My Word: Western leaders recognize a Palestine they can’t even find - opinion

The Palestinians don’t want their own state; they want the State of Israel – “From the river to the sea,” in the words of the endlessly quoted mantra, shouted at rallies around the global village.

Many have pointed out that Hamas itself feels the declaration of the Palestinian state is a reward for their invasion and mega-atrocity in Israel on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and “ordinary” Gazan civilians invaded southern Israel, murdering, mutilating, raping, pillaging, burning, and abducting 251 hostages (of whom 48 are still being held in Gaza, alive or dead).

Some 145 UN members had already recognized this ill-defined State of Palestine before the recent blitz, but there is a major difference. It was foolish before October 7, when Hamas showed its true jihadist colors, murdering some 1,200 people; now, it is wicked. It is the equivalent of declaring ISIS legitimate and granting it independence instead of fighting the jihadist scourge.

The leaders of the countries recognizing the Palestinian state try to delude themselves that this is somehow a move toward peace rather than a prize for a particularly barbaric act of terrorism. The “two-state solution” thinking – or lack of thinking – was responsible for the disastrous Oslo Accords three decades ago. Oslo gave us more than 1,200 Israeli “victims of peace,” many of them the victims of Hamas suicide bombings.

Hamas is not seeking peace and prosperity. If you want to live happily alongside your neighbors, you don’t invade and slaughter them.

There is no indication whatsoever that Hamas has given up its stated goal of destroying Israel. In a sign of life after Israel tried to eliminate him and other arch-terrorists living in the comfort of Qatar’s capital, Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad told CNN last week: “You know what is the benefit of October 7 now? If you look to the [United Nations] General Assembly yesterday, when about 194 people opened their eyes and looked to the atrocity, to the brutality of Israel; and all of them, they condemned Israel. We waited for this moment for 77 years.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted in his speech to the General Assembly on Friday: “If Hamas agrees to our demands, the war could end right now. Gaza would be demilitarized, Israel would retain overriding security control, and a peaceful civilian authority would be established by Gazans and others committed to peace with Israel.

“Of course, you understand that the war in Gaza has affected every Israeli. But I am sure there are people in New York, London, Melbourne, and elsewhere who are probably thinking: What does all of this have to do with me?

“The answer is – everything. Because our enemies are your enemies.”

Meanwhile, rockets are still being sporadically launched on southern Israel from the Gaza and Palestinian rocket-producing factories that have been discovered by the IDF in the West Bank. The Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen have launched drones that have hit Eilat, and missiles aimed at central Israel.

DON’T RELY on the Palestinian Authority for a brave new Middle East. The high-level recognition of the State of Palestine – with no borders, no democratically elected government, and no independent economy – cannot create a success story out of thin air.

President Mahmoud Abbas, 89, is now in the 20th year of his “four-year” term of office.

He has not suddenly stopped supporting Palestinian terrorists in favor of supporting the State of Israel. And, having lost control of Gaza to Hamas in 2007, he now struggles to control the area where he is nominally a leader. That’s why he doesn’t want elections.

I have frequently asked: If there is a State of Palestine, why do the Palestinians need to maintain their UN-granted “Perpetual refugee” status and the massive funding for UNRWA (The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East)? How can Palestinians be considered refugees if they have their own state – particularly those living in that state?

UNRWA was founded in 1949 to provide what was meant to be a temporary solution until the “Palestinian refugee problem” could be resolved. At the time, according to UNRWA’s own site, approximately 750,000 Arabs came under its auspices. Thanks to the unique policy of allowing Palestinians to pass their refugee status on to their descendants, “Today, some 5.9 million Palestine refugees are eligible for UNRWA services,” the site states. By the time you finish reading this column, another “refugee” from 1948 will probably have been born.

In 2018, I attended a seminar in Moscow organized by the UN’s Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (whose name says so much). There, Palestinian Authority Ambassador to the UN Riad Mansour declared that even if the Palestinians were to have their own state, they would remain refugees “because it is an essential part of our identity.” Palestinian former legislator and activist Hanan Ashrawi, with whom I got into an unpleasant heckling match, backed him up.

The Palestinians already have the symbols of statehood, including a government, a flag (prominently displayed in many Western countries), a national anthem, security forces, embassies, sporting teams, and delegations.

Being granted a state of their own, combined with the UN- and EU-fostered culture of entitlement, gives the Palestinian leadership – whoever that might be – no incentive to return to the negotiating table. It encourages the Palestinian anti-normalization obsession.

Nonetheless, as the Abraham Accords show, there are Muslim and Arab states – real countries – that realize that peace and normalization are beneficial for all. The speech by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto at the UN was particularly interesting in this respect.

While calling for a “twostate solution,” the head of the country with the largest Muslim population said that Indonesia would recognize Israel the same day Israel recognized Palestine, offered 20,000 peacekeepers, and added that “the world must respect Israel’s right to live in security.” He closed his remarks with “Shalom.”

When the Kurds, moderate Sunni Muslims, overwhelmingly voted for self-determination in 2017, they were shunned by the rest of the world despite having their own language and culture. They also have a distinct geographic region that could be determined through negotiation – if any of the Muslim states where they are found would be prepared to grant them sovereignty.

Watching the endless speeches and posturing in the last few weeks, I couldn’t help thinking of Taiwan, a thriving democratic country. It was ousted from the UN in October 1971 by the bigger and more powerful People’s Republic of China.

Taiwan, a.k.a. the Republic of China, went from representing the Chinese people to not being recognized as an independent sovereign state. It has so much to give, but is not allowed membership in UN bodies like the World Health Organization. Unlike the Palestinians, it is not even permitted to compete under its own name in the Olympics. Taiwan’s plight, still threatened by the communist mainland, is a sobering lesson.

The Palestinian struggle literally shot to fame through terrorism. And it has paid off. The Palestinians have been offered their own state on numerous occasions, including in the 1947 UN Partition Plan. Multiple peacemaking efforts have literally been blown up. They want to destroy the Jewish state.

Be warned: The declaration of a borderless State of Palestine creates a Palestinian state of mind that has no boundaries or limits.