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Palestinians and Jews: A Solution?

Bernard Gilland - 2/14/2008

The conflict between Jews and Arabs over Palestine arose soon after Russian Jews began to immigrate into Palestine in 1882. No solution acceptable to both sides is yet in sight, but it is possible to identify the least unsatisfactory solution by a process of elimination.

A solution that still has adherents is a binational, democratic, secular Palestinian State with an Arab majority and a large Jewish minority. It was rejected at the Biltmore Conference in May 1942, in which Zionist and non-Zionist organizations participated. The great majority voted for the Biltmore Program, which aimed at establishing a Jewish State in Palestine. A binational State was never a realistic option. The reason for this was clearly stated by the Arabs themselves in their reply to the Churchill Memorandum of 3 June 1922: "Nature does not allow the creation of a spirit of co-operation between two peoples so different". The Memorandum was a policy statement intended to reassure the Arabs without disappointing the Jews. Controlled Jewish immigration was to be permitted with the object of the development of the existing Jewish community, but the establishment of a Jewish State was not envisaged. This policy was accepted by the Zionists and rejected by the Arabs,who were opposed to any level of Jewish immigration.

Most Palestinian Arabs favour the dissolution of Israel and the emigration of its Jewish inhabitants. This can be ruled out as inconceivable. It would be an unprecedented capitulation to Arab terrorism, and as the great majority of Israeli Jews would emigrate to the United States, the consequent doubling of that country's Jewish population would result in a resurgence of antisemitism. Annexation of Samaria, Judea and the Gaza Strip is also out of the question. The Arab population of these territories, 4.0 million in 2007, is projected by the U.S. Bureau of the Census to be 5.1 million in 2015 and 6.5 million in 2025. The population of Israel in 2006 comprised 5.4 million Jews, 1.4 million Arabs and 0.3 million unaffiliated. Granting Israeli citizenship to the inhabitants of the annexed territories would result immediately in the abolition of the Jewish State. Denying them citizenship would create a two-class society resembling that of South Africa under apartheid. Transferring them to Arab countries would risk a conflict involving the entire Middle East.

The solution currently in favour is the creation of a Palestinian State in Samaria, Judea and the Gaza Strip. The partition of Palestine into a Jewish State and an Arab State was rejected by the Palestine Partition Commission in October 1938. The two principal objections were that no matter which partition plan was adopted, the Jewish State would not have defensible frontiers and the Arab State would not be viable. The latter objection is still valid. There is reason to believe that the proposed Palestinian State is a ruse; Saleh Raafat, a member of the executive committee of the PLO, stated on the television network of the PLO on 28 January 2008 that the Palestinians would accept "22% of Palestine" as a "temporary" State until "all of Palestine" can be liberated (www.worldnetdaily.com).

If Palestine can be neither one State nor two, only one possibility remains - it can comprise a Jewish State and part of an Arab State. This solution has been proposed by Hillel Halkin in the American journal Commentary (January 2008). Israel withdraws to the security barrier, leaving the Arabs of Samaria and Judea in the same situation as that in which the Arabs of the Gaza Strip have found themselves since the Israelis withdrew in 2005. After a period of internal conflict, the inhabitants of these territories would sooner or later accept that there is no alternative to their incorporation into Jordan, a country in which the majority of the population is of Palestinian origin. A statement made by a member of the PLO executive committee, Zahir Muhsein, in 1977 is relevant:

"The creation of a Palestinian State is only a means for continuing our struggle against the State of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a distinct 'Palestinian people' to oppose Zionism. For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign State with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa. While as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan". (From an interview reported in the Dutch newspaper Dagblad de Verdieping Trouw, 31 March 1977).

If the Palestinian Arabs would unite with Jordan after having destroyed Israel, it is difficult to see any objection they could have to uniting with Jordan without having destroyed Israel. If the union were effected, Jordan would be entitled to a corridor linking Judea and the Gaza Strip. However unsatisfactory this solution may be, it is the only one that does not face insuperable objections.