No, We Don’t All Know What the Solution Looks Like
By DAVID PFEFFER
We keep hearing it. We all know what the solution is going to look like – two states with Palestine in the West Bank and its capital in east Jerusalem, Israel pulling settlements out except in blocs, and peace at last. So why don’t we just do it?Everyone knows. The European Union knows that Israeli withdrawal from occupied Palestine is long overdue, Sweden knows that east Jerusalem does not belong to Israel, Ban Ki-moon knows that settlements cause homicidal despair among oppressed Palestinians and France knows that continued colonization of occupied territory must end. The Israeli Left knows that right-wing Benjamin Netanyahu is an obstructionist whose settlement expansion exposes his true face, that his public support for a two-state solution is merely a ruse.And everyone knows that if it weren’t for this dispute, there would be no terrorism – everyone would live happily ever after.The world loses patience with us based on these assumptions, these essential tenets of Palestinianism. Unfortunately, none of them are true.The European Union owes us an explanation of why it considers Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria to be illegal occupation of Palestine when, in rough reverse chronological order, Israel took control of these territories from the Jordanians who took control from the British who took control from the Ottomans who took control from the Malmuks who took control from the Crusaders who took control from the Ayyubids who took control from the Seljuks who took control from the Fatimids who took control from the Abbasids who took control from the Umayyads who took control from the Muslims who took control from the Romans who took control from Israel who retook control from the Greeks who took control from the Persians who took control from the Babylonians who took control form the Assyrians who took control from Israel. And if you want to note that Israel had conquered Canaan be my guest. We’d be delighted to return everything to the Canaanites as soon as the United States returns everything to the Indians.Sweden owes us an explanation of why east Jerusalem does not belong to Israel when the only country it ever was capital of was Israel and why Jerusalem needs to be divided when the only remaining divided capital in the world is Nicosia. Is Nicosia better off divided? Was Berlin better off?Ban Ki-moon owes us an explanation of why Muslim fanatics knifing a man in London is inexcusable terrorism but Muslim fanatics knifing a man in Tel Aviv is human reaction to oppression.France owes us an explanation of why Jewish settlement in Judea is colonization while French settlement in Lorraine is not.The Israeli Left owes us an explanation of why right-wing Benjamin Netanyahu is a two-faced obstructionist while left-wing prime ministers were never obstructionists despite far greater settlement activity during their terms.And everyone owes us an explanation of why Israel’s dispute with the Palestinians is at the heart of terrorism world-wide when Islamic fanatics kill each other in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen and any number of other places. Is it because they’ve run out of Jews?What is actually asked of Israel? They want us to believe that a deal with Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority will yield two states living peacefully side by side; that in two or five years after the deal is made, or in two or five months after Abbas passes on the baton, then-Palestine will honor the agreement; that what vicious Hamas did to the PA in Gaza it would never do to the PA in the West Bank; that an indefensible border leaving our major cities within easy rocket range addresses our security needs; and that peace will come of giving land to our maniacal enemies who openly strive for our annihilation or openly say an agreement is only a step towards our annihilation. They want us to accept a deal without a flicker of a chance for peace.If what “we all know is the solution” does not address any problem with the Palestinians, what does it address? It addresses only the problem of Jews having had the arrogance to come home after two thousand years of servile exile, a crime the world evidently demands we redress.Thanks, but no thanks. We don’t all know what the solution is. If you want national suicide, go talk to radical Islam. They’re the ones who believe in a culture of death.