Palestinians Have Never Been Offered A State
Only codification of their second-class status.
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“I killed myself to give the Palestinians a state. I had a deal they turned down that would have given them all of Gaza and between 96 and 97% of the West Bank.” — Former President Bill Clinton
If the Palestinians accepted the simple truths (of a Jewish state) they would have a state within months. They will not, and they likely will never do so, because their consistent goal has been Israel's destruction. — Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro
A few months ago, Israel’s apologists were comfortable denying accusations of genocide. But as the Gazan death climbs and an invasion of Rafah appears imminent, no reasonable person can claim Israel is acting defensively. Wishing to remain respected in the eyes of their peers and history, Zionist apologists have adopted the preferred tactic of cowards and abusers: they blame the victim.
There are many ways Zionists have blamed Palestinians for Israel’s savagery (“They elected Hamas,” “Every toddler is a secret militant,” etc., etc.). But the leading claim is that the Palestinians have repeatedly rejected Israel’s offers for Palestinian statehood. Therefore, Zionists claim, the ongoing slaughter is their fault. According to this theory, Palestinians were offered peaceful, respectful co-existence. They rejected it, as they are blood-thirsty apes who will not rest until every Jew in Israel is pushed into the sea. So, wanting to prevent this promised holocaust, Israel was forced to occupy the West Bank, blockade Gaza, and conduct scorched earth bombing campaigns in densely populated areas.
Despite being rejected by the United Nations, which reiterates occupations are unjustified and preemptive war is illegal, Zionists still assert this reasoning as morally right. The above quotes from Bill Clinton and Ben Shapiro show that this warped thought is not exclusive to online trolls, but is a common argument put forth by the pro-Israel political elite. While this claim is pointless (even if Palestinians had rejected statehood, that’s no excuse for genocide), it’s also dishonest. The Palestinians have never been offered a true state, only codified versions of their subservience. By peeling back the propaganda and looking at the reality of each “offer,” we gain a clearer picture of Israel’s goal — the complete conquest of historic Palestine.
Partition for Thee, Not for Me
On November 29th, 1947, the United Nations adopted Resolution 181, partitioning Mandatory Palestine into “independent Arab and Jewish States,” with a special shared status for Jerusalem. When Israel was founded in May of 1948, war broke out between it and the surrounding Arab nations. Zionists claim this as proof that “Arabs have always rejected peace,” though this is a selective telling.
At the time of the partition, European Zionist settlers constituted about a third of the population and held about 7% of the land in Mandatory Palestine. Yet the UN Partition plan gave them over half the territory. This is, of course, a drastically unfair arrangement, which Palestinians rightfully rejected. Not only was the partition inequitable, but Israel made it clear it had intentions to conquer past its already disproportionate borders. In drafting the official Israeli Declaration of Independence, the founders removed a paragraph specifying Israel’s borders to those of the U.N. partition. Instead, they declared the formation of “Eretz-Israel,” a biblical term referring to land far beyond the U.N.-determined borders. This wasn’t the first time Zionists espoused their desire to dominate Palestine. In 1937, future Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion said:
“After the formation of a large army in the wake of the establishment of the state, we will abolish partition and expand to the whole of Palestine.”
Such statements, coupled with the fact that Zionist militias began ethnically cleansing Palestinians from the territories before Israel was formed, showed the Palestinians that the Zionists never intended to respect their statehood. Their fears were immediately validated, as Israel conquered large swaths of the promised Palestinian state within two years of partition. Even today, Israel has never declared its borders, an indication of intent for further conquest.
The Modern Years
For the latter half of the 20th century, Israel’s peace talks largely excluded the Palestinians and focused on relationships with Egypt and Syria. While the Arab nations sometimes advocated on behalf of the Palestinians, it wasn’t until the 1991 Madrid conference that Palestinians got a seat at the table. And even then, Israel demanded they had to be part of a joint Palestine-Jordan delegation, a sign that the Israelis did not view Palestinians as a unique national identity.
It wasn’t until the 1993 Oslo Accords that the Palestinian Liberation Organization was permitted to directly negotiate with Israel. There was much ado about signing Oslo’s Declaration of Principles, but the document was superfluous. The agreement never called for a Palestinian state, only temporary “Councils” and an “Interim Self-Government Authority” amongst the Palestinian people. With no concrete plan, the parties met a few years later at Oslo II (confusingly held in Egypt), but that produced little more than another “Interim Agreement” with hollow platitudes of “Palestinian self-governance.”
While Oslo II’s Interim Agreement was purposeless, it did shed light on Israel’s intention to never offer a sovereign Palestinian state. According to the Agreement, even if the not-promised Palestinian state materialized, Israel would control its airspace. Needless to say, a state without authority over its territory is not a real state, but a colony. This practice of offering an Israel-controlled Palestinian territory remained constant throughout future negotiations.
In 2000, President Bill Clinton invited Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Brog and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat to the Camp David presidential compound. Most of the discussions were never written down, leading to contrary verbal accounts. But what is undisputed is that the Israelis expected the Palestinians to accept a subservient status, subjected to the whims of Israeli aggression. The Israelis demanded control over Palestinian airspace, three military bases in the West Bank, a militarized zone on the border of Jordan, and the right to invade the West Bank “in case of emergency.”
Yasser Arafat rightfully rejected this absurd arrangement, for which he is often scapegoated for “walking away from a generous deal.” (See Bill Clinton’s quote above.) This is a gross mischaracterization, as any deal that would allow the Israelis to attack the Palestinian state “at will” is merely a codification of Jewish supremacy over their Palestinian neighbors. Even Israeli Diplomat Shlomo Ben-Ami has stated Camp David was a poor deal for the Palestinians (4:00 in the below video).
“Camp David was not the missed opportunity for the Palestinians. If I were a Palestinian I would have rejected Camp David.”
Sporadic talks continued throughout the 21st century, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed he would only accept a “demilitarized Palestinian state.” As with surrendering control of Palestinian airspace or allowing Israel the right to invade at will, a “demilitarized state” would require the Palestinians to forfeit their right to self-determination and self-defense.
At every turn, the Palestinian people have shown their willingness to negotiate with the Israelis. They have signed agreements saying Israel “has a right to exist,” condemned terrorist attacks, and show a continuous willingness to return to the negotiating table. In exchange, the Israelis have offered the Palestinians subordination; permission to elect their own leaders, as long as those leaders let Israeli warplanes and soldiers penetrate Palestine at will. Of course, these were not offers of “statehood,” but invitations to slavery. The Palestinian struggle is not just one of borders but of dignity. For over a century, the Israelis have demanded they shred their self-worth for little improvement in their condition.
As would any nation that values its honor and humanity, the Palestinians have rightfully rejected these charades.
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Excellent reconstruction of the «crime scene». Since 1947, Israel and its thugs have striven to deceive the Palestinians and an international public opinion complicit in underhand maneuvers reflecting perfect complicity, aimed at creating a «state»rump devoid of any sovereignty and exposed to the permanent control and vindictiveness of a sovereign, extensible and dominating entity. Israel and its henchmen have worked tirelessly to present to the Palestinians, projects they could only refuse.
thus favouring this permanent status quo interspersed with intermittent raids and massacres as a prelude to a «final solution» consisting in the expulsion of local aborigines to deserts or other places of perdition, finally, for those who would have escaped the «insecticide» campaigns.
In addition to the pernicious and “malignant” character of the Zionist enterprise and “philosophy”, what I find most troubling and revolting is the entire submission and active complicity of the global West in this large-scale abuse,Not to mention, of course, the odious behavior of the Arab countries, monarchs and subordinate princes and their contribution to the burial of the Palestinian cause.
This truth has been true since 1948. Israel’s offers of “peace” through the decades have *never* been in good faith. Fortunately, Israel has chosen a path of self destruction since 10/7. Unfortunately, it will cost many more thousands of innocent lives. #FreePalestinians