By: Tashbih Sayyed
President Bush is expected to make a proposal this week to create an interim Palestinian state. How an "interim" state will be defined and whether it will ever be able to develop into a permanent state will depend on the answers to a number of questions. The most important being, what is the purpose of this proposal, two, who wants this "interim" state, and three, what will be the shape and form of this provisional arrangement?
The answer to the first question depends on the answer to the second. If the parties to the conflict agree on the shape and form of the state, then they can also agree on a process that will result in the establishment of a permanent state for Palestinians. Currently, the ground realities suggest that there is a unmanageable distance in the points of view of the parties. And that's why, perhaps, everyone has rejected this proposal.
The discord on the form of a Palestinian state has two levels. At the first level there is a conflict on the issue within the Palestinian groups who claim to represent the Palestinians. The most powerful among them, HAMAS, Hizb Allah and Islamic Jihad do not just want a Palestine state, they also want a complete elimination of the Jewish presence. And since not just the Palestinian main street, but the entire Arab masses are controlled by the mosques and madrases occupied by Saudi brand of Islam - Wahabiism, spewing venom against every non Wahabi, they have Israel's destruction as an article of their faith.
This mind set manifests itself regularly in the form of homicide bombers. According to a recent poll, a majority of Palestinians believe the aim of their 20-month-old uprising should be to eliminate Israel and not just end Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The reluctance on the part of Yasser Arafat to guide the Palestinians' energies in a peaceful direction suggests two things. Either he is also controlled by organizations like HAMAS and Hizb Allah, or he himself shares their agenda. His popularity proves beyond any doubt that he also shares this HAMAS agenda. The survey showed almost all respondents believed that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat would win elections he has proposed holding early next year.
Because the Palestinian mind does not accept the existence of Israel, it being comprised of "all of historic Palestine" (referring to British-mandate Palestine, part of which was recognized as Israel in 1948), all the maps displayed in the Palestinian controlled territories do not show any sign of Israel.
Israelis are aware of this mind set. They have suffered at the hands of this hate filled mentality. That's why Sharon has rejected the Bush proposal. And since, on the other hand, Palestinians do not see in this proposal any plan for Israel's elimination, they too do not want it. These developments have made Bush look like a salesman with a product that nobody wants to buy. His predicament is serious. He has to do something to be able to one, sustain the coalition against terror; two, maintain its profitable business and oil connections with the Saudis; and three, develop some kind of an environment in which an attack on Iraq becomes possible. What the US does not seem to realize is that any Band-Aid solution will bring more misery to the US than that of September 11th. It is not just a state that Palestinians want, they want the elimination of Israel and the destruction of the United States, as both Israel and the US represent and share the same civilized values. The Palestine state under the prevailing circumstances will be a harbinger of terror and not the messenger of peace.
Without a declared change of heart and mind on the part of Palestinian leadership, award of a state would appear to be a reward for homicide bombings and other acts of terror all over the world including September 11th. And it will strengthen the beliefs of insurgents and militants all over the world, whether they are Kurds in Turkey, Islamists in Kashmir, Basques in Spain, or Tamils in Sri Lanka; that it only takes a pack of misguided, devoted and die-hard homicide bombers to make the worlds only super power to succumb to their demands.
A Palestine state under the control of a leadership that believes using humans as homicide bombers and employs terror as a weapon to achieve their goals will surely provide shelter to Al-Qaeda types from all over the world. Such a state will be more dangerous than Afghanistan under Taliban and will definitely export militancy and terror to the other parts of the Middle East. In short it will be a breeding ground of Islamism.
I am not saying that the Palestinians should not be given their state. Palestinians have a right to their state and nobody in his right mind can deny them this very basic human right. But if they are controlled, governed, and managed by organizations which thrive on terror and preach hatred toward others and if they are led by people like Yasser Arafat, whose corruption is an everyday affair in the world media, nothing good is going to happen in their lives. They will remain frustrated and will always live in poverty. Their lives will become a symbol of hopelessness and they will always be used to further the cause of terror. Organizations like HAMAS and leaders like Yasser Arafat want their people to remain hopeless and poor so that their frustrated minds and souls can be used as a fuel in the fire of hatred.
The other Arab states who owe their existence to the breakup of Ottoman Empire can also help their Palestinian brothers. Many of these Arab countries like Iraq and Syria have properties and lands which were once owned by Jews who were forced to emigrate and are now unlawfully occupied by Syrians and Iraqis. These properties and lands can be used to rehabilitate a good numbers of Palestinians who are living in refugee camps. There is no logic and reason for them to be living in refugee camps even after half a century. They should have been accommodated by Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq etc. But these Arab countries felt threatened by a higher level of competence and literacy of Palestinian people. These Arab rulers and governments, for over fifty years have by design kept these Palestinians in refugee camps by successfully convincing them that the only place they should go is Israel.
To make the Palestinian masses believe in this false propaganda they employed all means. Most effective of such propaganda tools were the mosques including the most sacred mosques of Saudi Arabia. The corrupt clergy and imams of these mosques were used to misinterpret the Quraa'n to spread hatred against non-Wahabi Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
It is a duty of the Arab governments to undo the mischief and instruct their paid clergy to tell the Muslims the truth. They should also help in the rehabilitation of these Palestinians, who are living in inhumane conditions. These Arab rulers and states should also stop funding the terror machines and start financing the institutions which can spread the values of democracy. As a fellow Muslim and Arab, it is not very honorable and dignified for these Arab states to continue to look for charity from nations whom they consider to be infidels. They should chip in to rehabilitate the Palestinians as an honorable Muslims, not only in a democratic and pluralistic Palestine state but also in their own countries as they themselves owe their existence to the same circumstances that created the Palestine conflict.
But my fear is that the Arab governments will not act responsibly, as at the root of the Palestine problem lies the insecurities of these Arab rulers. They do not want a Palestine state. A truly democratic Palestine state will be exporting the civilized values of democracy, tolerance and liberty to the neighboring Arab countries too. And such civilized values will be a death warrant for the Arab autocrats, dictators and fascist monarchs.
Actually, in the final analysis, the burden of improving their lot will fall on their own shoulders. Palestinians will have to realize that it is not Israel but their own leaders and fellow Arab governments who have deprived them of any hope and future. And to save the civilized world from the scourge of terror, Palestinians will have to force their leadership to work in the interest of the people and not for themselves. These leaders will have to prove to the people that they want development, affluence, prosperity and progress in their lands. And to establish this intent they will have to show their faith in democratic values. They will have to establish a democratic and pluralistic system in their society. A democratic and pluralistic society works against terror and promotes social justice.
