The Palestine question

Op-ed: The Palestinian leap toward statehood is not only premature; it is immature

Moshe Dann
Israel Opinion/Ynet
12 December '10

The Palestinian end-run around Israel and the US to gain recognition as an independent, sovereign state was predictable. They realized that whatever Israel and the US put on the table was, for them, insufficient. That explains why they refused to renew negotiations more than a year ago, after Israel agreed to freeze Jewish building in Judea, Samaria and even Jerusalem.

As the Fatah Revolutionary Council, the ruling PLO authority in the West Bank and President Abbas declared: "No to Israel as a Jewish state, no to interim borders, no to land swaps."

Israel's response is reminiscent of its firefighting abilities; too little and too late. "This doesn't help the peace process," Israeli diplomats moaned. Well, of course not; the Palestinians are not now and never have been interested in a "peace process" that would deny them their basic goal – Israel's destruction.

Palestinian actions are not the result of a lack of US involvement, but because misguided, biased US intervention raised false hopes and illusions that Israel could be subdued.

President Obama's policies brought the realization of this dream closer, gathering world opinion against Israel and delegitimizing the Jewish state. Anyone who is surprised by Palestinian steps towards statehood is in denial; those who support it have lost touch with reality, or worse, don't care. This fire has been burning and out of control for some time.

(Read full op-ed "The Palestine question")

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