08 July 2016 By Khalid Amayreh
There are numerous convincing reasons showing that the
appearance of a Palestinian state (or statelet, or entity, or a confederate of
Bantustans) would be more of a solution to Zionism's problems than a solution
for the Palestinian problem. Indeed, if we
internalize the meaning of politics as the ''art of the possible,'' we must
accept in our minds that a Palestinian state established under present global
geopolitical realities would have to be a state devoid of statehood, a
deformed entity without a real substance, without sovereignty and without a
future. It would be a state without Jerusalem,
without the repatriation of the refugees to the places from which they were
expelled at gunpoint in 1948, without economic viability, and even without
sufficient water resources. Today Israel is at its
Zenith in terms of political, economic and especially military power. Israel
is a nuclear power and more or less in control of the politics and policies of
the United States. On the contrary, the Palestinians are at their nadir
politically and economically. Indeed, the Palestinians in both the West Bank
and Gaza Strip are virtually hostage to the Israeli mood. Our water supplies
come from Israel. Our electricity comes from Israel.
Our fuel supplies come from Israel. Yes, we are hostage to Israeli criminality
and depravity which Israel calls ''good will.'' Israel views our very survival
as an expression of its ''magnanimity.'' Hence, any
Palestinian state born out of the present circumstances would be inherently
deformed, inherently precarious and almost totally dependent for its very
survival and continuity on Israel. We all know that Israel wants the PA to be
a kind of a Palestinian ''Judenrat'' responsible and answerable to Israel,
first and foremost. This is what is euphemistically referred to as ''security
coordination'' between the PA and Israel. In short, any would-be Palestinian
state under existing conditions would a vessel state that is completely
subservient to Israel. Indeed, we would exaggerate
very little if we argued that the relationship between Ramallah and Tel Aviv
has more in common with the relationship between Berlin and the various
Judenrates (Jewish councils under the Nazis) than it does with the
relationship between two normal entities, e.g. states.
Hence, it would be a great historical foolishness on the
Palestinians' part to pursue statehood under the current circumstances.
The PA continues to cling to a faint glimmer of hope called
international legitimacy. But we all know deep in our hearts that
international power politics, not legitimacy or international law, is what
counts in the final analysis. The ongoing Syrian
holocaust should serve as a striking example illustrating the moral bankruptcy
of the world. Nor would, or even could the US, let alone Europe be able or
willing to force Israel to come to terms with even the very minimum of
Palestinian rights acceptable to the majority of our people at home and in the
Diaspora. After all, the US and Europe have always
been part of the problem, not part of the solution. Indeed, Israel wouldn't
have reached this level of arrogance, insolence and intransigence had it not
been for America's unlimited supplies of advanced weaponry to the rebellious
entity. Palestinian advantage: Today, the
Palestinians do have a clear demographic advantage over Israel. Israel knows
this fact too well but chooses to ignore it for political and psychological
reasons as recognizing it openly would be an implied admission of the failure
of Zionism. In fact, we can safely claim that Israel is an apartheid state,
par excellence, whereby a Jewish minority is ruling over and systematically
persecuting a non-Jewish majority. Let no one raise
his or her eyebrow. Facts are facts. In 2005, a US government report revealed
that Palestinian population in Israel and the occupied territories exceeded
the Jewish population. The following table shows the basic demographic data
until the year 2004. Jewish, Palestinian and Other
Minorities' Populations of Israel/Palestine, according to the U.S. State
Department's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 2004 Population
Percentage* Jewish 5,200,000 48% Palestinian 5,337,185 49.3% Other Minorities
290,000 2.7% Total 10,827,185 100% * Rounded to 1 significant figure.
Today (2016), and assuming the accuracy of the data mentioned,
it would be safe to argue that the Palestinian population between the River
Jordan and the Mediterranean (Israel proper, West Bank, Gaza Strip and East
Jerusalem) exceeds the Jewish population by at least 300,000 people.
We could also deduce from the data that the Palestinians would
have a clear and uncontestable majority within mandatory Palestine between two
to three decades. In light, this writer recommends that the PA leadership
abandon once and for all the illusive quest for Palestinian statehood and opt
for the creation of a democratic and unitary state (between the River Jordan
and the Mediterranean) where Jews and Arabs live together in peace and
equality irrespective of religion and ethnicity. Comments 💬 التعليقات |