There was something interesting about the reaction to the consummation of the Fatah-Hamas unity pact yesterday. The agreement, which confirmed the entry of the Islamist terrorist group into the governing structure of the Palestinian Authority and the exit of the PA’s reform-minded Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, provoked the expected harsh words from Israel’s government. In Washington, the reaction from the Obama administration was equally predictable as the State Department spokesperson withheld judgment. Some members of Congress served notice that the PA’s embrace of Hamas meant the end of U.S. aid.
But the main conclusion to be drawn from the reaction to what can only be termed a momentous turn of events is something entirely different. The lack of alarm or even much worry about the impact of Hamas on the peace process makes it clear not only is there no more peace process to worry about, but that the Palestinians have made themselves irrelevant.
Where once the international chattering classes doted upon every aspect of Palestinian politics in a way that confirmed the prevalent myth that Israel’s antagonists were truly at the heart of all the problems of the Middle East, it is no longer possible for even their cheerleaders and apologists to pretend this is so. In the 18+ years since the signing of the Oslo Accords, the Palestinians have talked and bombed their way not only out of peace and the independent state they claimed they wanted but also off the front pages. While supporters of Israel still keep their eyes on the goings-on in Ramallah and Gaza, the rest of the world is gradually moving on.
After so many years of international attention on the aspirations of the Palestinians, after Yasir Arafat’s betrayal of Oslo and his successor Mahmoud Abbas’s similar refusal to talk peace with Israel, it has become increasingly difficult for even Israel’s most persistent critics to hold the attention of Western policymakers. But by embracing Hamas while refusing to talk to Israel, Abbas has not only ended the peace process but cut the legs out from under those who hoped President Obama would maintain pressure on Israel to make more concessions for the sake of a peace the Palestinians clearly don’t want.
Even more to the point, the apathy with which the Fatah-Hamas unity pact has been viewed only makes it more obvious the world has more pressing concerns. Those who long argued the Palestinians were central to all Middle East conflicts have found their faulty arguments are no longer accepted at face value. At a time when it is clear to even the dimmest of foreign policy bulbs the real struggles in the Middle East are those between Islamists, autocrats and democracy activists as well as over the nuclear ambitions of Iran, the audience for the myth of Palestinian centrality has shrunk dramatically.
While peace between Israel and the Palestinians is still ardently desired by the West — and by Israelis — the unity pact just makes obvious what was actually already understood by savvy observers of the region. Peace will have to wait until a sea change in Palestinian political culture that will make it possible for the PA to sign a deal that recognizes the legitimacy of a Jewish state no matter where its borders are drawn. Until then, there really is no use worrying about appeasing the Palestinians or coaxing them back to negotiations in which they have no interest.
It is true the presence of Hamas in the PA government presents a clear threat to Israel in terms of security on the West Bank. But in terms of diplomacy, all it has done is to confirm the irrelevance of the Palestinians. Until they mend their ways, not even a president as eager to help them as Barack Obama has been can do much for them. If they wish, they can flout the wishes of the West and see if they can make it without the aid that keeps their corrupt government afloat. But whether they do or not can no longer be assumed to be of any real importance to anyone but the Palestinians themselves.
Irrelevant? I would argue rather that the Palestinians have realised that they no longer even have to pretend that they are interested in a State that does not include Israel itself. The Arab World, together with the Professional Left, hardly cares about Israeli bona fides or Palestinian strategic errors. Israel is the enemy and it makes no difference whether it is Barak, Olmert or Netanyahu discussing peace, two-state solutions or roadmaps. Netanyahu made an offer in front of the US Congress. But, according to Fareed Zakaria, what was infinitely more relevant were Netanyahu's opinions delivered 34 years ago to a small gathering in Massachusetts. Can one imagine President Obama, or anyone else, being judged by this type of revisionist standard? Israel cannot win. n nThere will only be peace when international handouts to the Palestinians come to an end and they are forced to compromise. Had they accepted the 1947 UN Partition Plan, the Palestinians could have become the equivalent of South Korea today. Hatred of the Jewish State prevailed. They have only themselves, and their friends, to blame.
Exactly. The narrative is 'settled'. n nThere is absolutely nothing, NOTHING, the so called 'palestinians' could do to make themselves illegitimate and undeserving of a state. No depth of genocidal depravity, no fraudulent history manufacturing, nothing. n nBy the same token, there is nothing the Israelis can do, no humanistic backbending to preserve life during defensive actions, no acknowledgment of the other side's fraudulent narrative as nonetheless deserving of something, no legal or moral argument based on 'mere' facts, that will ever make them anything more than illegitimate. n nThe whole subject has a one-off bizarreness to it. What country has ever had to prove it has a right to exist? n nWTF? n nSuch rights were always based on, and, for non Jewish states, still based on, their ability to defend themselves and defeat enemies. n nIN this case, one such nation has been able to create and defend itself, and the other aspiring nation has done everything to show it is ethically, morally, and legally illegitimate and undeserving as a state, not to mention powerless to create itself as a true state, yet the 'world' community, a democracy of despots (more or less) chooses view the latter as legitimate, and Israel as illegitimate. n n
'Until they mend their ways'. Interesting. n nAt what point, and after how many dead, exsanguinated Jewish bodies, after how many genocidal sermons, does it become too late to 'mend their ways'? At what point are the Israelis justified in saying "Enough. Be gone."? n nIf a palestinian state is always on the table, just waiting for them to stop inciting and killing, there really is no incentive for them to stop killing. They can do that anytime, but in the meantime, since they don;t want a state, the missiles will continue to fly, and the killing will go on .
If it was possible for America to quietly close our eyes at bed time tonight and wish the whole middle east into oblivion and it would happen before we woke up in the morning and we would not get in trouble for doing it. Liberals and conservatives world wide would have the best nights sleep they have had in a long time. Know that.
n nWestern nations had many good nights' sleep as the Jews were systematically converted into smoke and ash. n nWhich of us gives a fig about how good your night's sleep is? n nNot a one. n nIf Israel goes down, this time your world does too, Know that.
Perhaps you could host the worldwide celebratory convention in your half-bathroom!
What a bunch of morons on this site. The Palestinians just got accepted into UNESCO and practically the whole world is behind their statehood bid. The only 2 of 193 that aren’t are the US and Israel – hello? There are more people around the world that are pro-Palestinian than pro-Israeli (according to public opinion polls). The BDS and solidarity movements are relatively new and gaining ground. Either the author (and readers) are idiots or this is some type of attempt to make you morons feel better. Nice try, but their were about 1,507 articles covering the Hamas/Fatah unity including all the major press outlets. n nLet me bring you to reality. Israel will crumble on its own, in 100 years, tops. Why? Because it's a pathetic theocracy pretending to be a democracy that even Israelis are turning against. The more freedom and democracy Israel gives its people, the more its realizes that it needs to go backwards because democracy is the poison pill to a Jewish only state. They don't go together, and everyone is seeing that. One day Israel will be overthrown and wiped off the map. And thank god, because it's the current poison pill to world peace.
Also Jonathan, n nIn case you had any ideas about debating your critic on 1948, think again; Nakba denial has been banned from the pages of Mondoweiss. n nThus, any suggestion that the Yishuv accepted the partition, that there was a war of aggression waged by the Arabs against the Yishuv the moment after the partition passed, that the overwhelming number of refugees fled the fighting that followed the Arabs’ war of aggression (which they were in fact winning by late March 1948), or that the Yishuv were fighting for their lives, is the equivalent of denying that there was a Holocaust. n nI kid you not. n