18-Jul-11: Even plainer talk about why we are in an ongoing war

Visceral hatred: Jordanian Palestinian expressing
what pollsters don't need to survey. [Source]

Two days ago, we wrote here about how and why, in the words of the incisive analyst Khaled Abu Toameh, the Palestinian Arabs "cannot accept less than 100%". The more radical among them demand 100% and the very idea of compromise is anathema. The somewhat-less radical say they cannot and will not make concessions of any kind to Israel on territorial issues, but (being less radical) say they are ready to return to the negotiating table - provided Israel agrees in advance to 100% of their demands. Both camps, which means the entire Palestinian Arab spectrum of opinion, say even if Israel were to accept their demands in their entirety, they will not commit to ending the conflict i.e. this ongoing war. 

If you don't find this depressing, you probably live far from our neighbourhood.

Now the political columnist Evelyn Gordon, writing in Commentary Magazine ["New Poll Shows Real Cause of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict"], drills down hard on one of the central ideas about the generations-long terrorism that has been directed at Israelis: the notion that the conflict is because of Israel’s “occupation” of the West Bank and Gaza. The corollary, beloved of 'peace' 'activists' from all over, is that if Israel would only stop its 'settlement' activity, peace and harmony would immediately erupt.

How wrong are those two matched ideas? Judge from the data.

Ms Gordon analyzes a major opinion survey of Palestinian Arabs reported in the Jerusalem Post ["6 in 10 Palestinians reject 2-state solution, survey finds"] this past Friday. This was a face-to-face survey, done in Arabic, of 1,010 Palestinian adults in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It conducted by respected American pollster Stanley Greenberg, together with the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion in Beit Sahour.

The Palestinians were asked if they agreed with the statement that “there should be two states: Palestine as the homeland for the Palestinian people and Israel as the homeland for the Jewish people”, propounded by President Obama. Only 34  percent said yes and 61 percent disagreed. From the JPost:

...66 percent said the Palestinians’ goal should not be a permanent two-state solution, but a two-state solution as an interim stage en route to the ultimate goal of a single Palestinian state in all the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea – a goal that amply explains their opposition to recognizing Israel as the Jewish homeland.

Concerning Jerusalem:

92% said it should be the capital of Palestine, 1% said the capital of Israel, 3% the capital of both, and 4% a neutral international city.

And the Jewish connection to this land:

Seventy-two percent backed denying the thousands of years of Jewish history in Jerusalem.

On terrorism:

62% supported kidnapping IDF soldiers and holding them hostage, and 53% were in favor or teaching songs about hating Jews in Palestinian schools... When given a quote from the Hamas Charter about the need for battalions from the Arab and Islamic world to defeat the Jews, 80% agreed. Seventy-three percent agreed with a quote from the charter (and a hadith, or tradition ascribed to the prophet Muhammad) about the need to kill Jews hiding behind stones and trees... 45% said they believed in the charter’s statement that the only solution to the Palestinian problem was jihad. 

Evelyn Gordon writes that the conclusions of this landmark poll will not get wider media coverage because:

it throws the real cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into uncomfortably stark relief... Withdrawing from the West Bank and Gaza won’t help if Palestinians don’t accept the existence of a Jewish state in any borders and see the two-state solution as a mere stepping-stone toward the ultimate goal of Israel’s eradication – exactly as prescribed by the PLO’s famous Phased Plan of 1974, which called  for establishing a “Palestinian national authority” in any territory available and then using it as a base for “completing the liberation of all Palestinian territory.” It seems for most Palestinians, almost 20 years of peace talks haven’t changed this ultimate goal one whit. This is the root of the conflict and has been ever since Britain first backed a “national home for the Jewish people” in the 1917 Balfour Declaration. It’s why no Palestinian leader has ever been able to say “yes” to any Israeli offer – and never will be able to, no matter how much the offer is improved, unless this  changes. Until the international community recognizes this and starts working to change Palestinian public opinion, the “peace process” will continue to be mere wasted effort.

What does this have to do with understanding how to deal with terrorism, terrorists and the amen choir who provide the 'activists' and 'militants' with cover for the hate-filled jihadist crimes that we have been describing in this blog for years? Everything.