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Why a Palestinian State Won't Happen Any Time Soon

(Jewish Chronicle-UK) Josef Joffe - At the 80th UN General Assembly, three major players - Britain, France and Canada - are poised to recognize a make-believe state by the name of "Palestine." 147 UN members have already anointed Palestine, a state that never was and will not soon be. All Israeli offers of "two states for two nations" have ended up in the shredder. Bill Clinton labored hard at Camp David in 2000, only to see Yassir Arafat scurry off to launch yet another intifada, which claimed 1,100 Israeli lives. In 2005, Israel withdrew unilaterally from Gaza, hoping to trigger a virtuous cycle. Instead, it got Hamas, which turned the Strip into a missile base financed unwittingly by billions of dollars from the EU, the U.S. and the UN. Today, the two-state solution dwells in Neverland if we are to believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In Israel, the national trauma of Oct. 7, when Hamas slaughtered 1,200 Jews, is too deeply rooted to favor risk-taking. Now, only 21% of Israelis favor two states. Such are the realities, a string of Arab opportunities missed and Israeli dreams shattered. Every time when the West imposed pressure on Israel, its enemies escalated the violence. This is an iron law. The remedy is not recognition as a free gift. The Palestinian Survey Center PCPSR reports that a huge majority of 77% does not want to disarm Hamas. The writer, a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Stanford University, also taught International Politics at Harvard and Johns Hopkins.
2025-09-21 00:00:00
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