Pitfalls of a Palestine State
GERSHMAN, CARL
Perspectives PITFALLS OF A PALESTINE STATE BY CARL GERSHMAN September's fedayeen skyjackings and Jordan's subsequent civil war have made it very clear that as long as the fate of the Palestinian...
...On the other hand, they are afraid to "collaborate" with the Israelis in setting up an autonomous state, for this would probably subject them to fedayeen terrorism and ostracism by the rest of the Arab world...
...it could scarcely afford a similar buildup to the east...
...This fraudulent entity is actually an Israeli colony which will finally liquidate to Israel's advantage the Palestinian problem...
...For the first time since the Six Day War, Israel is enunciating a clear policy on the question of a separate entity in the hope that a moderate Palestinian leadership will emerge...
...But carving out an independent state for the more than 1 million refugees now living in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and the territories occupied by Israel is a far more complex undertaking than is generally understood--even by those who propose it...
...They see it only in terms of increasing Arab military effectiveness vis-a-vis Israel...
...Simply creating a state for them is not a panacea...
...Without a durable political solution to the turmoil that has for so long plagued the Middle East, the Palestinians will continue to suffer...
...Many proponents of the plan, for example, assume that its heaviest resistance comes from Israel, and that a change in Israeli policy is all that is required for the state's creation...
...Thus Egyptian journalist Ahmad Baha' ad-Din has written that a Palestinian nation, having a long border with Israel, would serve as "a confrontation state" from which an offensive could be launched...
...More important, it disregards the passionate opposition to a Palestinian state expressed by the Arabs themselves--especially the fedayeen...
...Aware of all the pitfalls, and of the tremendous stake each has in devising some sensible modus vivendi, the Israelis and the West Bank Palestinians seem to be moving cautiously in that direction...
...Israel, of course, is profoundly aware of the threat a "confrontation state" would pose to its security...
...I. F. Stone has written that the creation of a Palestinian state would "deprive the fedayeen of their motive force" by dealing "with the grievance which fuels it...
...This, in turn, has given rise to a new groundswell of support for an old solution: the creation, on the west bank of the Jordan River (and perhaps the Gaza Strip), of a sovereign Palestinian state...
...The present likelihood is that there will be greater autonomy for the West Bank pending a settlement with whomever rules the palace in Amman...
...Whence the National Council declares its absolute denunciation of the idea of the fraudulent Palestinian entity in the territories of Palestine conquered after June 5...
...Fedayeen intransigence was further demonstrated in a resolution passed at the Fourth Congress of the Palestinian National Council, held in Cairo in July 1968...
...On the one hand, they desperately want peace, knowing they would be prime victims of any future war in the area...
...Prime Minister Golda Meir also indicated Israel's flexibility in an interview just prior to Nasser's death, saying that her government accepts the concept of a Palestinian entity...
...This is an act which entirely contradicts the right of the Palestinian Arab people to the whole of its homeland of Palestine...
...Wedged between two potent adversaries dedicated to its extinction, Israel would be forced to place all hopes for survival on the deterrence provided by its reputed possession of atomic weapons and the uncertain threat of U. S. intervention...
...That Syria and Iraq did not endorse the treaty hardly indicates that they want to make peace with Israel...
...rejects every solution that is a substitute for a complete liberation of Palestine, and rejects all plans that aim at the settlement of the Palestine issue or its internationalization...
...This assumption ignores the fact that Israel, by accepting the 1947 UN Partition Resolution, in effect recognized Palestinian nationalism...
...Appealing, too, is the related contention that statehood would temper fedayeen extremism by encouraging the Palestinians, in Israeli lecturer Shlomo Avineri's words, "to become responsible, and respectable, in the exercise of authority...
...The recent Cairo accord struck between Jordan's King Hussein and Yasir Arafat was endorsed by most of the Arab nations aligned against Israel, and it included an article supporting the commando drive to defeat Israel and "liberate" Palestinian lands...
...For their own reasons, the Palestinian inhabitants of the West Bank are equally concerned about a Palestine state...
...Events in Amman, the policies of Egypt's new rulers and, most important of all, the roles the Soviet Union and United States choose to play--these will determine the Palestinians' future...
...Now that the commandos have survived their test in Jordan, U. S. confidence in Hussein seems somewhat shaken...
...rather, it may mean they want someday to make war with Jordan...
...Entitled "The Dubious Calls for Creation of a Fraudulent Palestinian Entity," it stated in part: "The Zionist movement, imperialism and the tool of both, Israel, are making efforts to reinforce the Zionist aggression against Palestine...
...Only two weeks ago Nixon Administration officials, in a pronounced policy shift, indicated their receptiveness to such an idea as a realistic element of an overall settlement of the conflict in the Middle East...
...In the past, Jerusalem skirted the issue in deference to the U. S. aversion to any action that might weaken Hussein, and because the Right-wing Gahal party, opposed to giving up the West Bank, was a member of the ruling coalition...
...Certainly the main argument for the establishment of a Palestinian entity--that the refugees constitute a nation and therefore have a right to autonomy--has merit...
...Although the fedayeen are the most vociferous, they are by no means the only Arab opponents of a Palestinian state...
...But the success of any agreement depends upon many factors beyond the desires of the Israelis and West Bank Palestinians...
...by establishing a Palestinian entity in the territory conquered after the aggression of June 5 [1967], an entity which will bestow legality and permanence on the State of Israel...
...Perspectives PITFALLS OF A PALESTINE STATE BY CARL GERSHMAN September's fedayeen skyjackings and Jordan's subsequent civil war have made it very clear that as long as the fate of the Palestinian refugees remains unresolved, peace will not come to the Middle East...
...it is that Israel exists at all...
...Meanwhile the Israeli government, minus Gahal, is working with local leaders to establish an Arab university on the West Bank, to hold elections in some localities, and to develop banking and trade agreements...
...Likewise, it declares that every Arab individual or group, Palestinian or non-Palestinian, calling for the vassal entity and international protection, or supporting it, is the enemy of the Palestinian Arab people and the Arab nation...
...The official position of the 10 guerrilla groups belonging to the Palestine Liberation Organization was spelled out in Article 21 of the Palestinian National Covenant: "The Palestinian Arab people...
...At present 14,000 Soviet military and technical personnel and advanced military weapons face the Jewish State to the west...
...They unconditionally oppose any approach to the refugee question short of Israel's destruction...
...In fact, the complexity of the entire situation can be seen in the difficult alternatives confronting them...
...Thus Egypt and Jordan, both of whom subscribed to the American peace initiative and the idea of a political answer to the Middle East question, were also parties to an agreement explicitly rejecting political settlement with Israel and implicitly rejecting a Palestinian entity on the West Bank...
...Carl Gershman is the cochairman of the Youth Commission for Peace and Democracy in the Middle East...
...another possibility is the creation of a federation between the West Bank and Jordan, with the Palestinians being granted considerable powers of self-regulation...
...Yet their grievance is not simply that the Palestinians are stateless...
...Statehood is just one of several potential solutions...
...Indeed, it is instructive that when Arab nations discuss the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state, they conceive of it neither as a way to attain peace nor as a means to end the suffering of the refugees...
Vol. 53 • November 1970 • No. 21
