Bottom Line

Submitted by Mel Fechter (United States), Mar 4, 2003 at 20:49

There will be no SOVEREIGN Palestinian State. Sovereignty implies recognition of and respect for borders, the right and ability to maintain whatever military. A sovereign, Palestinian State would be nothing more and nothing less than a sanctuary, a protected haven for emboldened terrorists. Israel cannot and will not permit a sovereign Palestinian State, of whatever borders, to come into existence. That is the bottom line, or rather, half of it.

The other half is that it is still possible for the Palestinians to achieve political and economic autonomy, provided that they wholly disarm. They must truly make their peace with Israel, control their violent, and where they can't, cooperate with Israel who will control them. The reward for this will be that they have Israel's help in reconstruction, and it would be considerable. With a culture and philosophy of progress and construction instead of destruction, they will achieve prosperity in their own autonomous regions, which will nevertheless remain under Israel's control. Generally, although there would probably be exceptions, they would not become Israeli citizens. That is an opportunity the majority of them forwent in 1948.

It is not a matter of "apartheid" at all. The "Palestinians" have never been Israeli citizens. The situation is quite other than in South Africa where there were black and white citizens of the same nation.

The opportunity for a prosperous autonomy under a benign and beneficent Israel is not guaranteed forever. They may once again not miss the opportunity to miss the opportunity. That possibility is already visible on the horizon. They may repeat Arafat's egregious mistake of the first Gulf War and now follow their benefactor Saddam of $25,000 per Shahid into oblivion or take the lead of the rational among them and lay down their arms.

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