And Yet, Somehow, The Logical Conclusion Still Doesn't Follow
Reader comment on item: The Palestinian Economy in Shambles

Submitted by Ron Thompson (United States), Dec 27, 2007 at 11:12

If one agrees with all this description and its perverse (but only to the naive) conclusion that Palestinian impoverishment is "a long-term positive development", then it should logically follow that the idea of a Palestinian State should be expressly dropped and publicly opposed. Anything short of such abandonment (which could take many forms, some more subtle than others) will, with a mirror image perversity, only lead to some form of "exhilaration" as described by Pipes.

We've seen this before. When Sharon made his bold move to leave Gaza, taking the settlers with him, I thought that he probably had in mind that when the Palestinians only renewed their violence (a highly foreseeable event), then such violence would be taken as final evidence that the idea of a Palestinian State was totally bankrupt. But, no, Gazan and Hamas violence was only blamed on Israel, and a supine and spineless acceptance of the idea of a Palestinina State continued unabated.

The same thing is going to happen again with the further descent of Gaza into impoverished violence and the continuing slide of the economic condition of West Bank Palestinians.

In order for the truth of the uselessness of Western Aid to lead to any sort of actual "peace process', the idea of a Palestinian State must be eroded and ultimately rejected. Then the Palestinians, in the West Bank and Gaza, or more likely, somewhere else, might begin to turn their attentions to mundane matters, and away from support for terrorism which ends up being most nihilistic to their own interests.

It has long been amazing to me that there seems to be no group anywhere, in Israel or the US or in Europe, who is actually and openly thinking about, What To Do About The Palestinians since the establishment of a small, peaceful state alongside Israel is not possible. Is no Israeli think tank pondering along these lines? No task force of the US National Security Council? No task force of any of dozens of think tanks in the US? None in Europe? Why isn't Daniel Pipes at least speculating along these lines?

It seems sadly safe to say that as long as no one is considering this obvious logical conclusion of unending Hamas violence and rejectionism, Palestinian "exhilaration" and bellicosity will continue for that reason alone.

Put another way, think of Sherlock Holmes' famous dog that didn't bark. The silent dog here is the refusal of the West to consider that there is no possibility of a peaceful Palestinian State. That dog that won't bark is itself a cause of Palestinian, and Arab, exhilaration." For surely. they have to be saying, "They'll never DARE to reject the idea of a Palestinian State, and as long as they lack the nerve to do that, we can always hope that sooner or later we will wear down the hated Jewish State. With their continued help in the form of this pusillanimous refusal to reject our demand for a dagger state alongside the heart of Israel, we will eventually win."

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but comments are rejected if scurrilous, off-topic, vulgar, ad hominem, or otherwise viewed as inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the Guidelines for Comments. For informational purposes, we identify countries from which comments are sent.