The Self-Destructive Irony of Saeb Erekat

If The PA, as Saeb Erekat suggests, withdraws recognition of Israel it is signing the death warrant for its own legitimacy as a Nationalist Movement. Only Israel can cede its territory to create a Palestinian State and thus only Israel can confer legitimacy on a PA state. The PA has “drank the Kool-Aid” when it comes to Palestinian rights in Judea and Samaria. There is a case for Palestinian rights, a strong case but it is not the case the Palestinians offer to the world.  The Palestinians incorrectly believe a state was guaranteed to them when Israel was created in 1948, they incorrectly believe in their national myth that they are the natives rather than being Syrians of what was “greater Syria.” Palestinian claims of being native would be like David Duke claiming to be a Native American on the basis of America being a white, Protestant country.  These Palestinian beliefs exist not only to create a nationalist myth but also a maximal claim to Israel and to a lesser extent Jordan. Ironically, it is this myth that prevents the PA from becoming a state.

“…a new people is really a far stronger claim than being a displaced group of Syrians”

Many people on the Israeli and American right dismiss Palestinians as a new people, Palestinians contradict this by stating they have lived in Eretz Israel for a long time but both statements are correct. The many Arabs of the Palestinian Mandate can claim to have predated the mandate although many migrated during the mandate period for jobs but they did not do as “Palestinians” because they thought of themselves as Syrians rather than as Jews who were often referred to as Palestinians. “Palestine” was a “Jewish” name for these lands although the word itself is of Latin origin. In contrast to being a Jordanian people (a new people!) or a Syrian people, everyone accepts the idea of the Palestinian Arab and so being a new people is really a far stronger claim than being a displaced group of Syrians. A new people like an old people has a right to self determination and the forces that created “The Palestinians” support the idea of self determination. There are three sources for Palestinian self determination, one is that neither Syria nor Jordan claims the Palestinians and the other is that Israel does not wish to rule the Palestinian or make them citizens mostly due the third reason which is the Palestinian reject Israel and Israelis. While that does not give Palestinians the automatic right to any part of Jerusalem or even Hebron but it does allow for self-determination in places the Palestinians presently occupy to the extent of its viability and ability to live in peace with its neighbors. 

“Palestinian claims of being native would be like David Duke claiming to be a Native American on the basis of America being a white, Protestant country. “

Gaza by contrast is pretty much a state right now because it exists with territorial integrity, it exists in land the Israelis vacated and have no will to rule and Gaza only fails to be a state due to its inability to live in peace with Israel and Egypt. Without Israeli recognition, there is no point in anyone else or any other institution in recognizing Gaza as anything but Israeli territory. Israel has a stronger case for Judea, Samaria and Gaza to be Israeli lands than China has in either Tibet or Taiwan with the latter being broadly recognized.

So what is a political movement that fails to take notice if its rights, misrepresents its rights to the world and makes impractical demands for lands that it does not have a right to? Something other than a nationalist movement. The irony is despite the PA an the gray men who run it, the Palestinians do want and need a state but there is no one practical enough with the power to make peace and have one.  Compare that with the original Palestinians who under duress had to cede the majority of their lands to British interests and even lost their capital until 1967. The time has come for the world to tire of this Saeb story.