As we draw closer to the time when the Palestinians say they’re going to petition the UN for official statehood, they’re showing the world more and more what that state will look like. And I’m slowly creeping away from my instinctive “hell, no!” response to thinking that it just might be the best thing for a long-term Middle East peace.
Their latest proclamation is that “Palestine: The State!” (try to say it like Mel Brooks presenting all his merchandising in “Spaceballs”) will be thoroughly and completely Judenrein — utterly free of the infestation of Jews. It’s been about 66 years since we had a nation that was so openly hostile to Jews, and just look how things have gone to hell since then.
Of course, it must be noted that this isn’t done out of hatred. Oh, no, it’s done for the purest of humanitarian motives.
“After the experience of the last 44 years of military occupation and all the conflict and friction, I think it would be in the best interest of the two people to be separated,” Maen Areikat, the PLO ambassador, said during a meeting with reporters sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor. He was responding to a question about the rights of minorities in a Palestine of the future.
We saw how well this worked before, when Israel finally said “fine, we’re leaving” and pulled out of the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians promptly trashed everything the Israelis left behind, including some extremely productive and high-tech greenhouses that Americans had bought from their Israeli owners and gave, free and clear to the Palestinians, as a gift of goodwill and in the hopes that they would help the Palestinians become more self-sufficient. And then the terrorist group Hamas won election as the legal government of Gaza.
Now let’s carry this idea and extend it. If it’s “in the best interest of the two people to be separated,” and there’s an official Palestinian homeland, then there’s really no reason why any Palestinians should stay in Israel. All they have to do is pass their own equivalent law stripping all who claim Palestinian citizenship or allegiance of Israeli citizenship and deport them to the new Palestine.
Of course, there’s no reason to be uncivilized about it. No, Israel should do it right. Seize their property through eminent domain (or whatever the Israeli equivalent is) and pay them its fair market value. Also, transportation to their new homeland should also be picked up by Israel — and as tempting as the symbolism might be, no cattle cars should be used. And they should definitely not post signs over the border crossings reading “ARBEIT MACHT FREI.” That’s just right out.
This will tremendously simplify Israel’s security concerns. Terrorism by Palestinian citizens has been relatively low compared to that committed by infiltrators, but those citizens have been a strong source of support for terrorists. I’m sure there are plenty of fine, decent Palestinians living in Israel, but as the “ambassador” says — they really should be separated.
Plus, Palestinians living in Israel tend to be better off than their cousins living in Gaza and the West Bank — their deportation will most likely raise the standard of living in “Palestine.” And they are used to a more civilized, peaceful life — they might be a good influence on their more militant cousins.
And if all else fails, they’ll be available as cannon fodder for the eventual Israel-Palestine war, triggered by the new state of Palestine’s inevitable acts of war against Israel.
Ambassador Areikat’s statement is proof, once again, of some fundamental truths about the Palestinian movement. Not only do they “never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity,” but they have a nigh-unmatched ability to reveal what they really think and feel. And finally, they simply can’t think through their words and actions to see just how utterly self-destructive they are.
I, for one, grew tired of protecting the Palestinians from themselves a long, long time ago. And having seen the results of trying to head off open conflicts for decades, perhaps a knock-down, drag-out open war — the kind that the Palestinians have been calling for for decades — where the Palestinians get their asses thoroughly and completely kicked will cure them of their delusions and introduce them to some harsh reality.
So yeah, let’s give them a state. With all the rights — and responsibilities — thereof. Especially the responsibilities.
I give it about a year.
