Palestinian Refugees, Arab Spring, Islamism, Putin, and now Trump

Submitted by Robert (United States), Dec 18, 2016 at 22:56

Dear Daniel Pipes,

In my view you've written another excellent analysis which does not contain anything I could object to.

However, in the realm of forecasting, predicting, and prophesy, it's possible for me to make some observations. Also, some stylistic and conceptual modifications I wish to recommend.

I would have preferred if you recommended the word "Proactive" as a replacement for "Deterrence."
Israelis and Unassimilated Diaspora Jews who love or care about Israel need to have a Strategy (in the Henry Kissinger sense) which isn't simply Reactive or Defensive. That isn't embedded in the concept of Deference which suggests the defensive practice of getting the enemy not to do something.

Being Proactive on the other hand would require Israel and the United States to propose a solution to the Palestinian Refugee status - Israel should demand that Palestinians who do not or cannot live in Palestine or Israel be granted the right to Immigrate to the former Greater Syria, or the rest of Asian and North African countries, not least of which is Saudi Arabia. The special refugee status accorded the Palestinian Refugees by the United Nations should be abolished or amended. Palestinian textbooks for children in the Disputed Territories should be examined, edited, and expunged of Antisemitism and hatred and deligitimation of Israel.

Israel, Russia (under Putin), and the United States (under Trump) should come to a military understanding and force Hezbollah and Iran to demilitarized the vicinity of Israel's border to the North where there are currently, allegedly, 100,000 rockets controlled by Hezbollah and aimed at Israel's civilian populations.

I understand that Russia has assumed the Number One Energy Producing State of the world and that OPEC, under the leadership of Saudi Arabia, no longer dominates that market. In addition, the United States has made Shale Oil production efficient and cost effective, so that we are less dependent on our Arab or Asian sources of fuel for our industries. That should enable the United States to put particular pressure on Arab and Muslim majority countries to establish diplomatic relations with Israel independent of the wimps of the Palestinians in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip.

Israel, I propose should propose to recognize Gaza as the Palestinian State. The fact that Gaza and its Hamas are recognized by Turkey under Erdogan can put the International Community under the awkward predicament that Israel has recognized Reality - that there already exists a Palestinian state, in Gaza, but that state insists on war against Israel. Israel (and Jews) need a Prussian such as Bismarck who would understand such a strategy. Israel, I propose, brake off relations with the PLO and recognize the reality of Hamas in Gaza. That would put the Palestinians, as well as the United Nations, in a defensive and reactive mode. This is precisely an example of being Proactive. It requires what Jews, in Yiddish, call Chutzpah.

Of course, there also is the issue, which you treat quite gently, of President-Elect moving the Embassy of the United States to Jerusalem very quickly after he assumes his office of President after January 20, 2017. Isn't that going to be a part dramatic of the Arab Spring turning into a Muslim Hell?

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