(National Review) Clifford D. May - In the wake of the Second World War, when the United Nations recommended partitioning Palestine into two states, it did not use the term "Palestinian" to refer to Arab-speaking residents. The Jews of Palestine were, at that time, more commonly referred to as Palestinians. Their newspaper was the Palestine Post (now the Jerusalem Post), their contributions to the performing arts included the Palestine Orchestra (now the Israel Philharmonic), and their American-based charitable organization was the United Palestine Appeal. From 1948 until 1967, Gaza and the West Bank were under Egyptian and Jordanian control respectively. No serious demands for a Palestinian state were heard. Only after Israel took possession of those territories in a defensive war against Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab states did Palestinian nationhood become the central issue in what had been, until then, the Arab-Israeli conflict. A two-state solution was offered to the Palestinians in 1948 and at Camp David in 2000. In these and other instances, the Palestinians said no. What does that imply? Perhaps that Palestinians - or at least those who lead them - are themselves insufficiently nationalistic. The writer is president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
2011-12-23 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive