Why should Palestine become a country? With the recently passed Israeli elections I think it's time to rub our eyes and look at the divide in a new light. Since 1947 when tiny Israel was declared to be a separate country as part of the UN Partition Plan, this area of the world has endured three major wars (Israeli War of Independence in 1948, the Six Day War in 1967 and finally the 1973 Yom Kippur War), it has seen two massive insurrections (the First and Second Intifada) and various acts of terrorism throughout the years. Outside of Israel-Palestine the region has gone through conflict after conflict after conflict. Revolutions and coups swept the Middle East in the 1960's, and since the late 1980's and early 1990's we've seen an astonishing growth in the number of Islamist movements from a revitalized Muslim Brotherhood to present day Islamic State.
I bring these up because they are only some of the daunting security factors that the Israeli people and leaders face when trying to protect their sliver of land in the Middle East. Always on the defense, rejected and hated by her neighbors (except Egypt and to a lesser extent, Jordan) and still traumatized by both the Holocaust and their baptism of fire in the 1940's when Israel became the nation we know of today. Today the mentality of many Israeli people and leaders is that if they do not stand up to threats against them, no one else will and relying on the charity of others rarely works out for the Jewish people. These are many of the factors which influence the Israeli stance on things.
Now I modify my original question slightly and ask as we look to Palestine: Do they DESERVE to become their own country? While one can make a heartfelt appeal on "universal" principles such as national self determination, the limited experience we have is not encouraging. Among the two major political forces in what would be a Palestinian country one (Fatah) is kleptocratic and corrupt, believing in nothing and standing for nothing. On the other hand (Hamas) the only real alternative is a fundamentalist Islamic movement with strong historical links to Iran, one bent on the destruction of Israel and her people and this movement is more concerned with enforcing archaic and near medieval Sharia based dress and social codes than in say keeping the water flowing or the power working. Palestine to date has only had two elections, which of course have resulted in nothing. The first elections made Palestine a one party state while the second elections (in 2005) brought to power Hamas which precipitated what we call a civil war. Hamas now runs Gaza like a mini Islamic State and remains more focused on lobbing missiles into Israel and making it ever harder to achieve peace. Meanwhile the corrupt and incompetent Fatah has continued to allow the West Bank to stagnate, their "President" ruling by executive decree, with no legislature and more concerned about picking fights in international institutions than in actually proving they can govern somewhat competently and thus show the world the positive aspects of an independent Palestinian state.
A peace between Israel-Palestine is a must and can go a long way in a region beset by endless war and terrorism. However this will not happen until the Israeli people feel secure enough to push their political leaders into such a move. And the Israeli people will not feel secure if they live in fear of missiles being fired on them, if they fear another Intifada. And the only way to allay those fears is to build a competent Palestinian authority which can adequately administer the areas already under their own control. And that cannot happen when the choice of leadership either comes from a corrupt Fatah or fundamentalist Hamas. Ultimately, in my view Palestine does not yet deserve to become a country because it simply is not one. What we would call Palestine is in reality a failed state. Somewhere above Somalia and most like Syria come to think of it. Gaza is ruled with an iron fist by Hamas, a group which hides weapons in civilian areas, which launches missiles at Israeli, thus making it far more difficult to provide for their people (as Israeli authorities, already skeptical of Hamas crackdown on potential supply routes for weapons). The situation in West Bank is hardly better under the corrupt, kleptocratic and inefficient government of Fatah, where President Abbas rules by decree, there is no legislature and a one party state where the party has taken over the state has emerged.
The peace promised by Oslo in 1993 is dead. Using anything made in relation to those agreements will in reality lead nowhere. Fixing the divide requires tackling the heart of the problem. A functioning Palestine must be built. The current PLO-Fatah-Hamas mess by be expunged and replaced by more competent administration. In my view the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations should be reactivated and Gaza and the West Bank should be put under the trusteeship of a group of neutral countries (Sweden, Switzerland etc) which can then begin building stable institutions upon which a stable Palestine can grow. The current group of corrupt and authoritarian leaders must go, either into jail or into exile/retirement. The PLO should shut down or be transformed into what the Jewish Agency is now.
Only when Palestine becomes stable, when both Hamas and Fatah either clean up or go, and when Israeli's no longer fear missile barrages can we restart peace. We have failed Palestine and Israel for too long now. The people of Gaza suffer while Hamas is busy launching missiles into Israel instead of trying to provide water and power. The people of West Bank suffer under Fatah's one party state and the people of Israel suffer comparisons to apartheid as they simply try to provide for a safe existence of their own.
Thoughts? Am I some what on point or am I just out in left field?