RUTHFULLY YOURS

An adviser to a putative partner for peace with Israel frames his discussion in terms of the most destructive weapons known to humanity. Sure, that inspires confidence. He praises the attempts to invade Israel on the so-called “Nakba Day,” but what this is ultimately about is the “right of return,” which Sabri Saidam details some of his hopes for below.

Few people — not even Palestinians — seem to have thought through what the “right of return” would look like if it were realized. A 2004 BBC report notes there could be as many as 4.4 million claimants to a “Palestinian right of return.” There are about 7.5 million people in Israel now. And once one opens the floodgates, it will be harder and harder to say no because the “right” to enter Israel will have been validated.

Even a lesser number would amount to a legalized invasion, and could cause a humanitarian crisis of internally displaced persons. Where would they all go? Israel would be expected to foot the bill of housing and feeding them. For all practical purposes, a massive influx of those claiming the “right of return” would lead to new refugee camps inside Israel as the country scrambled to provide short-term housing, with the potential for outbreaks of violence and disease.

Then there is the question of claims on the land. There are more people claiming the right of return than ever left after Arab nations lost various attempts to annihilate Israel. There is only so much land, and carving up the place would inevitably get violent over conflicting claims. With help from neighboring Muslim countries, they could attempt to massacre or expel all of the Jews to free up more lebensraum, but that would just leave the Palestinians to fight among themselves.

The issue of Sharia would also provide a source of perpetual instability, through demands to impose it in a demographically post-Jewish Israel, and infighting among Muslims about how much Sharia ought to be enforced and who is pious enough to rule, as has already happened between Hamas and Fatah.

Jihad will lead to poverty and violent infighting, and the aftermath may well find Palestinians once again in refugee camps outside of what was Israel as we once knew it. It could be quite the case of “be careful what you wish for.” But Sabri Saidam isn’t thinking that far ahead. He just wants to go “nuclear.”

“Palestinian Authority Presidential Advisor: The Refugees Are the New ‘Palestinian Nuclear Weapon’,” from MEMRI, June 2:

“The glorious day has arrived, [the day] that some feared and others ignored, while the rest prepared themselves at the last minute. The Palestinians have begun moving their new, quality ‘nuclear weapon’ across the borders – while the massive arsenal of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, cluster and phosphorous [bombs], and the entire spectrum of WMDs rests in Israel’s storage facilities, nuclear reactors, and laboratories. [The arsenal was] paralyzed by the footfall of a Palestinian youth who advanced via the border, risking his life, to reach the birthplace of his parents, grandparents, and noble Jaffa family – while his comrades encountered [live] fire at the border.

“This new Palestinian ‘nuclear weapon’ is based on a large nucleus of loyalty to the motherland – a nucleus of courage and of yearning, and of distress due to the occupation. Together with this is a nucleus of courage, that disregards the minefields, the barbed-wire fences, the [tear] gas grenades, the [various] types of munitions, and the [various] types of obstinacy reflected in every speech delivered so generously before humanity by the occupation government.

“The new Palestinian ‘nuclear weapon’ demolishes the theory [that the Palestinian refugees will] forget [their yearning for the homeland], on which the Hebrew state has relied. It destroys the possibility of intimidating the millions of Palestinian refugees. It shatters the aspirations of the generals of our time, who aim to eliminate the affiliation of the Palestinian grandchild [with the homeland] – the grandchild who is charged with yearning for the land of his forefathers, [so much so] that he is willing to gamble with his life in an attempt to attain his plundered right – his right to a state, to freedom, and to independence.

“The internal battles within the occupation army will surely be endless, after its haggard appearance was revealed on that day. Perhaps those battles will be fought in total secrecy, with a few officers removed from their posts. Perhaps [the Israeli army] will reassess its plans in order to deal with this possible new test [that has become apparent] since the Nakba Day [dress rehearsal].

“[This] article of mine contains a great [call] to those in the Occupation state [Israel] who want to see and to hear that this impulse of self-sacrifice among the new generation of Nakba grandchildren has great significance – namely, that this generation is not afraid to storm [the borders] and die, and therefore will not relinquish its right, no matter how long the fence, how extensive the settlements, or how great the plunder of the land. Thus, it will never tire, and will never agree to anything but liberation and the disappearance of the occupation.

Remember, this guy works for the “moderates.”