PRESIDENT BUSH has caught the fever. Like so many of his predecessors, he believes that he will make peace in the Middle East. It doesn't matter that the formula he is applying, pressuring Israel to make one-sided concessions, has failed so many times before. As the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported, the U.S. has made it clear that it believes it can impose the creation of a Palestinian State. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice believes that "We are in the most serious process in at least seven years to discuss all of the issues that can lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state."
With the Road Map’s 2005 deadline for the creation of a Palestinian State long gone, the U.S. has turned to the familiar scheme of a Mideast Peace Summit. These summits are characterized by the U.S. and Israel’s Arab neighbors, including her deadliest enemies, pressuring Israel to divide Jerusalem, withdraw from Judea and Samaria, and allow the creation of an enemy state and allow millions of Arabs to bolster it. It is a given that no other party will be asked to make such concessions.
Sensing the opportunity, PA President Mahmoud Abbas, says Israel isn't really ready to talk peace. This pressure tactic, demanding concessions before the conference begins, is one the Arabs have often used. Unfortunately, Olmert is only too eager to take the bait. Olmert has already made "gestures" in the form of releasing Palestinian terrorists. In conversations with Abbas, Olmert has also indicated that he supports the creation of a Palestinian State. And lastly, not so long ago Olmert publically raised the spectre of dividing Jerusalem so it also be the capital of a Palestinian state, through his deputy Vice Premier Haim Ramon. (Recall that Olmert's predecessor, Arial Sharon also first had his deputy (Olmert at the time) raise the idea of Disengagement to test the waters). All of this before the Annapolis Conference has even begun.
There has been some public outcry over Olmert's Jerusalem offer. MK Yisrael Kats (Likud) succeeded in garnering the signatures of a majority of the Knesset on a petition against dividing Jerusalem. But the possibility of a Palestinian state with a Jerusalem capital must be taken seriously, as former speaker of the Knesset and current MK Reuven Rivlin (Likud) said: "It is possible that Olmert could divide Jerusalem and we would have to face that reality." But the general response of the Jewish people in Israel and America has been generally aloof. Perhaps this is because it seems unreal that such an unpopular leader would be able to carry out such plans. But Olmert understands that raising the false hope of peace is his chance at popularity.
Perhaps people don't fear the danger a Palestinian state poses. It would be a snake wrapped around the Jewish State's throat. A Palestinian state would bring an influx of Arabs. Even if these Arabs don’t seek and gain entry into Israel for jobs or other reasons, this would enhance the demographic problem by enlarging the population that is hostile to Israel. This state, with its enlarged population, would also be a launching pad for terrorist attacks, which could include a nuclear attack with a weapon smuggled from Iran or North Korea. And, as we saw after the Disengagement, Israel cannot simply reinvade a deserted area when there is a problem. It is much harder to retake territory, after the enemy has dug in. Also, a Palestinian state would either initiate formal war on Israel in the future or join a war initiated by Israel's neighbors.Because the boundaries of the territories are artificial, they would leave Israel exposed to danger at every point.
Peace summits and other plans which aim to impose the two-state solution will never bring peace, because it is an artificial solution to a fundamental problem: The Land of Israel belongs to the Jews, and the Arabs don’t want a Western, let alone Jewish, state in their backyard. Before the Jews, they let the land lay desolate. Four hundreds of years the land was just one area of a larger Islamic empire. No one minded, except the Jews. More recently, the Arab have not objected to the sovereignty of Turkey until 1918, the Egyptians in Gaza and Jordanians in the “West Bank” until 1967, the Jordanians in over half of then pre-1922 Palestine up to this day, or even the possibility of Syrian control before 1947. Some time after 1947, however, the Arabs needed Israel as their own state. But the creation of the PA as part of the Oslo Accords and the Disengagement from Gaza proved, giving these people power only leads to more dead Jews.
