Abbas says "No peace without Jerusalem as capital of Palestine"

The PA's official WAFA news agency writes that Mahmoud Abbas has stated "I will not compromise on the 1967 borders as the border for our Palestinian state, there is no peace without Jerusalem as its capital."

I have yet to see a single journalist, columnist or politician ask him the simple question, "Why?"

Why is this a pre-requisite for peace? Why is a city that was ignored by Arabs for centuries suddenly so critical that peace is held hostage to it? Why, practically, can Ramallah not serve as a capital of a state, which it is effectively doing now?

The Jews accepted, reluctantly, the 1947 partition plan where Jerusalem was to be an international city. They didn't want to lose Jerusalem, but it was more important to have a land that Jews could flee to when they are persecuted, and it was promised (ha!) that Jerusalem would still have open access to all. They were people who were desperate to achieve their national aspirations and were willing to sacrifice, very dearly, their very souls for the chance.

Palestinian Arabs, on the other hand, don't seem to be very desperate. There is no sense of urgency for their supposed aspirations for a state. Instead of reluctantly accepting compromises that would lead to a state, they pile on ultimatum after ultimatum, threat after threat, if their maximal demands aren't met.

By saying "no peace" without dividing Jerusalem, Abbas is threatening terrorism if he doesn't get his demands.

This is not how people who want a nation act.

It is how crime-lords act.