Posted by Dan Ewert : 4/30/2002 12:11:00 AM (Archive Link)
I often read those Israel critics who say that Israel is denying the Palestinians right to a state. I get confused when I see this complaint because I don’t know of such a right. When has a nation had the fundamental right to exist? When has a people had the fundamental right to a state of their own? Simply put, never. There is no inherent right for people to a state nor for a state to exist. A nation must be geographically cut out, must have a government, and then must be maintained. A country doesn’t exist and survive out of some divine right, it does so out of diplomacy and especially out of force. It will be constantly threatened by other predatory countries and it must therefore defend itself in order to preserve its existence. No right will do that.

Now given this, one may be tempted to turn the argument around on me and say that this is exactly what the Palestinians are trying to do, use force to create and maintain a state of their own. That may be the case, but they are going about it poorly. While war is useful is creating a nation, diplomacy can also be effective. It’s obvious the violence option isn’t working for the Palestinians. It’s time for a new tact.

The main Palestinian tactic is terrorist violence. It’s not even guerilla warfare, it’s just flat out terrorism where civilians are purposely targeted and killed. This is not the tactic of a weaker opponent against a stronger, it is a tactic of cowards. I would respect them more (very, very little more) if they had the “decency” to attack only military targets.

Second, the Palestinians have accomplished almost nothing in 50 years. Despite all of their violence, bluster, and outright terrorism, they are right where they started… nowhere. This isn’t Israel’s fault. This isn’t a case of the man keeping them down. The Palestinians have done this to themselves. They have tried bombings, they have tried suicide bombings, they have tried gunfights, they’ve tried a number of bloody options and they haven’t worked. Only honest diplomacy has worked. However, the Palestinians, and Arafat in particular, have a depressive’s personality so that just when things are looking up, they have to make life far worse for themselves. Conditions were improving after the Oslo accords and in 2000, Ehud Barak offered them the moon. Arafat rejected it and started the intifada and the wave of violence that is still going on. Instead of looking to diplomacy, he resorted to violence, his instinctive gut reaction, his native tongue. For the past 50 years or at least the past decade, Arafat and the Palestinians could have looked for ways to work with the Israelis, they could have worked on peaceful coexistence. Instead, they have inculcated Jew-hatred, they have supported violence and bombings, they have taught their children that Israelis are pigs, that holy Muslims will slay them on the Day of Judgement and that even the rocks and trees will point out the Jews hiding behind them. Arafat has consistently inflamed the passions of his people for his own gain and this is the result. Only violence has come from his efforts and, naturally, Israel has responded in kind in order to protect its citizens. The Palestinians have tried violence and anti-Semitism and it has garnered them no real gains. If they pursued peaceful methods such as those used by Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, they could accomplish more in 5 months than in 50 years. If the Israelis didn’t feel the constant Palestinian threat of violence, they’d be far likely to deal with them. Would the Palestinians get everything they want all at once? No, but the present tactics haven’t worked and peaceful movements can also create a state. It’s time for a change.