If a Palestinian state is established, it will be armed to the teeth. Within it there will be bases of the most extreme terrorist forces, who will be equipped with anti-tank and anti-aircraft shoulder-launched rockets, which will endanger not only random passers-by, but also every airplane and helicopter taking off in the skies of Israel and every vehicle traveling along the major traffic routes in the coastal plain.
Even if the Palestinians agree that their state have no army or weapons, who can guarantee that a Palestinian army would not be mustered later to encamp at the gates of Jerusalem and the approaches to the [coastal] lowlands.
– Shimon Peres
My column last week was largely a historical account of the monumental failure of the endeavor to implement a two-state approach following the 1993 Oslo Agreements. This column will focus more on some of the conceptual defects and inconsistencies that made past failure – and will make future failure –inevitable...
....Take, for example, the following excerpt from Dershowitz's The Case for Peace, which shows that he is keenly aware not only of dangers that might arise from a Palestinian state but that the Palestinian signatory to any "two-state" agreement would be powerless to ensure his contractual commitments, even if he sincerely wished to:
A Palestinian state will not soon secure the monopoly on the use of arms. Terrorists organizations and militias – such as Hamas, Al-Aqasa Martyrs Brigades, Islamic Jihad and others – will continue to have access to weapons of all kinds. Even if the Palestinian state renounced all support for terrorism, other states, most particularly Syrian and Iran, will likely continue to arm terrorist groups dedicated to Israel's destruction. Nor is it out of the question that someday Hamas might gain control over the Palestinian government, either by means of a coup, or an election, or some such combination of both. Israel cannot be asked to accept a fully militarized Hamas state on its vulnerable borders.
In many ways, this is a stunning admission for a "two-stater."
Given the clear recognition of the potential dangers, several trenchant questions arise:
In light of the plausible scenarios he himself raises, what are the geographical parameters that Dershowitz proposes to provide Israel with "secure borders"?
What Palestinian could survive–politically or physically–the wrath of his rivals, were he to accede to frontiers that would provide Israel with "secure" borders that even remotely approach the parameters set out by military experts?
And if such borders are politically unfeasible, why advocate entering into an arrangement with some Palestinian counterpart who – by Dershowitz's own admission – may not be able to prevent the onset of situations which – by Dershowitz's own admission – are intolerable…and far from improbable.
So is it just me or are "secure-border-two-staters" seriously advancing a policy that is either unattainable politically or unachievable geographically? And if so, why? Are they being mindfully insincere or mindless inconsistent? Read more
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