 resident
Bush joins a long list of people who have kicked around the idea of
a Palestinian state, only to be kicked by it in return. The United
Nations partitioned British-held Palestine into Jewish and Palestinian
states as long ago as 1947, but the Arabs said no. Between then and
the Six Day War of 1967, Egypt and Jordan were responsible for Palestinians,
but said no again to statehood for them. Everyone then spent years
in search of a yes, however small, from the Palestinians themselves.
At Camp David last year, Yasser Arafat on their behalf pronounced
the most thumping of noes. Since when, it has been intifada and suicide
bombers without interruption. Arafat and assorted Islamic fanatics
are presently in competition to see who can kill the most Jews. The
latest victim is Israeli cabinet member Rechavam Zeevi.
Israel has
been at its wit's end to extract the missing yes in some form or
another. Israel created the Palestine Authority that today is Arafat's
fiefdom, and would willingly grant it statehood. But on one condition:
that this state provide concrete evidence that it has the resolve
and the rule of law indispensable to peaceful coexistence.
President Bush
understands that security is a life-and-death issue for Israel.
But how to put it lastingly in place on the ground? A state is supposed
to be able to convert the Palestinians to peace, but there cannot
be peace until the Palestinians have a state. The chase for the
elusive yes has become one of those circular arguments that do not
distinguish between cause and effect.
In the end
— the very long delayed end — a state of Palestine may
be the right solution. The practical difficulties nevertheless are
enormous — several Arab countries might well go on saying no.
The time for Bush and others to experiment is after the defeat of
Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein and anyone else who incites the
Palestinians against Israel in pursuit of selfish ambitions. Only
after the Palestinians have acted in their own interests and given
an unqualified yes to peaceful coexistence can their emerging state
be considered on its merits. Speculating — or even worse, temporizing
— now over Palestinian statehood will be interpreted all over
the Arab and Muslim world as a sycophantic bid for friendship, therefore
a sign of weakness, and a good reason to rush out to the nearest
anti-American demonstration.
Without Israeli
approval and ratification, Palestinian statehood must remain notional.
For the administration to spend political capital on the question
at this moment, when Palestinian factions are competing to kill
Jews, is to oblige Israel either to ensure that any Palestine state
is stillborn, or else consent to running its own existential risk.
That's a no-win choice for everyone.
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