The 1.2 State Solution
Jun. 15th, 2009 10:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
4thofelevenSo, did you hear? Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has endorsed a Palestinian State! Kind of.
See, he’s not actually endorsing a completely independent state. Rather, he says, Israel “cannot be expected to agree to a Palestinian state without ensuring that it is demilitarized…the Palestinian area must be demilitarized. No army, no control of air space…The Palestinians cannot make military treaties.”
Oh, and of course East Jerusalem would remain Israeli. After all, “Israel needs defensible borders”. Palestine wouldn’t need defensible borders, since it wouldn’t be allowed to defend them.
I’m not entirely clear on how this situation would differ from the current situation. Really, with Netenyahu’s calls for “real effective measures to prevent arms coming in, not what’s going on now in Gaza”, his proposal seems to require greater Israeli control over the West Bank and Gaza, not less.
But hey, he’s said he is in favour of “two free peoples living side by side…each with its flag, anthem and government.” An anthem! Awesome!
Might I suggest that Palestine consider this little ditty? Second verse:
“Our hope is not yet lost,
The hope of two thousand years,
To be a free people in our land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.”
(Not, I suppose, that any of this really matters – I give Netenyahu’s coalition maybe six months more before its inherent contradictions cause it to fragment…)
See, he’s not actually endorsing a completely independent state. Rather, he says, Israel “cannot be expected to agree to a Palestinian state without ensuring that it is demilitarized…the Palestinian area must be demilitarized. No army, no control of air space…The Palestinians cannot make military treaties.”
Oh, and of course East Jerusalem would remain Israeli. After all, “Israel needs defensible borders”. Palestine wouldn’t need defensible borders, since it wouldn’t be allowed to defend them.
I’m not entirely clear on how this situation would differ from the current situation. Really, with Netenyahu’s calls for “real effective measures to prevent arms coming in, not what’s going on now in Gaza”, his proposal seems to require greater Israeli control over the West Bank and Gaza, not less.
But hey, he’s said he is in favour of “two free peoples living side by side…each with its flag, anthem and government.” An anthem! Awesome!
Might I suggest that Palestine consider this little ditty? Second verse:
“Our hope is not yet lost,
The hope of two thousand years,
To be a free people in our land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.”
(Not, I suppose, that any of this really matters – I give Netenyahu’s coalition maybe six months more before its inherent contradictions cause it to fragment…)