Who said this:
“A two-state solution is not possible to contemplate right now. The Palestinians are not ready. They are politically unstable. The Palestinian Authority cannot control its populace, which keeps carrying out violent acts against Israelis. Israel is retaliating with raids on places like Jenin. Israel has no choice. All this impedes peace. The Palestinian Authority has to get its act together.”
Who said this? Not Israel. In so many words, this is the message of Saudi Arabia. The kingdom says it cannot make peace right now with Israel because one of its conditions for peace is major Israeli concessions to the Palestinians. The problem is, Saudi Arabia says, it cannot insist on those concessions right now because they would not work. The Palestinians are not ready for peace, since they are bent on violence. It is impossible to require concessions of Israel until the Palestinian violence stops.
Again, this is not Israel talking. It is Saudi Arabia. Not that Saudi Arabia doesn’t want to proceed with a peace deal. According to the Wall Street Journal, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (“MBS”) suggested to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas last April that the Saudis would renew their funding of the PA — if the PA shut down the terrorists on the West Bank.
We know what happened to that Saudi request — more Israeli innocents shot dead, not less. The PA holds reduced sway on the West Bank among the Palestinian populace on the West Bank, but this is unchanged: virulent hatred of Israel and of Israelis in the Palestinian textbooks. They deny Israel’s existence and regard Israelis as subhuman. That, the PA could change. And that is the basis of the continuing Palestinian terrorism: hate.
Morocco, UAE, Sudan, Bahrain overcame their hatred of Israel, while Egypt and Jordan have come to terms with Israel. Not the Palestinian leadership. Not in the West Bank or in Gaza. And not the radicalized youth who launch the terror. Until all that changes, Saudi Arabia knows it cannot realistically demand concessions of Israel on the Palestinian issue.
The four Arab countries of the Abraham Accords bypassed the Palestinians. They made peace despite the Palestinians. Saudi Arabia should do the same if nothing changes. Why should it? Generations of Palestinians have been educated to hate Israel. The Saudis have a choice: peace with Israel or chained by the Palestinians.
Copyrigh © 2023 by the Intermountain Jewish News
I thought Gaza was the Arab State. The Palestinians said they were going to push the Jews into the sea. Is turnabout fair play? 🙂