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Palestinian Hostility to the Presence of Jews Must Be Addressed

(Commentary) Jonathan S. Tobin - In the State Department's view, a two-state solution means a Palestinian state that would be only for Arabs alongside an Israel in which an Arab minority enjoys full legal rights. PA leader Mahmoud Abbas said in 2013, "In a final resolution, we would not see the presence of a single Israeli - civilian or soldier - on our lands." Given the drumbeat of incitement to hatred of Jews and Israelis in Palestinian media and in their schools, it is hard to argue that Jews wouldn't be at risk in a Palestinian state. The primary reason Israel withdrew every settler when it evacuated Gaza in 2005 is the certainty that Jews whose lives would depend on the mercy of the Palestinians would be as good as dead. Indeed, deprived of the opportunity to attack individual Jews after the Israelis withdrew from Gaza, Palestinian mobs vented their rage on the abandoned buildings the Jews left behind, including the greenhouses that had been purchased by well-meaning philanthropists for use by the Arab population. In any other conflict, we would label the Palestinian demand for the removal of Jewish communities (or those of any other group) with the same words used by Netanyahu: ethnic cleansing. But when it comes to Jews living in their ancient homeland, the rules are different, and bigotry is not only accepted but also supported. Until Palestinian hostility to the presence of Jews is addressed by both the U.S. and the international community rather than ignored, the peace everyone claims to be seeking will never happen.
2016-09-15 00:00:00
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