Overlooked Imagery Shaping Palestinian Demands

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to press for a statehood bid at the United Nations this week. That's not unexpected, and it certainly wont be helpful to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

But one thing that has been overlooked is the overarching demands of Palestinians towards Israel. They do not want a 2-state solution, and they do not want to share Jerusalem, despite diplomats claiming otherwise.

Recall the setting in which Abbas made his statements at the Ramallah headquarters.

Here's that photo:

Here's the photo with a map showing that view:

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This photo shows a mural of a Palestinian flag flying over the Old City of Jerusalem - looking not towards the West Bank and a future Palestinian state there, but over Jerusalem and into Israel - areas beyond the Green Line demarcating the 1948 cease-fire line. The mural shows the view of Jerusalem looking to the West - and into Israel itself. The skyscrapers in the distance are in West Jerusalem.

It's akin to this photo of Jerusalem as seen from near the Mount of Olives.

It's an optic that has been overlooked, but which shows the Palestinians' ultimate agenda. It's not a 2-state solution. It's a state upon the ashes of Israel.

It's why the peace process has fallen apart, even between the so-called moderates in Fatah and Israeli diplomats. The goal of the Palestinian Authority, Fatah, the PLO, and Hamas are united in the destruction of Israel. The only difference is the time frame for such an outcome. Hamas seeks an immediate war and destruction of Israel, while Fatah is more content with a long range outlook.

It is quite telling that the PA efforts to get a statehood recognition at the United Nations hasn't exactly been met with open arms, particularly from terror groups and regimes that have always sought a Palestinian state - precisely because the effort doesn't go far enough.

Palestinians Continue Push Towards Declaring Statehood At United Nations

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to declare Palestinian statehood at the United Nations this week, and it's yet another effort to undermine Israeli sovereignty in the process.

We'd just have to ignore all the pronouncements made by Palestinian leaders in the past several weeks to believe that this is about creating a Palestinian state.

Palestinian officials have stated that they want to create a Jew-free Palestine, something that no regime or country has sought to do since Nazi Germany. This is something that would otherwise be considered ethnic cleansing and subject to all manner of hue and outcry from human rights groups around the world, but they have largely remained silent.

Palestinian officials have stated that they do not want to permit Palestinians living outside the West Bank or Gaza the right of return to the Palestinian state and will not resettle refugees living in the dozens of refugee camps scattered throughout the Middle East; they would rather keep these people living in squalor rather than build a productive state.

Mr. Abbas’s plan, made public in a television address, follows months of failed American and European efforts to restart Palestinian negotiations with Israel. Some fear that Mr. Abbas’s move will raise expectations among his people, with nothing changing for them on the ground. Combined with alarmed reactions from Israeli settlers, violent showdowns could erupt.

But the Palestinians say that after decades of occupation and about 20 years of failed talks with an increasingly hawkish Israel, it is time for a new approach in which the borders of a Palestinian state are first recognized globally and then two states, Israel and Palestine, negotiate final details.

The decision to apply for membership through the Council signals a double defeat for the United States. Washington not only failed to dissuade the Palestinians from a unilateral bid for statehood, but also fell short of its goal of confining the application to the United Nations General Assembly, where Obama administration officials believe a vote in favor of statehood would be more symbolic and less divisive.

The Obama administration has vowed to use its veto at the Council to prevent full recognition of Palestine. But it is eager to avoid doing so because that action would likely leave the United States isolated on the issue, weakening its standing with Arab nations at a politically delicate moment.

“We need to have full membership at the U.N.,” Mr. Abbas said in the speech from his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, which was broadcast live on Al Jazeera and other outlets. “We need a state, a seat at the United Nations.”

He added, “We are going to the Security Council,” as Palestinian dignitaries gave him rousing applause and a standing ovation. Mr. Abbas called it “our decision, which we have conveyed to everyone.”

The borders Mr. Abbas seeks are those of 1967, meaning East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza would be included. More than 500,000 Israelis have settled beyond those lines.

These statements show that Israel lacks a partner in a peace process, and it's little wonder then that Israel has grown more hawkish since the Oslo process began near 20 years ago. What began with so much promise has turned into a nightmare because the Palestinian leaders have been exposed for what they are - they seek a one-state solution that ultimately wants Israel's destruction and all their actions are in furtherance of that goal.

Israel withdrew from Gaza unilaterally, and Palestinians promptly launched a terror war that continues to this day with rockets, missiles, and mortars - precisely because the initial suicide bombing campaign was thwarted with the construction of a security fence. Palestinians complain that the fence thwarts economic activity, but for the terrorism, indoctrination and support for terror activities, Israel would not have had a need to build the fence, maintain a security cordon off Gaza's coast to prevent terrorists from being resupplied, and the economic conditions for Palestinians would be greatly improved.

For the most part, Hamas has been silent about Fatah's Abbas and Palestinian Authority statements, but it has announced that the UN bid is empty of content because it doesn't sufficiently deal with the Palestinian right of return to Israel. That's right folks, Hamas, which is part of the Palestinian government and which controls Gaza, doesn't think that Abbas and the PLO/Fatah are going far enough in their delegitimization efforts. They want the whole kit and kaboodle.

Hamas has never recognized Israel's right to exist, and it refuses to accept any deal that recognizes Israel alongside a Palestinian state.

So, with all that in mind, what is the United States to do with the ongoing situation. Pundits in the US think that Obama has to take a strong stand so as to retain the Jewish vote (and they point to the outcome of the NY-09 House race as proof). But no matter the outcome of the 2012 elections, the UN situation the Palestinian Authority is putting President Obama in the hot seat on how to deal with a major policy crisis. Wording a resolution that somehow raises the status of the Palestinian mission to the UN to something less than a state but more than an observer is a likely outcome.

The Palestinians have done nothing to warrant any kind of support here; they have engaged in terrorism for years on end and have not been a partner in peace. Israel's sovereignty and right to exist are inalienable rights, and yet the Palestinians are busy undermining Israel at every opportunity and with no regard for human rights - Palestinian or Israel.

A peace process requires two partners interested in a peaceful outcome, but the Palestinians refuse to accept any outcome where Israel exists.

Moreover, do the Palestinians really understand what having a state is all about. It's going to put terror attacks on par with acts of war and enables Israel to formally declare war against the Palestinians should they engage in the kinds of rocket battles that have been fought since 2007.


The world's leaders repeatedly chastise Israel when it defends itself from terrorists, but barely shrugs its shoulders when countries like Turkey invade Iraq and kill Kurdish groups that Turkey claims are terrorists or harboring terrorists.

The world's diplomats have no interest in the facts; they are far more interested in their legacy and appearance of signed documents. That's why the Palestinians continue to be advancing their agenda despite an ongoing disregard for the sovereignty of Israel.

This is the quandary facing Israel and the US.

Palestinians Now Refusing Right of Return To Fellow Palestinians In Proposed State

First, Palestinians demanded the right of return for all Palestinians to lands occupied by Israel (pre and post 1967 borders - areas within and outside the Green Line that established the borders of Israel as recognized in 1948 following the cease fire).

Now, the Palestinian representatives are saying that they're going to refuse to grant the right of return of Palestinians living all over the world to return to the expectant Palestinian state.

From behind a desk topped by a miniature model of Palestine’s hoped-for blue United Nations chair, Ambassador Abdullah Abdullah spoke to The Daily Star Wednesday about Palestine’s upcoming bid for U.N. statehood.

The ambassador unequivocally says that Palestinian refugees would not become citizens of the sought for U.N.-recognized Palestinian state, an issue that has been much discussed. “They are Palestinians, that’s their identity,” he says. “But … they are not automatically citizens.”

This would not only apply to refugees in countries such as Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Jordan or the other 132 countries where Abdullah says Palestinians reside. Abdullah said that “even Palestinian refugees who are living in [refugee camps] inside the [Palestinian] state, they are still refugees. They will not be considered citizens.”

Abdullah said that the new Palestinian state would “absolutely not” be issuing Palestinian passports to refugees.

Neither this definitional status nor U.N. statehood, Abdullah says, would affect the eventual return of refugees to Palestine. “How the issue of the right of return will be solved I don’t know, it’s too early [to say], but it is a sacred right that has to be dealt with and solved [with] the acceptance of all.” He says statehood “will never affect the right of return for Palestinian refugees.”

Let that sink in.

Palestinians, who have been agitating for decades to have a state to call their own, are going to refuse to grant Palestinians living in refugee camps for decades the right to return to a Palestinian state.

The reasons are clear, but unstated. The PLO and Palestinian Authority war against Israel continues unabated and these groups find it useful to continue a refugee crisis without end. It's all to undermine Israel's inalienable right to exist and it again shows that Israel lacks a peace partner accepting of a 2-state solution.

The Palestinians are looking to supplant Israel and are going to use a declaration of statehood to further alienate and undermine Israel's sovereignty.

The thing is that Palestinians the world over should have a right to return to a state of Palestine if it is established - but that their representative government is looking to disenfranchise them is quite telling. Their leaders see the refugees as pawns for exploitation; they are disposable pawns whose misery is self-inflicted and exploited by not only Palestinian leaders but Arab leaders throughout the region who use the situation to blame Israel and the US for the ongoing problems. It ignores the culpability and failures of Arab regimes and the Palestinians themselves to negotiate in good faith towards a 2-state solution that doesn't seek to eliminate Israel through demographics (forcing a Palestinian right of return on Israel) or which foists indefensible borders on Israel.

Palestinians Plan On Agitating For Statehood During UN General Assembly Session

The Palestinians have been rumbling for months that they intend on declaring statehood during the United Nations General Assembly sessions this month. That comes even as the Palestinians claim that they want to make their new state free from all Jews.

The Palestine Liberation Organization's ambassador to the United States said Tuesday that any future Palestinian state should be free of Jews, USA Today reported.

"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, told reporters. (Ynet)

The PLO is the largest faction within Fatah, which makes up part of the Palestinian Authority - the legitimate government entity for the Palestinians. Hamas would certainly agree to that, and both ultimately seek Israel's elimination.

This statement is essentially the position of the Palestinian representatives to the United Nations and the group with whom Israel is supposed to negotiate.

But the specifics of their plans for the Palestinian state are extremely troublesome.

The Palestinians are pushing for something that no regime has done since Nazi Germany sought to eliminate the Jewish presence from all territories it occupied.

They would engage in racially and religiously profiling to eliminate a population group from lands that it historically lived in for generations stretching back centuries. That's what the PLO is proposing.

But if Israel tries to protect itself from Palestinian terrorists who continue plotting attacks, that's apartheid according to the PLO and pro-Palestinians for the past couple of decades.

Yet, no one blinks when the Palestinians say that they want to make their country free of all Jews. But note that Israel has banned political parties who seek to do the same thing to its Arab populations (Kach and the Kahanists).

Moreover, the Palestinians refuse to recognize Israel's rights to defend itself and pushes such unreasonable demands on Israel that demonize Israel at every opportunity.

Palestinians could have had a functional and vibrant economy in Gaza had they not started a terror war against Israel that continues to this day - including thousands of rockets and mortars fired at Israel since 2006 because Israel has effectively prevented suicide bombers from infiltrating into Israel across the borders with Gaza and limited terror activities in the West Bank in areas that it maintains security control.

But then again, this has never been about settlements in Gaza or the West Bank - land can be transferred and housing can be sold/transferred between groups to improve the contiguous borders for the proposed 2-state solution.

It's about a fundamental refusal to accept Israel's existence.

That's why the declaration of statehood is so troubling; the Palestinians want statehood but not responsibility for what happens thereafter - especially when their elected representatives agitate for war against Israel (Hamas and Fatah are both elected representatives of Palestinians as per the elections previously held). Hamas refuses Israel's existence, and Fatah's many spinoff groups, including the PRCs refuse to recognize Israel's existence and agitate for war.

Moreover, all this would be a fundamental violation of Oslo, which calls for direct negotiation between the parties to bring about statehood. Going to the UN to vote a Palestinian state into existence would abrogate the entire Oslo process.

Israel can have no peace with partners such as this.

Palestinian Teens Arrested In Murder of Fogel Family As Teen Victim of Palestinian Terror Dies

While Gazans mourn the death of a pro-Palestinian activist, Israel is mourning the death of a 16-year old Israeli who died of injuries sustained when the bus he was on was struck by an anti-tank missile fired from Gaza.



Israeli authorities have arrested two Palestinian teens in connection with the grisly murder of the Fogel family in an Israeli settlement. They were apparently members of the PFLP, which is a PLO offshoot:

The attackers sneaked into the settlement of Itamar on March 11 and killed the family members as they slept. Among the victims was a 3-month-old baby girl, along with her parents, Udi and Ruth Fogel, and two other children, ages 4 and 11.

Grisly pictures from the attack, along with the ages of the young victims, outraged Israelis. The search for the killers focused on the neighboring Palestinian village of Awarta, which was put under curfew while residents were systematically arrested, interrogated, fingerprinted and forced to give DNA samples.

The two suspects, teenagers from Awarta, belonged to a small PLO faction, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, although it appeared they acted independently, said Col. Nimrod Aloni, a West Bank military commander. The mother of one of the suspects said her son is innocent.

Aloni said the teenagers said during questioning that they "wanted to test their courage and bravery" by penetrating the settlement and stealing a rifle. He said the pair claimed they did not initially plan to kill anyone, but panicked when the baby started crying, endangering their escape.

Families of the teens claim that they were coerced into admitting their roles, including claims of torture. Yet, the families have longstanding ties to the PFLP, and was not the first time that family members carried out attacks against Itamar.

PLO Extends Abbas' Reign Indefinitely

Elections? Who needs elections when you're a bunch of terrorists who have tried for decades to eliminate Israel and have instead created terror havens on territories from which Israel unilaterally withdrew from in 2005? The PLO has indefinitely extended Mahmoud Abbas' presidency.

The decision, which was expected, nonetheless gave an important vote of confidence to the embattled president. Abbas's inability to reconcile with Hamas or wrest concessions from Israel has hurt his popularity among many Palestinians.

Abbas has repeatedly threatened to step down in frustration over the impasse with Israel, while simultaneously hinting that he could be persuaded to remain in office. Wednesday's vote by the PLO's Central Council gives Abbas more time to work out his problems.

The vote endorsed Abbas's earlier decision to call off presidential and parliamentary elections, which had been set for January. Abbas says it is impossible to hold the election due to Hamas' refusal to allow voting in its Gaza Strip stronghold.

The extension, which also applies to parliament members, ensures that Abbas's government continues to function until elections can be held in "the entire homeland," said Central Council member Saleh Rafat. It did not set a date for a new vote.

Entire homeland? That's all of Israel and the territories, including the West Bank and Gaza. Fatah can't do anything in Gaza because the even more homicidal terror group Hamas controls matters there and the two terror groups cannot agree on a power-sharing arrangement.

Under those circumstances, Israel has no one to discuss a peace process with when Hamas doesn't recognize Israel's right to exist, and certainly doesn't recognize Israel's right to any of the territories between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Fatah has at least paid lip service to negotiations, but they engage in more than a few preconditions of their own - using the bogus issue of settlement construction as a cudgel to force concessions from Israel, even though Israel has repeatedly shown itself capable of transferring homes to Palestinians (see Gaza's 2005 disengagement as proof).

Hamas calls Fatah a sell-out for even trying to discuss a peace deal that would ultimately create a two-state solution.

Abbas is playing games with all this, and the end result is that he gets to stay in power indefinitely, using a situation of the Palestinians' own making to retain power and do nothing to further the peace process, such as it is.