Basically, the Palestinians are still fighting the War of 1948
Commentator Yossi Klein Halevi, in a column in the Globe & Mail, notes " [T]he continuing refusal of the Palestinian leadership, and much of the Arab leadership generally, to accept the legitimacy of a Jewish state in any borders.
Not even moderate Palestinian leaders such as Mahmoud Abbas have told their people that the Jews are here to stay, that this land must be shared by two peoples.
Instead, the Palestinian media — of Fatah as well as Hamas — continues to tell its people that the Jews are thieves and usurpers, and that eventually the entirety of the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River will belong to them."
Yet how many people believe that:
(a) the Palestinian leadership is only posturing?
(b) the real issue in the conflict is the presence of Jewish settlements in the West Bank?
(c) Fatah, with its Al Aksa Martyr's Brigade, is ready to deliver peace?
(d) the Palestinian people are prepared to accept peace with Israel?
(e) there is a real possibility that Hamas can change its positions?
And we can go on listing other improbable assumptions.
//Mark Finkelstein
