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In the Mideast, Trump Gives Reality a Chance

(Wall Street Journal) Reuel Marc Gerecht - Far too many Palestinians still want to pretend that the "right of return" and Jerusalem's unsettled status give hope that the gradual erosion of Israel is still possible. The biggest problem the Palestinians have is that the Israelis don't trust them, and the Israelis cannot be ignored, sidestepped, bullied, bombed or boycotted out of eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank. Americans and Europeans have consistently encouraged the Palestinians by stressing their own role in resolving the conflict, usually by suggesting that they would cajole or push Israelis toward Palestinian positions. For the Israelis, this has seemed surreal. The Fatah leadership is well aware that only the Israeli security services have kept the West Bank from going the way of Gaza, where Fatah's vastly better-armed forces were easily overwhelmed by Hamas in 2007. Fatah's secular police state - and that is what the Palestinian Authority is - has proved, so far, no match for Hamas. A two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian clash isn't going to happen before Palestinians reconcile in a functioning democracy that doesn't scare their Jewish neighbors. Most Arabs have adjusted, however reluctantly, to the permanence of Zion. They did so four decades ago when Egypt checked out of the war. The writer, a former CIA case officer in the Middle East, is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
2017-12-27 00:00:00
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