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Palestinian Leaders Don't Want an Independent State

(Middle East Quarterly) Efraim Karsh - The Palestinian leadership's serial rejection of the numerous opportunities for statehood since the Peel Commission report of 1937 casts a serious doubt on its interest in the creation of an independent state. Instead of engaging in the tasks of nation-building and state creation, all Palestinian leaders without any exception have preferred to immerse their constituents in disastrous conflicts that culminated in their collective undoing and continued statelessness. At the same time, these leaders have lined their pockets from the proceeds of this ongoing tragedy. It can be shown that the main sources of this self-destructive conduct are pan-Arab delusions, Islamist ideals, and the vast financial and political gains attending the perpetuation of Palestinian misery. Had Hajj Amin Husseini chosen to lead his constituents to peace and reconciliation with their Jewish neighbors, the Palestinians would have had their independent state over a substantial part of mandate Palestine by 1948, if not a decade earlier, and would have been spared the traumatic experience of dispersal and exile. The writer is professor of Middle East and Mediterranean studies at King's College London and professor of political studies at Bar-Ilan University.
2014-06-09 00:00:00
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