There will never be peace with the PA-impossible demands

Abbas Won’t Give Way on Refugee “Return” Even If He Gets State

Jonathan S. Tobin | @tobincommentary 08.29.2011 - 9:30 AM

Those inclined to blame Israel for the lack of peace in the Middle East like to talk about the necessity of a two-state solution. But as much as a scheme that left Jewish and Palestinian Arab states living in peace with each other might seem like the only way out of the century-long conflict, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas​ gave us yet another reminder yesterday about the problem with merely focusing on the creation of a Palestinian state. As the Jerusalem Post reports, in an interview with a Jordanian newspaper, Abbas made it clear even if the General Assembly of the United Nations voted to recognize an independent Palestinian state in the 1967 lines, the PA would continue to insist on the “right of return” for Arab refugees to swamp Israel.

If he gets his way, Abbas will have a Jew-free state in the West Bank and Gaza next to a Jewish state that will have to live under the threat of being deluged with Palestinians who would transform it into yet another Arab state. That helps explain why he continues to refuse to recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish state. But, along with this promise of unending strife, Abbas’ statement also points to another issue that explains why his UN initiative represents more of a danger to the PA than it does to Israel.

As Khaled Abu Toameh explains in the Post, if the General Assembly does vote in favor of the Palestinian statehood resolution, it won’t actually create such a state, but it will raise the question of whether or not the PA could be said to still represent the interests of the millions of descendants of the 1948-49 refugees who are still kept in camps by Arab nations. They are currently represented in New York by the Palestine Liberation Organization’s UN observer office. But if the GA votes in favor of statehood then that status will be transferred to the PA, which is the putative government of the West Bank, though not Gaza, which remains under the thrall of the Hamas terrorist movement.

Considering the PLO created the PA after Israel allowed Yasir Arafat​ back into the territories after the 1993 Oslo Accords, this may strike those not immersed in the legalisms of the UN as confusing. But the transference of representation from the PLO to the PA may actually complicate the efforts of Abbas to try to legally represent the refugees.

Abbas’ remarks about not giving up the right of return also illustrate the zero-sum nature of the conflict from the Palestinian frame of reference. Abbas still balks at recognizing the legitimacy of a Jewish state no matter where its borders would be drawn. Left-wing critics of Israel dismiss this as a non-issue, but the PLO and the PA it spawned came into being fighting against the existence of Israel before the so-called “occupation” of the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinian national identity is inseparable from the idea of opposing Zionist sovereignty over any part of the country and of returning refugees to pre-1967 Israel.

This is why Abbas and his predecessor Yasir Arafat have always refused Israeli offers of an independent state no matter the terms. Though their UN gambit is creating legal problems for the PA, the refugee issue shows it must nonetheless stick to it simply because Abbas’ overriding imperative is to avoid peace talks at any price.
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PA wants it all!!

The cartoon is a clear example of the PA's lack of recognition of Israel's right to exist, and sends a message that the PA's real goal is a complete dismantling of Israel and its replacement by a Palestinian state. This sentiment is implicit in PA ideology but only occasionally is it expressed so explicitly in its controlled media.

Palestinian Media Watch has reported that the PA continuously presents all of Israel as "Palestine." In recent months, this message appeared in cultural and educational settings.

Political Action: ensure US stops palestinian bid

Next month, the Palestinian Authority plans to ask the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital.

The United States has strongly objected to this approach, with Congress overwhelmingly passing resolutions threatening cuts in aid if the Palestinians continue to shun peace talks and go forward in their harmful efforts at the United Nations.

However, the Palestinians have not yet abandoned this path and more action is now needed to persuade them to change course and return to the negotiating table.

If America fails in this effort, the consequences could be immense: Israelis could be dragged into foreign courts and charged with human rights violations...nations could implement sweeping economic sanctions...the Jewish presence in east Jerusalem could come under severe international challenge.

That is why I am writing to ask for your help by joining the work of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee today.
In the coming weeks AIPAC and its members will be working with our leader in Washington to:
Ensure the United States makes clear to the Palestinians that it will veto any such resolution at the U.N. Security Council.
Urge our government to press the PA to return to the negotiating table with Israel.
Urge the United States to press foreign leaders to oppose Palestinian intransigence and support direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
By joining AIPAC to

Israel must destroy Hamas

Pinpoint strikes and limited retaliation won't end the terror from Gaza, writes one of Israel's leading columnists. Only the total destruction of Hamas will allow Israel to live in peace.

Yoram Ettinger, writing in Israel Hayom a few days after terror attacks in Israel killed seven people, says that "co-existence" is not a viable option when dealing with terrorists groups.

A decisive defeat of terrorism requires a victory over – and not coexistence or ceasefire agreements with – terrorism. We need to uproot – not just stop – terrorism. Any response to terrorism that falls short of devastating the ideological, political, financial, logistic and operational terrorist infrastructures only serves to reassure terrorists that they are immune to annihilation.

Moreover, it nurtures their hope-driven terrorism. They hope to destroy Israel’s defiance, wreck Israel’s steadfastness, and sustain the momentum of sweeping Israeli ideological and territorial retreats between the years 1993-2011.

And the more defensive -- rather than offensive -- Israel becomes, the more terrorists are emboldened.

Limited response has also been implemented in order to soothe international public opinion - which is never satisfied with Israeli concessions - thus recklessly subordinating national security to public diplomacy considerations. Sometimes it yields a false sense of security and enhances short-term tactical popularity.

However, limited response always undermines long-term strategic interests and international respect towards Israel, unleashing more pressure on Israel, radicalizing Palestinian terrorism and distancing the region from peace.

Whether Israel decides to live with terrorism or destroy it will become apparent in the days to come.



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Palestinians want to kill Jews-rockets hit a school

Once again proving its utter disregard for all human life, Hamas continued its indisciminate rocket fire into Israel today, striking a Beersheva school. The school was thankfully unoccupied due to summer vacation. That vacation is due to end in a few weeks. Had school been in session, the casualties may well have been horrific.

On Saturday night, Hamas succeeded in its attempts to murder Israeli civilians when a Grad rocket landed on a house in Beersheva, killing one and wounded several others. Two children, including a four-month-old baby, were wounded in the town of Ofakim.

Rockets have been falling steadily since a series of coordinated terrorist attacks on Thursday. The IDF has been responding with a series of retaliatory strikes, and the Jerusalem Post is currently reporting that the government is considering a ground offensive against the Gaza Strip.

However, the defense establishment has apparently already ruled out a major offensive operation. Air Force strikes resumed after a brief lull early Sunday afternoon.

Perhaps the only bright spot in recent days has been the relative success of the Iron Dome defense system. While it has not been 100 percent successful in indicting rockets fired at Israel, and it is not currently widely deployed, the IDF is apparently impressed with the system's success thus far.

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Abbas says No Jews in future Palestine Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg

Abbas' Vision of an Ethnically Cleansed Palestinian State - Jonathan S. Tobin
PA leader Mahmoud Abbas told visiting U.S. congressmen that the independent Palestinian state he says he wants will have no Jewish settlements. This demand for an ethnically cleansed Palestine would mean the forced removal of all Jews living in the territories. Since he is calling for that state to exist in all of the territory of the West Bank, Gaza and the part of Jerusalem that was illegally occupied by Jordan from 1949 to 1967, that would mean in theory the eviction of over half a million Jews to accommodate his ambition.
For the PA, the desire to remove the Jews stems more from ideology than pragmatism. Expunging every vestige of the Jewish presence is inextricably tied up in the enterprise of Palestinian sovereignty.
Any Israeli who would call for the expulsion of Arabs from Israel is rightly branded as an extremist. Yet few in the West think there is anything odd about the fact that the Palestinians' vision of a two-state solution is to have one state with both Jews and Arabs and one Arab state where all Jews have been thrown out. (Commentary