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Palestinians Need More Than Borders

(Commentary) Tom Wilson - PA head Mahmoud Abbas wants the next round of negotiations to focus on the borders of a Palestinian state. But the precise geographical parameters of a Palestinian state must be of less concern than the internal nature of that state. Indeed, if we could all be confident that a future Palestinian state would have the national characteristics of, say, Switzerland, then the question of the defensibility of Israel's borders might be somewhat less critical. But because there is good reason to suspect that a future Palestinian state in the West Bank, like the Palestinian polity in Gaza, would have more in common with Afghanistan, the exact positioning of its borders should hardly be our most pressing concern. The Palestinian Authority's nascent country-in-waiting in the West Bank has been the model of what a failed state looks like and it only remains in existence today because of phenomenal levels of international aid coupled with an IDF presence. Were it not for the Israeli military, Abbas and his governing Fatah movement would likely have been swept away long ago just as Fatah was in Gaza. The Palestinian Authority's dress rehearsal for statehood has demonstrated what a Palestinian state would look like. As things stand, wherever the borders of a Palestinian state were drawn would present Israel with a strategic nightmare.
2014-04-18 00:00:00
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