The utter folly and irresponsibility of recognizing a Palestinian state ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Sunday, May 25, 2025

The utter folly and irresponsibility of recognizing a Palestinian state

France has indicated that it is preparing to recognize a Palestinian state, and other countries like Belgium the UK and Luxembourg are seriously considering doing the same, according to reports.

The idea is folly - even if you take Israel out of the picture.

The (relatively) independent Palestinian Sada News site wrote an anguished article in November about the lack of Palestinian unity, and the article is still on its main page.

The ideas that there is a genocide in Gaza, and that Israel is using starvation as a war strategy, are libelous antisemitic myths. But they are universally believed within all parts of Palestinian society. Yet even so, given an unprecedented crisis in the short history of Palestinians, Hamas and Fatah continue to prioritize their own politics over the supposed welfare of their people.

Here's what the editorial said:

The Palestinian factions, and here I mean specifically Fatah and Hamas, are sparing no effort to thwart reconciliation and end the division between them.

The United States has mobilized all its allies to support Israel and its aggression against the Palestinians. How can we not find a way out of this division at this crucial time, when Palestinians are being slaughtered daily, their homes are being destroyed, and their schools and hospitals are being bombed? Yet the cries of the children and women of Gaza have not stirred a single hair in the hearts of the leaders of the warring Palestinian factions? Is there anything worth fighting over after all this destruction? Or is our conflict over the remnants of a government amid the bodies scattered from Rafah to Jenin?

For years, reconciliation talks between Fatah and Hamas have been underway, from Mecca to Cairo, then Doha, Moscow, and even China, but without tangible results. The question remains: What is the real reason for this dispute? And why are these talks not achieving any progress?

We recently heard about negotiations in Cairo regarding the formation of an administrative committee to manage the situation in the Gaza Strip, unaffiliated with either Hamas or Fatah, with a focus on humanitarian relief in the beleaguered enclave. However, the negotiations remain secret, and the reasons behind this are clear: they are merely another illusion being marketed for local, regional, and international consumption, as both sides pursue the same path that leads to no solution.

The Palestinian people have already despaired of the unity of both sides, and the majority have begun to reject their actions. However, the idea of an administrative committee without a genuine national political leadership that protects the rights of the Palestinian people and achieves their goals is unacceptable.

The entire world, led by the United States and its allies, fully supports Israel, while Fatah and Hamas continue to fight over power-sharing. All of Palestine is being destroyed, Jerusalem is being Judaized, and the Gaza Strip is in ruins. In this reality, are these Palestinian factions still capable of offering any real solution?

When Western nations recognize "Palestine," who are they recognizing?

As scathing as this editorial is, it is only the tip of the iceberg. It doesn't mention the corruption and impotence within the PA, or Hamas willingly using its own people as human shields, or its priority of keeping Israeli hostages instead of ending a devastating war.

Palestinian politics are irrevocably dysfunctional. A "State of Palestine" would be a failure from the outset. This is the fundamental fact that the West refuses to admit because it wants so desperately to "solve the problem."

The reality is one that no one is willing to say out loud, even though it is the Occam's Razor of Palestinian national politics for over a century: The entire point of a Palestinian state is not to help Palestinians but to be used as a staging area to destroy Israel. That is the simplest and plainest explanation for no acceptance of the 1947 partition plan, why no one demanded a Palestinian state between 1949-1967, why Arafat and other leaders refused multiple peace plans, the PA refusal to integrate Palestinians in their territory but rather for them to swamp Israel with the "right of return." Yasir Arafat enunciated this strategy, called the "stages plan," in 1974, Hamas accepts it today, and nothing that has happened since then contradicts it.

This unwillingness to face reality has deadly consequences, for Palestinians and Israelis alike. Recognizing a state whose only purpose is to destroy another state is not just folly - it is the height of irresponsibility and the opposite of sober decision making. It would not prompt peace but encourage war. It would reward Palestinian intransigence and terror. It would foment more plans for more October 7ths. Worst of all, it is a death sentence for the Palestinians and Israelis that it is naively trying to help.