital in Jerusalem. Now Abbas rejects direct negotiations.
Divisiveness – Hamas violently kicked out the PA from Gaza in June 2007 and since then any attempt to reunite has failed while both have been imprisoning and torturing each other’s supporters.
Indeed, the world should be careful about endorsing a Palestinian state, as the hope for a Palestinian utopia will likely crash and burn, just like the so-called Arab Spring.
Shoula Romano Horing was born and raised in Israel. She is an attorney in Kansas City and a national speaker. Her blog: www.shoularomanohoring.com
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