I DON’T EXPECT DONALD TRUMP to understand all the implications of statehood for the PLO; he’s neither Muslim nor Israeli.
Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu seems to be trying to be Israel’s Prime Minister for Life at whatever cost to Israel. Netanyahu’s Likud is far, far from the Likud of Menachem Begin.
WHY WOULD ISRAEL, which has true peace agreements with Egypt (first) and Jordan, and potentially developing relations with other regional neighbors, want to have a PLO state on its border, a state whose oft-declared purpose is to drive the Jews into the sea?
If Jordan can control the Waqf which, thanks to a Labor government, was left in control of the Temple Mount despite being in Israeli hands, it should be able to control a fledgling PLO state. That Jordan does a particularly poor job of controlling the Waqf is disquieting, but it may be the best Israel will be able to manage given the powers behind a forced two-state solution.
For that it is worth, I favor a three-state solution. Jordan absorbs most of Oslo II areas A and B following a transparent vote be residents to join Israel or Jordan; Jordan will be responsible for all infrastructure including controlled access from the PLO state to Jordan.
Egypt will absorb — albeit Egypt does not want it — Gaza. Egypt already has direct access to the Strip, even if the border portal is closed more often than Gaza’s gates on the Israeli border.
Muslims already Israeli citizens and those who opt for Israeli (vs. PLO/Jordanian or PLO/Egyptian) citizenship would become unencumbered Israelis, with all the rights and most of the obligations adhering to that citizenship.
There is simply too much animosity on both sides to trust those electing to remain PLO citizens to suddenly give up their learned hatred of Israels and cancel plans to “drive the Jews into the sea.”
There are remote places in the United States even today where being a DamnYankee or Rebel, or calling someone by those names, will result in a fight. The American civil war was fought from 1861 to 1865; as this is keyed, the date is 2019. Folk tales, not government textbooks and tv have kept the conflict in the fore. Compare that with PLO textbooks, UN camps, and PLO media which daily inflame hatred of Israel.
If Trump and Netanyahu think a two-state solution is the answer, without the involvement of real governments (Jordan, Egypt), that solution is a pipe dream.
At the same time, unless Israel wants to renege on whatever parts of Oslo II that the PLO has yet to renege, then a one-state option, much as the U.S. conquered the American Indians (by offering, and then breaking treaties) will be on the table. Most — not all — American Indians eventually integrated into the general society.
The PLO’s “leadership” is continuing to reject any option that leaves Israel as a state. This same “leadership” also is keeping the people in ignorance and poverty.
Some government must guarantee the PLO state’s behavior. The IDF might be the guarantor, but that would not be to the PLO’s advantage.
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
