A Reassessment of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

What happened in the Hamas “March of Return” which has been taking place along the Gaza border, is a macabre farce. The idea that tens of thousands of Palestinians can break through a border fence to repossess their lands in what is the Holy Land of Israel is a dangerous fantasy. What this fantasy has done is almost ignite another war between Israel and the Hamas Jihadists. In a planned and deliberate exercise, violent Hamas militants have burned thousands of acres of Israeli wheat fields and nature reserves bordering the Gaza strip, through the use of flammable kites and balloons.

A look at the actual history of the Palestinians is in order. Joan Peters, author of “From Time Immemorial,” analyzes the demographics of the Muslim population in the Holy Land during and after the 19th century. “We have seen strong evidence that the Holy Land was inhabited only sparsely in the 19th century. For centuries the non-Jewish, particularly the Muslim, peoples who did inhabit the land had been largely composed of a revolving immigrant population of diverse ethnic origin who could not possibly have constituted a substantial indigenous ‘Palestinian’ population much less a nation of inhabitants for a ‘thousand’ or ‘two thousand’ years.” So we see in real terms the Palestinian ‘narrative’ is fairly short term.

The events on the Gaza border and the propaganda associated with it, together with a supportive policy by President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, indicate on a deeper level a grave development for the Palestinians in both territories. This development is the constant falsification of and deliberate undermining of the eternal bond of the Jewish people with Israel and Jerusalem as its holy capital. The Hamas Covenant in Article 13 makes clear that Jihad is the only solution to the Palestinian conflict with Israel that is the violent destruction of the Jews in Israel. In Article 11, Hamas states that all of Israel is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgment Day….due to the Islamic conquests in the 7th century CE. This leap back to the 7th century justifies a completely Palestinian state today.

Abbas is following a somewhat different path. His policy of the internationalization of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to create Israel as a pariah state with no choice but to capitulate to all Palestinian demands, particularly, the ceding of East Jerusalem as a capital for the Palestinian state. First of all Jerusalem is not a settlement. Jerusalem was the capital of the land of Israel, under King David 3,000 years ago. Under Jewish law according to the Laws of the Rambam (Moses Maimonides) in the section Kings (Melachim) the Davidic dynasty is forever. Jerusalem cannot be divided. Abbas has followed a constant policy of disinformation, educational incitement and the destruction of Israel’s biblical roots in the Holy Land. He supported the UNESCO decision of October 2012, which objected to Israel’s proper designation of Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem as a National Heritage site along with the designation of the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs as a National Heritage site in Hebron. UNESCO called them Mosques.

The UNRWA Palestinian camps have victimized the Palestinian people and brought them to their present state of terror and hopelessness. It was their Arab brethren that put them there. These camps must dissolve. The real solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to recognize Israel’s sovereignty and primacy in the land. Palestinian property rights, economic development, and democratization of their institutions, should be recognized by Israel in the context of an autonomous solution. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan should facilitate this process. The Iranian alliance with Hamas in Gaza must end and they must stay out of the West Bank.

MOSES MORDECAI TWERSKY of Providence has a master’s degree in American history from Providence College. He is a scion of the Chernobyl Belz Makarov Hasidic rabbinical dynasty.