Monday, September 07, 2009

Palestinians 'seriously considering' one-state solution.

As the Israelis announce the building of over 400 new homes in the West Bank, President Carter warns that the Palestinians are now considering a one state solution.

Former US president Jimmy Carter said Sunday Palestinian leaders were "seriously considering" a one-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, following a visit to the Middle East.

"A majority of the Palestinian leaders with whom we met are seriously considering acceptance of one state, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea," Carter wrote in an op-ed piece in The Washington Post.

"By renouncing the dream of an independent Palestine, they would become fellow citizens with their Jewish neighbors and then demand equal rights within a democracy," he explained. "In this non-violent civil rights struggle, their examples would be Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela."

Carter noted that in doing so, Palestinian leaders were taking into consideration current demographic trends.

He said non-Jews were already a slight majority of total citizens in this area, "and within a few years Arabs will constitute a clear majority."

It was only a matter of time before the Palestinians went down this route. The more land the Israelis take, the less of it is left for any future state of Palestine, and there will come a time when a two state solution simply isn't in their interests.

At that point the Israelis really will find themselves in a pickle. Do they offer them citizenship and watch as the Israeli state is swallowed up because of demographics, or do they risk international approbation by refusing to give these people rights and become the modern equivalent of South Africa's Apartheid regime?

This is the fire that Israel has been playing with for years. And I don't think it's any accident that Carter is pointing this out at the very moment that Israel is announcing over 400 new homes in the West Bank.

He's warning them that they are playing a very dangerous game here.

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2 comments:

Steel Phoenix said...

I think they've been employing a different policy. They just go in with tanks and jets every few years and do some population control.

Kel said...

You make a very good point, SP.