The End of A Dream

Arutz Sheva is reporting this evening that the PA has decided not to declare unilaterally independence.

The Palestinian Authority is not interested in another unilateral declaration of statehood, the PA's "Prime Minister" Salam Fayyad told Channel 2 in an interview aired Wednesday night.

"We want a state of Palestine, not a unilateral declaration of statehood," Fayyad said. He explained that he did not see how a unilateral declaration would help the PA's cause. Such a declaration "is not and will not be a part of our thinking," he added.

PA spokesmen have often threatened that they would unilaterally declare a state in 2011 if negotiations with Israel failed to yield the results they want. However, Fayyad's statement seems to indicate that the threats were empty ones.

You mean they were not speaking to truth? Well, maybe, or maybe Fayyad's assistants finally did a few calculations about firepower and troop readiness.

A unilateral declaration of a PA state would be tantamount to a declaration of war against Israel - a war that the Arab states and the PA are apparently not interested in at this point.

This is a very wise choice--perhaps the smartest thing to come from the PA in years. For some time now, the cant and trope (to mix theological metaphors) has been to return to the pre-1967 borders, as if the rest of the world would not notice the not so subtle affirmation of the illegal military land grab of the Jordanians in 1948-9.

This does not leave the PA with a lot of room to maneuver. Nothing has come from shifting the blame to the US or asking EU members to recognize their independence. Moreover, their support from the Arab League also appears to be wearing thin.

Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani said in his opening statement [on behalf of Arab League foreign ministers] that the Arabs "can't provide support for the return to talks, whether direct or indirect, under these circumstances." He acknowledged, however, that the Arabs had no alternative to negotiations either.

If threats and outrageous posturing were negotiable, the PA would be the wealthiest state in the region. As it is not, eventually they will come up with the brilliant idea to sit down actually with the Israelis and thrash out a plan for a viable economic state based on something other than extortion and banditry. They certainly will not get one by militarily defeating and expelling the current population of the state of Israel.