Why A Two-State Solution Is Doomed To Fail-We all know that land for peace never works By Lauren Isaacs
Herut Canada asserts that a two-state solution will not, and cannot, work. It is illogical, unrealistic, and immoral. Here’s why:
The first reason is track records. Let’s look at the track record of the modern-day Palestinians and surrounding Arab countries. When the Arab countries have had possession of the land in and around Israel – historically, what have they done? The first thing they have done was to prevent the Jews from visiting biblical Jewish holy sites. Jews were prevented from going to The Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron (where our ancestors are buried) when it was under Arab control. To think that it would be different this time, if we created this magical utopia of a two-state solution that they wouldn’t prevent us from visiting our biblical heartland, then we aren’t being intellectually honest with ourselves.
The reality is that it has happened in the past and it will happen again. How would you feel if you knew that you will be prevented from going to visit Rachel’s Tomb or if the Cave of the Patriarchs was once again closed off to you just because you are a Jew? Perhaps consider how we feel every time we are prevented from praying on the Temple Mount. I am not happy about that, and I hope you aren’t either.
Another thing we have to consider is the fact that Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority for the last 15 years, has stated very clearly that not a single Israeli – civilian or soldier – will set foot in future Palestinian lands. This means that the future Palestinian state, this potential utopia that we are going to create for the Palestinians is going to be completely Jew-free. This is not a future plan that “may or may not” come to fruition – Mahmoud Abbas is in fact stating from the outset that he will ethnically cleanse his land of Jews. From the get-go, there are going to be no Jews in this Palestinian land. This should horrify you! Again, if we are being intellectually honest with ourselves … these are ancient biblical lands of Israel that have legally belonged to the Jewish people for over 3000 years.
We should also be asking ourselves the obvious question: what would prevent Hamas from taking over this future, wonderful, seemingly utopian Palestinian state? In some rainbows-and-unicorns fairy land it would be a great idea to have a benevolent Palestinian government. But in reality, on the ground this cannot and will never be the case. We have already tried it before – in Gaza. And let us look at the result of that. It took Hamas about five minutes to overthrow the acting Palestinian government in the region and declare a dictatorial power hold on the region and the people. So what is to prevent Hamas from ultimately taking over – we won’t be able to prevent it. We would have no further jurisdiction over the land. And once Hamas inevitably takes over, there will be endless oppression of surrounding Jews and the Palestinians within the new state; unconscionable, both for Israel and the Palestinians living under Hamas rule!
Many fear that this is the Palestinians endgame of a proposed 2-state solution
We all know that land for peace never works. Yes, we can potentially debate about the Sinai and Egypt, but overall land for peace has not stopped terrorism, it has not stopped the desire of the surrounding Arab countries to wipe Israel off the map, it has not stopped Arab countries from wanting more and more and more Israeli land. So, we must ask – how much land would actually be enough land? How much land would satisfy the Palestinians? Israel has ideas about land allocations, and we would concede certain territory (as we have done in the past), however for the surrounding Arab countries and the modern Palestinian government … their chant “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free!” means all of Israel.
Think about the Camp David Accords, the Oslo Accords, or when Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, offered a plan that gave them approximately 98% of what they were asking for, but the Palestinians still said no. This is Palestinian rejectionism at its finest. So, what is enough land for them? There would never be enough. Creating a Palestinian state is simply a steppingstone to negotiating ourselves out of existence. We refuse to do it.
The final point is the question of juxtaposing countries and their socio-political and economic landscapes. Simply put: when has an existing wealthy, democratic, free country bordered a poor, theocracy or dictatorship and there has been zero conflict on that border? Israel is a thriving liberal democracy that is wealthy, with freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of movement. A Palestinian state would likely not have these freedoms, because the existing Palestinian-governed areas demonstrate this currently. Look at Gaza, for example, and note the extreme lack of a free media and press, note what happens to people who express discontent with the government, the punishments for people who defect from religious traditions, and so on.
It simply would never happen that two countries as described above would border one another and there would be safety, peace, and content along the border.
And therefore, unfortunately, a two-state solution will not work. Remember that just because I, and Herut Canada, are adamantly against a two-state solution doesn’t automatically mean that a one-state solution is the answer, or that we have all the answers. It simply means that a two-state solution is impossible, inconceivable, immoral, dangerous, unethical, a gateway to the destruction of the Jewish people in Israel, and ultimately unacceptable. We at Herut Canada support freedom, Jewish sovereignty, safety, and an end to terrorism. Am Yisrael Chai!
Comments are closed.
