by Gilad Sharon
Hat tip: Jean-Charles Bensoussan
The Palestinians hitched a ride on the back of Zionism. Many of them came here in the wake of the Zionists, to make a living from them
The idea behind the new bill allowing for the expulsion of a member of Knesset from the parliament is to limit an MK’s public expressions of identification with Palestinian nationalism and its violent manifestations. But the bill also raises a more basic question: Is Palestinian nationalism real or is it a fiction whose sole aim is to wipe us off the face of the Earth? The fact that the question affects us directly requires that we examine it closely. The fundamental aspiration, the ultimate dream, of every national movement is a state of its own. A little bigger, a little smaller – it doesn’t matter, just as long as it’s their own independent state. By definition, the purpose of a national movement is to work to realize that dream.
A quick review of Palestinian activities over the past hundred years reveals no evidence of any efforts of that sort. In Zionism’s early decades, there was no such thing as a Palestinian nation. At most, the Palestinians were a vestige of some pan-Arab nation, which also turned out to be an oriental fairy tale (pan-Arabism breathed its last with the death of Nasser).
Until the UN Partition Plan in 1947, Zionism devoted all its energy to creating national institutions and making preparations for the establishment of a state.
What were the Palestinians doing during that time? Were they also busy preparing for the founding of their state? No. Their efforts were directed entirely toward preventing the founding of ours.
Had they accepted the Partition Plan, they would now have a state the same age as Israel. All the territory they are demanding today – and more – would already belong to them, and there wouldn’t be a single Palestinian refugee. But they didn’t even consider that option. As far as they were concerned, their rejection of the plan was a foregone conclusion.
Why? Because they didn’t aspire to a state of their own. All they wanted was to thwart the establishment of ours.
Almost 70 years have elapsed, and there’s been no change in Palestinian aspirations. In the 19 years between the War of Independence and the Six Day War, they never established a state. In fact, Article 24 of the first Palestinian National Charter (the one they’d like to forget), published in east Jerusalem in 1964, states that the Palestine Liberation Organization “does not exercise any territorial sovereignty over the West Bank... [or] on the Gaza Strip.”
That was three years before the Six Day War. How is it that in their founding charter, the Palestinians declared they had no wish to rule over the very same land they are now demanding? The reason is that the results of the Six Day War are the pretext, not the cause, of Palestinian violence. That was here long before the war. It’s also the reason why Ehud Barak failed to reach an agreement with Yasser Arafat, and why Ehud Olmert failed to reach an agreement with Mahmoud Abbas, and why it will never be possible to reach an agreement with the Palestinians.
Is a nation whose members’ fondest dream is to be granted an identity card by the enemy really a nation? There are only three Muslim nations in the region: the Egyptians, the Persians, and the Turks.
All the rest are tribes at best. The Palestinians hitched a ride on the back of Zionism. Many of them came here in the wake of the Zionists, to make a living from them. Their spurious nationality is a by-product of Zionism. It wouldn’t have been invented if it weren’t for Zionism, and couldn’t survive without it.
When it comes right down to it, we have to do what’s best for us. That means not intermingling with them and not trusting them, because what matters to them is not their own benefit, but our destruction.
Translated by Sara Kitai.
Gilad Sharon
Source: http://m.jpost.com/#article=6022MjdERjE1RTAxQzExRUMxRDNDMUFDMDI4RjgwNDZCRkM=
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