What The Palestinians Want; What They'll Likely Get

The Palestinians aren't stupid people.  But, having said that, it's clear that they've taken many a wrong turn.  How is that?  Well, first and foremost, it's probably their clan culture.  You conform to the mores of your culture or  your finished.

Okay, so all cultures have a clan element.  The British nobility and aristocracy has elements that can be viewed as being clan-like.  In America's egalitarian culture, what fraternity you belonged to, or what golf club has extended  you a membership, can make a difference.  No culture is entirely egalitarian, but America has done a pretty good job of rewarding merit without favor.

Okay, so what does this have to do with the Palestinians?  For them the larger clan circle is Islam and while there are some Muslims who are good folks,  most harbor cultural prejudices.  Especially strong is their prejudice against Jews.  A degree of this prejudice stems from the Koran where can be read how Mohammad murdered a number of Jewish tribes.  More of this hatred of Jews stems from the fact that the Jews, many a polyglot of Holocaust survivors, succeeded in defeating Egyptian, Jordanian, Lebanese, Syrian and Iraq armies -- all Muslim.

Truly a Nakbah!  The Arabs in Palestine were used to being lorded over by fellow Muslims, but to have Jews planting a flag on what they viewed a Islamic soil -- unthinkable.

But, the Jews still had a problem.  What could they do to make friends of their neighbors?  The answer, in a word, nothing.  To have Jews leave Gaza, where they had established legal homes and businesses and had raised their children, meant nothing.  Actually, it did mean something.  It meant that the Jews were weak.  For one people to give up something to another people was a clear sign of their weakness.  Being friends with the Jews?  Never.  And, if they harbored even the slightest inclination towards friendship, powerful Islamic nations in the region rewarded the Hamas leaders royally to have them inculcate hostility in their people towards the Jews.

Fatah had much in common with Hamas, but also differed in certain respects.  For Hamas the religious aspects of the struggle with the Jews was paramount.  The Jews were to be nowhere on what was once Arab soil.  Fatah was more corrupt, which is why they lost to Hamas in Gaza.  They had to be satisfied with a base in the West Bank.  Had they negotiated with the Jews, they could have improved their people's fortunes considerably.  But, it was not their people they thought of.  It was their own fortunes made by maintaining a hostility to Israel that determined their behavior.  They personally profited as long as they could maintain hostility towards Israel, hence their disinterest in negotiating any sort of peace agreement.

It took a long time for the Israelis to get this.  Arafat was offered considerably more than what his Palestinians now have, or are ever likely to get.  Olmert, for example, offered to take into Israel thousands of Palestinians under the rubric of "the right of return."  The offer was rejected.  Do the Palestinians realize that such an offer will never again be extended to them.

There had been some talk of ceding a portion of Jerusalem to Palestinian rule.  Today, no such thoughts would ever again be entertained by any Israeli other than the most left-wing of politicians and whatever minuscule following might support them.

The Palestinians are quite aware how their bargaining position has eroded. But, do they realize how much they have lost by their own behavior?  It's hard to tell.  But, they do know that they will never get what at one time might have been thinkable.  And, that's why they are now turning to the U.N., a place ever hostile to Israel and the Jews.  Although Obama has been wonderful at raising doubts among America's friends as to the strength of America's support of their needs,  those who love Israel remain confident that the American people will continue to support them and that this support will be reflected in the American Congress.