Whiteman - Palestinians aren't ready for peace

Mothers Joyous of
Children’s Martyrdom Death

Michelle Whiteman
National Post
12 September '11

http://www.nationalpost.com/related/topics/Palestinians+aren+ready+peace/5386389/story.html

Media coverage of the proposed Palestinian unilateral declaration of independence has largely focused on the legal and political implications of this, a gambit which is unlikely to succeed.

Yet, obstacles such as a lack of effective control over the territory in question (which is a legal prerequisite for statehood), the promised Security Council veto by the United States, the General Assembly's lack of authority to create a state, the violation of prior peace agreements, as well as Israel's right to make its own unilateral declarations, make it clear that the UN manoeuvre will not change the living arrangements of the Palestinian Arabs the day after a declaration. The Palestinian leadership would need to negotiate directly with Israel to achieve what it wishes to accomplish through the UN. Nevertheless, a unilateral declaration is indeed significant. It serves as an example of the Palestinian leadership's chronic failure to prepare the Palestinian Arab people for peace.

For decades, Israelis have been told by their leadership that they need to exchange land for peace. This led to Israel's complete withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip (one Jew remains since 2006, the hostage Gilad Shalit) and from land in Lebanon and the West Bank. Although these actions turned Gaza and Lebanon into forward bases of terror, Israeli leaders continue to advocate land for peace. And Israelis are still willing to accept this paradigm since polls show they support negotiating most of the strategically vital, historical and religiously sacred Judea and Samaria - known since 1948 as the West Bank. Twenty years ago, ceding this biblical land first mentioned in the Book of Joshua, was a concession too difficult for Israelis to contemplate.



While Israel's leadership has prepared its people for peace, the Palestinians have been hearing a very different message from their leaders. Instead of advocating conciliation, Palestinian leaders from Arafat to Abbas have instead promoted a culture of daily incitement against Israel. From naming public squares and children's summer camps after terrorists, to putting currently imprisoned Israeli and Palestinian Arabs convicted of terror crimes on the Palestinian Authority payroll, to denying the existence of Israel and the Holocaust in Palestinian school textbooks, the Palestinian Authority incites its youth to glorify terrorists and teaches a distorted historical narrative of the region which is antithetical to peace. The PA's denial of Israel's religious and historical connection to the land of Israel, whether through lobbying for Rachel's Tomb to be declared a mosque or by proclaiming of one of Judaism's holiest sites, the Western Wall, to be a revered Islamic site defiled by Jews, educates Palestinian children in intolerance and misinformation.

Rather than telling Palestinians they too have to make painful concessions for peace, its leadership advises its people to demand the "right of return" of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to Israel proper, as opposed to a future Palestinian State. Numbered at approximately 5 million, this would make Israel a Palestinianmajority state or what is termed a one-state solution. While this demand is clearly unacceptable for any sovereign country, it is a non-negotiable demand for the Palestinian leadership. And it explains why Abbas cannot say clearly and unequivocally that he recognizes a Jewish state.

Palestinians have paid attention to their leader, as a recent poll shows Palestinians support a two-state solution only as a first step to a one-state solution. Yet, their leadership has not paid attention to its own people: only 4% of Palestinians identify a unilateral statehood bid as a priority. Eighty percent want a priority to be placed on the creation of new jobs, according to a recent poll sponsored by the Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research with the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion on behalf of the Israel Project. Rather than prepare his people for compromise, Abbas instead harms prospects for peace and assault's Israel's legitimacy.

Undue focus by the media on the legal or political consequences of the upcoming unilateral declaration of independence would miss the point of Abbas' UN gambit: The unilateral declaration seeks to forestall recognition of the Jewish state, circumvent negotiations, escalate tension and assault Israel's legitimacy. To that end, Abbas promises: "It would also pave the way for us to pursue claims against Israel at the United Nations, human rights treaty bodies and the International Court of Justice."

Until the Palestinian Arabs acquire responsible leadership willing to negotiate in good faith, end incitement of terror and educate their children to live in peace side by side with Israelis, then dignity and the hope of a better future for Israelis and Arabs will, along with peace, remain elusive.

- Michelle Whiteman is regional director of HonestReporting Canada.


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