Is This the End of Palestine? - Martin Peretz
The final fall of Gaza to Hamas puts the whole question of Palestine and the Palestinians into a new perspective.
Palestine was never anything of special importance to the Arabs or to the larger orbit of Muslims.
When the 1947 UN Partition Plan for Palestine was passed, envisioning a "Jewish" state and an "Arab" (not, mind you, Palestinian) state, even the idea of a separate Arab realm was met at best with a yawn. Though almost no Arab wanted Jewish sovereignty in any of Palestine, virtually no Arab seemed to crave Arab sovereignty, either.
The final fall of Gaza to Hamas puts the whole question of Palestine and the Palestinians into a new perspective.
Palestine was never anything of special importance to the Arabs or to the larger orbit of Muslims.
When the 1947 UN Partition Plan for Palestine was passed, envisioning a "Jewish" state and an "Arab" (not, mind you, Palestinian) state, even the idea of a separate Arab realm was met at best with a yawn. Though almost no Arab wanted Jewish sovereignty in any of Palestine, virtually no Arab seemed to crave Arab sovereignty, either.
The most serious near-term danger actually comes from the West Bank. Rockets and more precise weapons aimed at the thickly populated heart and narrow waist of Israel from almost any place in what is now Fatah land, would revive both the anxieties and military reflexes of Israel. That is why U.S. policy must not assume that there are facile ways to render the West Bank peaceful. What keeps that area more orderly than Gaza is the presence of Israeli troops.
(New Republic)
(New Republic)
No comments:
Post a Comment