Palestinian leaders always whining and complaining

Should the focus of the Palestinian leadership be on the trivial matter of the construction freeze, or the more important issues of creating a state which they face?

By EARL COX
Earl Cox 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Earl Cox 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
With all the attention supposedly now focused on negotiations and “peace talks” between the Israelis and the Palestinian Arabs, why is most of the attention going to the ending of Israel’s self-imposed 10 month construction freeze in the West Bank and East Jerusalem? It seems to me that there are many more important issues for the Palestinian Arabs to be concerned about, such as recognizing Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, putting an end to all the devastating Arab terrorism and their preaching and teaching hatred of the Jewish people, as well as working to establish a viable and democratic Palestinian government.
Why are there no efforts or developments regarding these most important issues? Perhaps the Palestinian leadership is too preoccupied with whining and complaining about the Israelis building new residences on land in towns and villages rightfully belonging to Israel.
Everyone in the world should know and understand the obvious reason. The sad truth is that most of the world does not want to allow the Jewish people to maintain possession and control of their own land - land that was promised to the Jewish people by the biblical prophets from Abraham to Zechariah as “an everlasting possession.”
This land was prescribed as “a homeland for the Jews” by the League of Nations and by the British Mandate of the 1920s. This land was legitimately possessed by the Jewish people with miraculous victories in warfare in 1948 and 1967 against enemy armies that sought to destroy and annihilate them. From every perspective - biblical, historical and military - the land of Israel from the Jordan to the Mediterranean is Jewish land.
So, how can the leaders of the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and other obviously pro-Arab nations rationalize that half of that land belongs to the Arabs? How can they be so naïve (or deceived)? Or, using other words, how can they be so biased? How can they be so ignorant? However, the main focus now is not on the past, but on the present - on the resumed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations or so-called “peace talks.”
But we have to ask the same questions: “How can anyone in the world believe that the Palestinian Arabs deserve to have their own separate state on Israelis land? And, furthermore, how can anyone believe that the Palestinians even want their own state on half of the present Israeli land given the fact that they have made such little progress in building their own economic base, establishing a functioning government, building and maintaining their own infrastructure, and establishing a functioning civil society?”
To believe the Palestinians truly want their own state, living peacefully side by side with Israel, people would have to ignore everything that the Palestinians have done (or left undone) since they signed the Oslo Accords back in 1993. They agreed in writing to stop their terrorism, to disarm and dismantle their militant terrorist groups, and to work to build a viable economy and a functioning democratic government in the territory they were occupying.
Everyone has to know that they have made absolutely no effort even to begin to fulfill any of those promises. They proceeded to sign four subsequent peace agreements, only to continue to fail to fulfill any of the terms of their signed agreements. So who can trust someone who continually lies to you? Who can believe that the Palestinians will ever change their spots? Who can believe they will ever want a Palestinian state on half of Israel’s land, co-existing peacefully with the Jewish people?
In addition, how is it that all these world leaders not only ignore that the Palestinians have not done what they promised, but also ignore what the present Palestinian leadership is saying? Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has stated over and over again that he will not recognize Israel as a Jewish state under any circumstances. He has said repeatedly that he will not be satisfied without being given East Jerusalem to become the capital of a Palestinian state. He has continually declared that he wants millions of so-called “Arab refugees” to return to live not only in the Palestinian state but in the Israeli state also.
Furthermore, how can all these world leaders ignore the glaring truth that Abbas has chosen to reject all previous peace proposals put forth by Israeli governments, including the dramatic proposals from former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that were more generous than current Prime Minister Netanyahu will ever offer? And how can they overlook how Abbas has frittered away the entire 10 months of Netanyahu’s construction freeze with flimsy excuses in order to stay away from the negotiating table? How can anyone believe that Abbas is a leader with his heart set on peace?
We should add that Netanyahu has made it abundantly clear that he does not intend to reiterate previous offers made to the Palestinians by his predecessors. He has stated firmly that he will never relinquish East Jerusalem to have a divided city, nor will he ever relinquish the Temple Mount and the Western Wall. And first and foremost, he will not seriously proceed with negotiations until the Palestinians agree to recognize Israel as a Jewish state - clearly the first step in any peace agreement. It’s so basic and elementary that it seems almost idiotic to have to spell it out on paper.