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Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22529/palestinian-leaders-reject-israel
Palestinian Leaders Still Reject Israel's Right to Exist
(Gatestone Institute) Khaled Abu Toameh - On May 11 and 12, the Palestinian Authority organized mass rallies across the West Bank to commemorate the "Nakba" ("catastrophe") - the term Palestinians use to describe the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Senior Palestinian officials, including top figures from the ruling Fatah faction and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), participated in the event, once again reaffirming their commitment to the so-called "right of return." At first glance, the "right of return" may sound humanitarian. In reality, however, it represents one of the most extreme demands in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Palestinian leaders are demanding that millions of Palestinians classified as "refugees" - including descendants of the original refugees from 1948-49 - be allowed to settle inside Israel itself. The goal is to flood Israel with millions of Palestinians and transform Jews into a minority in their own country. This demand fundamentally contradicts the idea of a "two-state solution." Under a genuine "two-state solution," Palestinians would establish their own independent state alongside Israel. Yet Palestinian leaders are effectively saying that they want the demographic destruction of Israel through mass migration. No Israeli government could ever agree to national suicide. The continued glorification of the "Nakba" and the insistence on the "right of return" demonstrate that many Palestinians have not abandoned their long-term dream of replacing Israel rather than living peacefully beside it. By defining Israel's establishment as a "catastrophe," the Palestinian leadership is effectively telling its people that the very existence of Israel is illegitimate. This is not the language of reconciliation, coexistence, or compromise. It is the language of rejectionism and extremism. If, every year, one side of the conflict commemorated the creation of the other side's country as a disaster that must be reversed, would anyone seriously believe that such rhetoric prepares people for peace and compromise? The annual Nakba commemorations reinforce the narrative that Jews are foreign colonialists with no legitimate historical or national connection to the land. This narrative erases nearly 4,000 years of Jewish history in Jerusalem, Hebron, Judea, Safed, Tiberias, and elsewhere in Israel. This explains why peace efforts have repeatedly failed over the past decades. While some Westerners continue to speak about a "two-state solution," Palestinian leaders continue to educate their people that all of Israel is "Occupied Palestine."