Calls for Israeli withdrawal are naive

IT was my privilege to be a sponsor of the Israeli–Palestinian AFL team coached by the legendary Robert “Dipper” DiPierdomenico and Ron Barassi. I had the pleasure of watching the team play and enjoyed the camaraderie among the players. If only that could be replicated on a national scale. But what stands in the way is reality.

Between 1949 and 1967 Jews had no access to the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem. When the Israeli army entered on the last day of the Six-Day War, they were confronted by destroyed synagogues and vandalised cemeteries. Since then all religions have been free to worship in Jerusalem.

Following the Six-Day War, Israel fought the devastating Yom Kippur War in 1973 yet several years later returned all of the Sinai and entered into a peace agreement with Egypt followed by a peace agreement with Jordan.

In 1993, Israel signed the Oslo Accords permitting the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) to return on condition terrorism would end. Instead, once installed in the West Bank and Gaza, the PLO resorted to terrorism. In the interim, several peace proposals were presented by successive Israeli governments – all rejected without counter-proposals.

But let us put the past behind us. What are the prospects of peace now? Both Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas claim they believe in a two-state solution. Do Israelis want to rule over Palestinians? Of course not; it goes against all their instincts. However a recent Maariv poll shows that 78 per cent of Israelis do not believe that a peace agreement is possible. If you believe that this reflects on Israel’s swing to the right, you are mistaken. Only 21 per cent of Israelis who describe themselves as left-wing believe that peace is possible.

The answer lies in the nature of Palestinian society. Israeli children are not taught to hate Arabs and to kill them. On the other hand, tiny Palestinian tots are raised to see Mickey Mouse and Muppet-style characters spouting exterminationist propaganda about killing Jews; they are exhorted to grow up to become shahids, to immolate themselves while killing Israelis.

They are also taught that they will return to the homes of their forefathers in Israel. This leads us to the false claim that millions of Palestinians are refugees who have a right of return to Israel. According to the UNHCR definition of refugees, children of refugees do not inherit the parents’ refugee status. As a result, the number of genuine refugees still alive is minuscule. 

But this image of refugees flooding Israel is the basis of Abbas’s acceptance of a two- state solution: the West Bank which is to be Judenrein – free of Jews – and the other, presently Israel, where the Jews are to be a minority. Never has Abbas accepted a two- state solution including a Jewish state, a prerequisite for serious negotiations.

The reason is obvious: he is not prepared to commit suicide. Abbas has little political support in the West Bank and certainly not in Gaza. His survival is dependent partly on the limited armed police force he is permitted to maintain in accordance with the Oslo Accords but mainly on the intelligence of the Shin Bet and the presence of the Israeli army. Not only is he unpopular, but Fatah, his political arm is expected to be overwhelmed militarily by Hamas were the Israelis to withdraw from the West Bank.

A withdrawal of Israeli forces will inevitably lead to a bloodbath at the hands of Hamas but this will be a picnic compared with the devastation caused when Islamic Jihad, ISIS and al Qaeda challenge Hamas for control. Furthermore, the absence of Israeli forces will provide an opportunity to smuggle in chemical and biological weapons as well as other lethal equipment such as a dirty radioactive bomb.

One can argue that international forces could replace the withdrawing Israelis. Given the extreme anti-Israel bias of the United Nations, clearly UN forces would not be acceptable to the Israelis. Even if they were, on past performance, at the first sign of trouble, they run for their lives. As they said about the Iraqi forces in Mosul “They weren’t driven out. They drove out.” So too for the United Nations. 

Furthermore, is life so terrible in the West Bank? They may not have all the privileges of their Israeli cousins but, on the other hand, compared with their fellow Sunnis in Syria, Yemen, Libya, Lebanon and Iraq to name a few, they should thank God they are not there.

In the absence of a peace agreement which is pure chimera what can the Palestinians do to improve their lot? Integrate into the Israeli economy. Israeli companies sub-contract much of their IT to other countries. Why not to Palestinian engineers and technicians? Manufacturing could be a major source of income to many but thanks to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement determined to close down Israeli enterprises on the West Bank, Palestinians are prevented from earning a good living. 

Fantasising about peace stands in the road of a realistic program of economic integration with Israel but this can only happen when Palestinian children are no longer taught to hate and kill, when barbarism is not rewarded and glorified and when Palestinians stop killing Jews.

ROBERT  MAGID is the owner and publisher of  The Australian Jewish News.