It’s fair to say that an underappreciated obstacle to a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians is Hamas’s rule of Gaza. For such an agreement to take shape, Hamas would have to either consent or not be in charge of the strip. Though a Hamas-Fatah reconciliation is unlikely, even if it were to happen, it might only bring about Hamas’s conquest of the West Bank, thereby doubling, rather than solving, the problem posed by Hamas. And since Hamas won’t abide a true peace with Israel, it’s difficult to solve the conflict under current conditions.
With that in mind, those who seek to end the isolation of Hamas are strengthening the terrorist group’s hand against Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah and the Palestinian Authority’s main governing structure. In this scenario, it isn’t Israel that loses nearly as much as Abbas and Salam Fayyad, in whose corner the West claims to be. So while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pleads with the international community to help strengthen the PA’s balance sheet, the opponents of Palestinian reconciliation are helping Hamas, at Fatah’s expense. The latest such actor is the government of Qatar.
In August, I wrote about Saudi Arabia’s $500 million investment in Gaza. Today, the New York Times reports on the emir of Qatar’s visit to Gaza and the announcement of his country’s $400 million pledged investment there:
“Today you are a big guest, great guest, declaring officially the breaking of the political and economic siege that was imposed on Gaza,” Ismail Haniya, the Hamas prime minister, told the emir and his cohort as they sat on sofas in a white shed in the southern town of Khan Yunis, where they plan to erect 1,000 apartments. “Today, we declare the victory on this siege through this blessed, historic visit.”
In the West Bank, allies of Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, who has struggled to preserve his own legitimacy, warned that the visit set a dangerous precedent of Arab leaders’ embracing Mr. Haniya as a head of state and thus cleaving the Palestinian people and territory in two. “We call on the Qatari prince or his representative to visit the West Bank too!” blared a headline on an editorial in the leading newspaper Al Quds.
That last part is actually quite embarrassing for Abbas. Begging for a visit from the Qatari emir is really begging for a visit from the Qatari emir’s checkbook, irrespective of whether the emir himself accompanies it on the trip. If the Hamas-Fatah rivalry is a zero-sum game–and it doesn’t always have to be, but usually is–then what we are witnessing in Gaza, thanks to the supposed friends of the Palestinians, is the construction of an entity that is arguably more of a state than what currently exists in the West Bank.
I mentioned yesterday that Jimmy Carter is making no secret of his attempts to impede the establishment of a Palestinian state by sabotaging negotiations and encouraging Abbas to declare statehood at the UN. In addition to all the obvious problems with this, what would stop it from setting a precedent that Hamas could follow in Gaza? Sure, the PA would ostensibly declare their state to include Gaza, but couldn’t Hamas then secede if it wanted to?
Of course that’s unlikely to happen, in part because the PA’s bid for statehood continues to be opposed by the West. But it’s long past time for Mideast watchers to at least acknowledge that the Arab world, led by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt, are, like Carter, actively working to incentivize Palestinian radicalization rather than moderation.
Of course, an even more underappreciated obstacle is that the supposedly moderate PA continues to seek the destrucion of Israel, including, in Mr. Abbas' words, all the land that Israel occupied prior to 1967. That does not leave much for negotiation.
The largest obstacle to a resolution is the fiction that the 'Palestinians' are desirous of some sort of settlement. n nTheir values are nothing other than the destruction of Israel. Their mission nothing but. n nNo history (other than the usurped history of the Jews in their land – Solomon, David, and Jesus were palestinian doncha know), No kings, no ancient stories, no coins, nothing, until Israel came to be. A weaponized nationality. n nThe failure to face this essential truth, and to the failure to fight the one-off definition of what a 'palestinian refugee' is, lie at the heart of this neverending 'peace process'. n
Oh, yes, these counterfeits have the chutzpah to suggest the Temple never existed. n nA prime example of the moral depravity to which humans can descend. Amalekites in spirit.
Yes, but somehow it is the Jews who are racist, uncompromising, violent and bent on genocide. n n
The obstacle to any resolution is the absurd kowtowing by Israel to the PLO, Obama or anyone else in order to entertain these parties cynical agendas and delusions. What Israel needs to do right now is announce a new policy of ever sitting down to talk with the Arabs about a damn thing ever again. NO TALKS NO RECOGNITION. Period. Let them bang their stupid heads on the ground for 500 years. And the White House too. The hell with them.
The obstacle to resolution is the irrational attachment to the two-state paradigm, when there is no second state nor any likelihood of one emerging. It is time for Israel and its friends to recognize the reality on the ground that there are multiple Palestinian communities that have at most a tenuous dominion over small surrounding territories but not over all of the West Bank, and never did.
The solution is for Israel to declare war on each of the communities separately, then negotiate separate peace treaties with each, recognizing each as a small nation-state, then have other nations recognize each as an independent state, perhaps with separate UN membership, then perhaps encourage them to form a federation that could eventually strengthen into one or more federal republics. n
Forget a Palestinian state for a while. Think Republic of Hebron, of Nablus, of Jericho, of Jenin, of Jerusalem, and yes, of Gaza. Some may make peace with Israel, some may never do so. But each one that does is one less front in a multi-front conflict that is unmanageable unless the threats are divided and settled separately. n
And, yes, there do need to be formal declarations of war. The ancient law of nations contains much wisdom when it comes to making peace. One of those laws concerns holding the people of any state responsible for all the warlike actions of anyone operating from its territory. Another is to establish rules for doing things like blockading and occupying that can be recognized by other nations if war is formally declared, but which are likely to be seen as a violation of the law of nations if it is not. n
Seth, the entire world knows that Israel isn't in the slightest bit interested in ever allowing a Palestinian state to exist.__Soon after the elections Israel and the US will launch their attack against Iran which will be the signal for an all out assault against Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza and West Bank which will be invaded and occupied with a view to eventual annexation.__If Israel has no intention of ever allowing a Palestinian state to exist, is it any wonder that Hamas refuses to recognise the existence of Israel?