Why is there still no Palestinian state?

Has Israel Ever Offered the Palestinians a State? – PragerU (David Brog)

If Israel just allowed the Palestinians to have a state of their own, there would be peace in the Middle East — right?

That’s what you hear from UN ambassadors, European diplomats, and most college professors.
But what if I told you that Israel has already offered the Palestinians a state of their own — not once, but five separate times?

Don’t believe it? Let’s review the record.

1. The Peel Commission (1936)

After the breakup of the Ottoman Empire following World War I, Britain took control of much of the Middle East — including the area that makes up modern Israel.

Seventeen years later, in 1936, the Arabs rebelled against both the British and their Jewish neighbors.

To investigate the cause, the British created the Peel Commission.
The Commission concluded that the violence stemmed from two peoples — Jews and Arabs — both wanting to govern the same land.

Their solution: create two independent states, one for the Jews and one for the Arabs — a two-state solution.

The proposed split heavily favored the Arabs:
they were offered 80% of the disputed territory; the Jews, only 20%.

Despite the small size of their proposed state, the Jews accepted the offer.
The Arabs rejected it and resumed their rebellion.

 Rejection #1

2. The United Nations Partition Plan (1947)

Ten years later, in 1947, the British turned to the United Nations for help.
The UN also concluded that the best way to resolve the conflict was to divide the land into two states.

In November 1947, the UN voted to create two states — one Jewish, one Arab.

Again, the Jews accepted the plan.
And again, the Arabs rejected it — this time by launching a full-scale war.

Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria joined the attack.
But they failed. Israel won and built a new nation.

The lands set aside for the Arab state — the West Bank and East Jerusalem — were occupied, not by Israel, but by Jordan.

 Rejection #2

3. The Khartoum Resolution (1967)

Twenty years later, in 1967, the Arab states — led by Egypt, and joined by Syria and Jordan — once again sought to destroy Israel.

The Six-Day War ended in a stunning Israeli victory.
Israel captured Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza.

Israel’s government split over what to do with these territories:
some wanted to return the West Bank to Jordan and Gaza to Egypt in exchange for peace,
others wanted to give them to the region’s Arabs — now calling themselves Palestinians — so they could build their own state.

Neither idea advanced.

A few months later, the Arab League met in Khartoum, Sudan, and issued its infamous “Three No’s”:

• No peace with Israel.
  
  
  

• No recognition of Israel.
  
  
  

• No negotiations with Israel.
  
  
  

Once again, the Arabs dismissed a two-state solution.

Rejection #3

4. Camp David Summit (2000)

In 2000, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak met at Camp David with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat to conclude a new two-state plan.

Barak offered Arafat a Palestinian state in all of Gaza and 94% of the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Arafat rejected the offer.
In the words of U.S. President Bill Clinton:

“Arafat was here for 14 days and said no to everything.”

Instead, the Palestinians launched a bloody wave of suicide bombings that killed over 1,000 Israelis and wounded thousands more — on buses, in wedding halls, and in pizza parlors.

 Rejection #4

5. The Olmert Offer (2008)

In 2008, Israel tried again.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert went even further than Barak — expanding the peace offer to include additional land to sweeten the deal.

Like his predecessor, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas turned it down.

 Rejection #5

What Happened in Between

Between these last two offers, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza — giving the Palestinians full control over the territory.

Instead of building a peaceful, prosperous state, Gaza was turned into a terror base, from which thousands of rockets have been fired into Israel.

The Pattern

Each time Israel agreed to a Palestinian state, the Palestinian leadership rejected it — often violently.

So if you’re truly interested in peace in the Middle East,
maybe the answer isn’t to pressure Israel to make yet another offer of statehood.
Maybe the answer is to pressure the Palestinians to finally accept the existence of a Jewish state.

— David Brog, Executive Director of the Maccabee Task Force, for Prager University.

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