Israel is not the problem, the Arabs themselves do not want a state.
When the Palestine Liberation Organization, the PLO, was formed in 1964 – three years before Israel repossessed Judea, Samaria, and Gaza – it was not the goal of the PLO’s sponsor, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, to establish a Palestinian state in Eretz Israel.
Not only was there no such thing as a Palestinian – unless that term described both Jews and Arabs living under British authority during the period of the mandate – but Nasser had pan-Arab ambitions which entailed the liquidation of the “Zionist” state and its incorporation into Egypt.
If further proof is wanted that a Palestinian state was never really on the agenda of the PLO, only recall how Yasser Arafat rejected Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s offer of 95% of Judea and Samaria, including eastern Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Barak even agreed to an initial return of 100,000 Arab refugees!
No, there will be no Palestinian state. Hamas, which is supplanting the PLO-Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza, is not interested in statehood, and neither is al-Qaeda, now establishing itself among the self-styled Palestinians.
This clearly indicates that the idea of a Palestinian state – which never really took hold in the Arab-Islamic world – is passé. Hamas, like al-Qaeda, is a spearhead of Islam’s global ambitions, in which the very concept of the nation state is anathema.
It follows that the only rational policy for Israel’s government is to destroy the entire terrorist network in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. This done, the government must immediately incorporate Judea and Samaria into the State of Israel.
Moreover, and as I have elsewhere elaborated, the government must institute a Homestead Act for extensive Jewish settlement of these areas. As for the Arabs living therein, they should receive financial and other incentives to emigrate, as tens of thousands have already done.
Anything short of such measures will only lead Israel back to the Oslo quagmire and deathtrap.
We need a leader in Israel who has the wisdom and courage to pursue, steadfastly and courageously, the positive national strategy outlined in the previous paragraph.
All talk about resuming the so-called peace process via renewed negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority promises only more of the folly and timidity that have dominated Israel since the miracle of the Six-Day War.
Prof. Paul Eidelberg (Ph.D. University of Chicago), former officer U.S. Air Force, is the founder and president of the Israel-America Renaissance Institute (I-ARI), www.i-ari.org, with offices in Jerusalem and Philadelphia. He has written several books on American and on Jewish Statesmanship. His magnum opus The Judeo-Scientific Foundations of American Exceptionalism: Today’s Choice for the “Almost Chosen People” is in process of publication. Prof. Eidelberg lives in Jerusalem.
The only way to stop a war is to win it decisively, destroy their fighters, take control and disarm the enemy. This has been proven time and time again, the UN always comes with the same stupid error calling for armistice lines (inventing new state lines), cease-fires (giving the losing side time to re-group and attack you again later) and restraint – the dumbest response ever when being attacked. Stand firm, say no to the terrorists, annex Judea and Samaria and when they attack destroy them utterly and then take all of the land that G-d promised you. it will take faith and courage and the fake humanitarian, fake world peacekeeping organisations and Fake News Liberal Media will have the usual hissy fits, but they hate Israel anyway so why try to appease them, they think no better of you. Win the war and then there might be some peace.