Israel Always: Do the Palestinians deserve their own state?

Mahmoud Abbas puts kiss of death on already shaky scheduled Middle East Peace Conference

By EARL COX
earl cox (photo credit: )
earl cox
(photo credit: )
US President George Bush has arranged this big international Middle East Peace Conference which is scheduled to meet soon in Annapolis, Maryland, for the purpose of putting the finishing touches on the establishment of a Palestinian state. It seems that he wants this state to be his legacy before he leaves office in January 2009. To make the conference a big international historical event, Bush has invited not only Israel, the Palestinian Arabs, and the United States to participate, as in past conferences, but the rest of the world as well. The "Quartet" will be there, that mystical political entity that created the "Roadmap to Peace," including the United States, the United Nations, the European Union, and Russia. Bush has also invited representatives of England, Germany, and France, plus the heads of at least five Arab states. It doesn't take a prophet to discern that this line-up is totally stacked against Israel. Of course, Bush will be there, supposedly Israel's best friend in the world. But, unfortunately, he will be siding with the rest of the anti-Israel gang in trying to force Israel to give the Palestinians everything for nothing, so they can launch that historic new viable democratic Palestinian state. At Bush's insistence, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Fatah Party President Mahmoud Abbas have been meeting bi-weekly for about three months, charged with the mandate to work out all of the "final status" details, so that final agreements can be ready for the late November conference. After the first several get-togethers, however, both leaders reported "no progress." Finally, Olmert blinked first. He wants peace so badly for Israel that he seems willing to negotiate away the Temple Mount, East Jerusalem, Jerusalem's Old City except the Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall and even all of Judea and Samaria except for three Jewish settlement blocks. Knesset opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu could not keep silent. He decided that it was "insane and crazy" to even think of giving East Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria to the Arabs. "If we give them half of the city of Jerusalem," he commented, "the rest of the city will be unlivable." He also said that Olmert, with only three percent in public approval ratings, did not have a mandate from the nation to give away that land. And he asked the question, "What have the Palestinians done to deserve their own state?" Of course, Abbas had to be happy and appreciative with Olmert's offers. Right? Of course, wrong! He simply and defiantly stated that Israel had to meet all of his demands, including a full return to the 1967 borders, plus the return of all the so-called "Arab refugees" who left their homes during the War of Independence in 1948. Finally, Abbas insists that the US and Israel must promise the PA that the Arabs will have a Palestinian state within Israel six months after the conference. He would also like a return of Arab refugees. From all indications Abbas has given the kiss of death to the already shaky Annapolis Middle East Peace Conference. Olmert is obviously jumping back on the route of appeasement, undoubtedly under great pressure from President Bush. Shouldn't both Bush and Olmert have learned some lessons by now? Shouldn't they both clearly known and understand that appeasement had never worked? What benefits has Israel gained by giving the Arabs major control of most of the West Bank and by giving them full control of Gaza? The Arabs have used the West Bank as their staging area for the terrorism and suicide bombings of their "intifada" since 2000. They have continuously fired exploding rockets into Israel from Gaza since 2005. All of this has resulted in the cold-blooded killing of hundreds of innocent Jewish civilians. Who could be so naïve to think that anything would improve, if Israel would give the intractable Arabs their own Palestinian state? It's no wonder that most of us Christian Zionists, as well as most Israeli people, are edgy about any further peace deals with these so-called "Palestinian" Arab people. Wouldn't you be? Earl Cox, International Christian Broadcaster, known as 'the voice of Israel to the world.' He is also the founder of Israel Always