Palestinians consider declaring independence

Jerusalem Post ^ | Feb. 9, 2004 | ASSOCIATED PRESS

[yonif]

The Palestinian Authority is considering declaring a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem if Israel tries to impose a boundary on the Palestinians, former PA minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said Monday.

Zalman Shoval, a senior aide to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, warned Israel could annex disputed territories in response.

The possibility of the declaration of a Palestinian state was raised at a meeting of Palestinian leaders over the weekend.

Abed Rabbo, who is one of the Palestinian initiators of the Geneva Accord, said many of those present supported the idea, but did not say whether Yasser Arafat was also in favor.

However, other participants said the proposal was only raised informally and was not part of the agenda.

Abed Rabbo insisted that declaring independence was a serious option.

"We are not discussing this as an academic exercise," Abed Rabbo told a news conference. "We are discussing this as a real possibility."

A statehood declaration would come as a counter move to Sharon's plan to unilateral disengagement from the Palestinians, in the event efforts fail to revive peace talks in coming months.

Sharon's disengagement plan is not meant to establish final borders, which would be decided together with the Palestinians, Shoval said. Such Palestinian action would pre-empt final status talks, he added.

[yonif]

Their idea of a state in the territories, is simply part 2 of their plan to destroy Israel.

[yonif]

Declare a state? Leftists keep telling me Israel is occupying their state. This is doomed to fail just like their 1980s declaration.

[Chris Talk]

Can I dare to hope that Israel would respond to this by destroying the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa? Just bricks and mortar, of course...

[wretchard]

This would be a stunning defeat for the Palestinians. In effect, it would be a triumph of the "two state" policy that Liberals have been fighting against. Once a Palestinian state is declared, then it automatically recognizes Israel's borders. Then any incursion into Israel will be a cross border war.

But I wouldn't put it past the PA to declare independence including all of Israel as their territory. But that would put the fat in the fire. Either way the two state policy will become de facto.

[wizardoz]

Go ahead, you psychos. Declare a state. Then finally Israel can wipe your sick a$$es out without it being "genocide against the poor, oppressed, stateless Palestinians." It'll just be a good old-fashioned war with folks who can kick your butt into the dirt. Do it. Do it. Do it.

[Shermy]

It's BS.

They can't declare a "state" because then they'd have to declare their borders.

Arafat threatened this for years. Any well-meaning liberation movement in history declares a state or such in the aim of independence. If Arafat did so, he would get no more Arab money and would have to cede his ultimate plans. Or he could actually declare his ultimate plans, but that would scare off a lot of the fellow travelers in the West - they being of the opinion what "Arafat says in English" is true.

Though if these non-arafat types want just the territories, they could do it, I suppose. But they could announce independence today, just as the US, Israel, African states, etc. did in their histories. I doubt they will.

[DonQ]

Considering the way Arafat and the PA have been treated by the UN and the other Moslem countries - and by some European countries - declaring independence would hardly be a big or even small step. However, the instant it happens, Israel would probably shut its borders tight, so that the trickle of Arabs coming into Israel to earn money and take it back to the PA would stop altogether. Israel would probably also cease whatever assistance it has been giving the various PA institutions and communities; it might not seem very generous to critics but when it stops altogether it will make a big difference.

If Israel slams its borders shut it will probably do so on its own terms, meaning that territory claimed or imagined by the PA for itself will wind up on the Israeli side of an iron curtain.

Bottled up like that, the Palestinians will have to come up with a better economic plan than panhandling. Very probably this new "state" will require enormous amounts of foreign aid from just about every direction - in part because a considerable number of its leaders seem allergic to honest work - and it will still collapse within a few years.

[expatpat]

in part because a considerable number of its leaders seem allergic to honest work

That's not even half of it! They also have a penchant for taking the money and putting it in their own personal bank accounts.

[fatidic]

Good analysis, Q.

[Tolik]

Don't forget about water and electricity. Israel won't be obligated anymore to supply any.

[Tolik]

Very good analysis, Shermy.

Many on the West believe or pretend to believe that Palestinians fight for independence, while their goals always were to destroy the whole Israel. Declaring the state on the West Bank and Gaza will be actually a positive development in a way, because then, there is something to negotiate. Previously they did not take yes for an answer, and negotiated just for show.

Even now despite all hostilities they can have peace and a state just for asking. Israelis majority opinion already for quite some time is to give Palestinians a state and a wall a forget about them (you wish).