Palestinians: Israel Is One Big Settlement

The Fellowship  |  February 26, 2018

As Palestinian rage ramps back up over word that the American embassy will move to Israel in May, much of the world seems to think that Jerusalem is at issue. But the world would be wrong. Gatestone Institute’s Bassam Tawil writes that the Palestinians’ problem is not with Jerusalem or settlements or any other issue than the very existence of the Jewish state and her people:

Let us be clear about this: When Palestinians — and some of their supporters in the international community, including Europe — say that they want an end to the “occupation,” they mean they want to see an end to Israel’s existence, full stop. They do not want to throw the Jews out of their homes in the settlements; rather, they want Jews to be expelled from the whole country.

The conflict, as far as the Palestinians are concerned, did not begin in 1967, when east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip came under Israeli control. In the eyes of the Palestinians, all Jews are “settlers” and “colonialists.” All the land, they argue, stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, is Muslim-owned land, and no Muslim is entitled to give up any part of it to a non-Muslim.

In other words, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a Muslim himself, will be considered a kaffir,” an “apostate” and a traitor if he ever agreed to cede control over “Muslim owned” land to Jews.

That is why it is naïve to assume that Abbas would ever sign any deal with Israel.

Neither Abbas nor any other Palestinian leader can accept anything less than 100 percent; and 100 percent means all of Israel. It does not mean a 100 percent of the “’67 borders” or of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. Yes, the Palestinians want “peace,” but that that means peace without Israel, not peace with Israel. Real peace, the Palestinians argue, will be achieved only when Israel is eliminated and the Jews disappear.

For the Palestinians, accepting Israel’s “right to exist” with Jews is seen as an act of treason…