The Biden-Harris administration appears still obsessed with a supposed ceasefire and a Palestinian state.
President William Clinton, and, after him, President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State John Kerry also tried to create a Palestinian state. Now President Joe Biden with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan seem to be trying to do it again.
Unfortunately, the plan for a "two-state solution" especially after the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023, and the bombardments of Israel -- smaller than the state of New Jersey -- by Hezbollah virtually every day in since October 8, 2023, appears farther away than ever.
The "rehearsal" for a Palestinian state -- Palestinian independence since 2005 in the Gaza Strip -- has turned out to be a national security horror of the first order. Moreover, the Palestinians have always seemed less interested in having their own state than in eliminating the Israeli one.
There seem to be several reasons for the Palestinians' reluctance to reach an agreement about a two-state solution, and a lasting end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
Any Palestinian leader who has recommended an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been denounced by his people as a traitor and killed. That outcome would seem quite a disincentive. As the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said, "Do you want me sitting up there having tea with Sadat?" Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1978,. was assassinated for it by his own people in 1981.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, now in the 19th year of his four-year term, cannot recognize Israel as a Jewish state. To do so would contradict a basic doctrine of Islam -- that any land once conquered by Muslims, as the entire region was under the Ottoman Empire until its collapse, must forever be regarded as belonging to Allah and preserved by Muslims as a waqf [a holding or endowment].
In Islam, the world is divided into two groups: the Dar al Islam ("House of Islam") and the Dar al Harb ("House of War"). The struggle (jihad) must persist until everyone resides in the House of Islam, either as a Muslim or as an inferior, tolerated resident who accepts the sovereignty of Islam. Included are territories conquered by Islam -- Spain, much of Portugal, Sicily, Malta -- all of which were once part of the "House of Islam."
Modern Islamic theology claims that until the Angel Gabriel [Jibril] revealed Islam of Allah to Mohammad in the seventh century, "During the Jahiliyyah (days of ignorance), before the coming of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), the people were polytheists (mushrikeen) and idol-worshippers."
Muslim theologians therefore do not acknowledge the existence of the ancient Jewish Kingdoms in Canaan. According to these scholars, the First and Second Temples and all of Jewish history has been distorted, superseded by Islam. UNESCO perpetuated this caprice by redesignating the Cave of the Patriarchs and the "City of Patriarchs," Hebron, as Palestinian sites. "[D]escribed in the Book of Genesis," noted Israeli Amb. Alan Baker:
"Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite for over 400 silver shekels to bury his wife, Sarah. Subsequently, the cave became a family tomb in which Abraham himself, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, and Leah were also buried. For this reason, Hebron is also referred to as the "City of the Patriarchs" and regarded as one of Judaism's holiest cities. King David was anointed in Hebron, where he reigned for seven years.... Rather than merely relying on the promise given by God as described in the Book of Genesis, according to which "...to you I will give this land," Abraham nevertheless insisted on actually purchasing the Machpela meadow and cave through a publicly witnessed, legal transaction in the presence of all residents of the town." [Emphases in the original.)
In a stunt no one had ever claimed until 1996 -- even during the Ottoman Empire -- UNESCO had even earlier redesignated Rachel's Tomb as a Muslim mosque.
Islamic thoelogy claims that Abraham (Ibrahim), Moses (Musa), David (Daud) and Solomon (Suleiman) were actually the forefathers of Islam, who had been misrepresented by Judaism. Jews, Muslims believe, are not really a "nation," but a disparate group of tribes who happen to be practicing Judaism . As such, Jews supposedly do not have the right to own land and statehood.
In the Arab culture, "honor" and "land" are paramount values. "Honor" does not allow "dhimmis"– "protected" people who were captured and chose to live as tolerated, third-class residents paying "protection" [the jizya tax], instead of converting to Islam or agreeing to be killed -– to own land. Dhimmis may not dictate their wishes to the "People of Allah". Israel, according to this belief, even in the borders of 1967, is purportedly Arab land. Both Egyptian President Sadat, as noted, and Jordanian King Abdullah I were assassinated by Muslims – King Abdullah I in 1951 – for advocating peace with Israel.
From a Palestinian perspective, Israel is a non-Muslim, supposedly "colonial" (it is actually anti-colonial), alien entity, and a "cancer" on the body of the Arab world. Generations of Palestinians have been brought up on such views promoted in schools, mosques (here and here), the media, summer camps, sports and even in crossword puzzles.
The Hamas Charter with its goal of destroying "the Zionist entity" has not yet been canceled. An instructional book, the Palestinian Terminology Guide, released by the PA Ministry of Information, suggests alternative meanings to the following terms: "Israel" is replaced by "The Israeli Colonialist Occupation;" "Israel's Defense Minister" by "Israeli Minister of War," and the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) by "Israeli occupation forces." "Martyrdom-Seeking Operation" replaces "Suicide Bombing", "Temple Mount" by "Hiram al-Sharif", "Wailing Wall" by "Al-Buraq Wall" and, finally, the "Shield" or "Star" of David" is replaced by "Six-pointed Star".
PA President Mahmoud Abbas, like his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, represents a generation of revolutionary "national liberation movement" militants, nurtured in The Peoples' Friendship University in the former USSR. An abundance of sympathizers, both in the West and Israel, allows Palestinians often to realize their aims of replacing Israel through unilateral actions, without negotiating any of the disputed areas as agreed to in the Oslo Accords. The donations that the Palestinian Authority and Hamas have received since 1993 could have turned the West Bank into a thriving area, and Gaza into a "New Singapore" or "Dubai on the Mediterranean," however, the leaders evidently had other priorities for that cash.
One aim of Abbas seems to be to preserve his own wealth, estimated at $100 million, and the prosperity of his sons, who own the largest businesses in the Palestinian Authority. If donors keep throwing gigantic amounts of money at one – especially unconditionally -- why not take it?
The entire Palestinian culture is imbued with hatred of Israel; Hitler is the most popular world leader, and Mein Kampf has become a bestseller.
An opinion poll conducted by Birzeit University's Arab World for Research & Development (AWRAD) revealed that after the October 7 attacks:
- 98% felt more proud to be Palestinian;
- 89% supported al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas;
- 90% responded that "coexistence is increasingly impossible";
- 98% said that [pay attention: after the monstrous massacre of Jews] they will "never forgive and never forget." What a monstrous paradox! From the point of view of many Palestinian Arabs, and even some Americans, Jews can return to the other countries that wanted to kill them.
Even before October 7, 2023, the Israelis in their entirety had turned away from the idea that Palestinians are seeking "peaceful coexistence."
Much Israeli resentment seems a result of sad empirical experience. In the early 1990s, most of the Israeli public supported peace agreements and concessions. The optimism, however, soon faded away. Twice -– during the term of Prime Minister Ehud Barak at Camp David in 2000, and under that of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Annapolis in 2008 -- Israel offered the Palestinians (Palestinian Authority Presidents Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, respectively) maximum concessions: about 94-95% of the West Bank (with the option of exchange for other territories) and East Jerusalem (within the framework of US President Bill Clinton's plan). Olmert was ready to consider returning 1,000 refugees a year for a period of five years on "humanitarian" grounds -- and in addition, to establish a program of "family reunification", which, in practice, means absorbing tens of thousands of Arabs. Olmert agreed to allow "safe passage" between Gaza and Judea. Olmert even offered to transfer the control over Temple Mount to a consortium: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the U.S., Israel and the PLO. Abbas refused without so much as a counteroffer.
After rejecting Clinton's plan, Arafat launched a terrorist campaign, the "second intifada" – which took the lives of more than a thousand Israelis.
Waves of deadly terror attacks against Israelis resumed in the mid 1990s and at the beginning of the 21st century. In a situation where every attempt to achieve peace turns into another bloody war-experiment, most Israelis have apparently concluded that they would be better off without such a "peace".
After the murders, rapes, tortures, beheadings and burning babies alive of October 7, 2923, the very idea of peace with the Palestinians looks to most Israelis like a mockery or sick joke.
At present, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, praised as "The Churchill of the Middle East," appears determined to disable Hamas and Hezbollah politically and militarily so they will not be able to threaten the security of Israelis again.
Israelis who call for "bringing the Hostages home" overlook that they have likely been used by the former head of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, assassinated this month, and other terrorists as human shields. Even with a supposed "ceasefire deal," Sinwar's successor will no doubt release the hostages as slowly as possible to allow more time for the Palestinians to rearm. As Sinwar apparently understood, the hostages are the only bargaining chips Hamas has.
Unfortunately, it seems as if the only way to persuade Hamas to release them in a timely way, as was done last November, may be through military pressure: Israel wins, Hamas loses. Hamas leaders, possibly moving the hostages with them through the tunnels, are most likely using them to protect themselves. It is estimated that of the roughly 120 hostages remaining, "at least a third" are dead.
For a ceasefire, Hamas -- probably also including Qatar and Iran -- is asking for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, far from the smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt. They are also asking for a "permanent ceasefire" -- meaning that they want the US administration and the international community to force Israel to stop fighting, but leave Hamas's leaders and terrorists free to rearm, regroup and ready to fight another day.
The Biden-Harris administration appears to want no war, anywhere, before they are hoping to be reelected next week.
As far as a Palestinian state is concerned, the Biden-Harris administration, after the disaster in Afghanistan, and financially enabling two wars -- Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the Iranian-Hamas-Houthi-Hezbollah attacks invasion of Israel -- would like even the appearance of a foreign affairs victory by plucking out of a top hat a Palestinian state, never mind if it is a terrorist one or not.
Biden, by closing down America's oil production -- at one point tripling the price of oil on the world market -- then bought it from Russia, thereby making Russia wealthy enough to pursue its war in Ukraine. Biden also notified Putin that a "minor incursion" into Ukraine would be acceptable.
Biden then did the same thing with Iran by waiving or ignoring primary and secondary sanctions (meaning that if countries buy oil from Iran, they would be banned from doing business with the US) on Iran's oil exports. This gift enabled Iran's regime, which had been close to bankrupt in 2020, to profit "closer to $60 billion," at least a part of which they undoubtedly used not only to launch its assault on Israel, but also at least 160 attacks on US troops nearby just since October 2023 -- presumably to try to drive the US out of the region and take it over themselves. Iran already controls four other countries in the region: Syria. Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon.
Do the Sunni countries in the region want an Iran-backed terrorist Palestinian state? After seeing what the Palestinians have done to every country that has tried to help them – Jordan, where they tried to overthrow the king during Black September (1970-71), then Lebanon, where they began an unprovoked war and were exiled to Tunis in 1982, and finally to Israel -- which, in 1993 foolishly set up the Palestinian Authority.
In 2023, Israel allowed extra work permits to the Gazans -- who then mapped out every house to attack, including "the names of the people, how many children they had and even which of them owned dogs."
At this point, whatever happens with a ceasefire or not, the region clearly does not seem ready for any kind of Palestinian state -- to say the least.
Alexander Maistrovoy is a journalist and publicist, published in Times of Israel, Arutz Sheva/Israel National News, Jihad Watch, Frontpage Mag, Сanada Free Press, Liberty Unyielding and others. He is the author of Agony of Hercules or a Farewell to Democracy (Notes of a Stranger).
Michael Hoffman