On March 3, 2022, Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman reportedly said, “We look at Israel as a potential ally but before that, it should solve its problems with the Palestinians.”LIF doesn’t know whether Israel responded directly to this comment (although it did subsequently issue an unusual condemnation of a Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia).https://twitter.com/naftalibennett/status/1507801187344596998?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1507801187344596998%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jpost.com%2Fbreaking-news%2Farticle-702404Should Israel choose to respond directly to the crown prince’s remarks, here’s what it could say:
‘Israel would be delighted to resolve its problems with the Palestinians. Unfortunately, the Palestinians don’t seem much interested in resolving their problems with Israel. Consider some findings from a new study by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR), on how Palestinians view their relationship with Israel. As reported by the Palestinian Media Watch, the PCPSR survey shows:
While many international actors including the US, the EU and others, constantly voice their support for the so-called “Two State Solution” – creating a new “State of Palestine” comprised of the Gaza Strip, some or all of Judea and Samaria and some or all of Jerusalem – only 40% of Palestinians support that idea. Conversely, only 32% of Palestinians support the “One State Solution” with “equal rights” for all citizens. In a similar manner, 67% of Palestinians support the suspension of the PLO’s recognition of Israel and 61% support the decision to end the implementation of agreements with Israel including security coordination.When asked about the most effective means of “ending the Israeli occupation and building an independent state,” the report says that 68% of Palestinians chose violence (44% chose armed struggle (i.e. engage in all out terror similar to the PA launched 2000 – 2005 terror campaign) and 24% chose “popular resistance” (the PA euphemism that includes sporadic terror attacks like shootings, stabbings, and car rammings)). Only 25% of the Palestinians chose the path of “negotiations.”
‘Tragically, there is nothing surprising about Palestinian rejection of negotiations. Israel offered final resolution peace proposals in 2008 and 2000, which the Palestinians ignored. Israel was ready to make peace after the Six Day War in 1967, when the Arab League responded, No peace, no negotiations, no recognition of Israel. Israel accepted the United Nations partition plan of 1947, which Palestinian Arabs and the Arab states rejected and responded to by launching a war on the nascent state. Even before that, the major Jewish leaders (David Ben-Gurion, Chaim Weizmann and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi) were willing to accept the 1937 Peel Commission partition proposal, which Arab leaders (notably the grand mufti, Haj Amin al-Husseini, who collaborated with the Nazis) rejected out of hand.
‘Indeed, the Palestinians seem to Israelis to be “on the same path, making the same wrong choices, and holding the same grudges that hardly leave their elders until their young ones inherit them.”
‘With respect, Israel thinks it’s the Palestinians’ turn to offer a peace proposal. Not just a shopping list of demands, but what they are willing to give up as part of a final, good peace. Final, as in permanent; Israel isn’t looking for another treaty of Hudaybiyah. A peace proposal issued in English, Hebrew, and – most importantly – Arabic; the same in all three languages, instead of saying one thing for foreign audiences and another when talking to their own people.
‘For example, until the Palestinians are willing to say, very clearly, to everyone, that they will give up their so-called “right of return” demand that Israel accept millions of descendants of Arab Muslims and Christians who once lived in what is now Israel, Israel has nothing to discuss with them. Sadly, the PCPSR study offers little reason for optimism on this score:
When asked what the most vital goal for the Palestinians should be, 33% answered that “the first most vital goal should be to obtain the right of return of refugees to their 1948 towns and villages.”As PMW has shown, the PA uses the demand that Israel be flooded with millions of so-called “Palestinian refugees” as a means to bring about the destruction of Israel. For Israel to agree to this demand, Israel would have to agree to commit national suicide. In other words, one in every three Palestinians believes that the most vital goal for the Palestinians is to destroy Israel – something that Israel will never agree to of course.
‘Israel knows that Saudis, too, have suffered from Palestinian rejectionism and support for terrorists, and that Saudis and many other Arab peoples would rather focus on their future and that of their children. Israelis agree. Israel, too, wants to focus on its future and that of its children.
‘To that end, Israel asks you to use whatever influence you have with the Palestinians to persuade them to give up living in the past. Please, encourage them to think about their future and the future of their children. Let them say to Israelis, “We who have come from a land where parents bury their children, we who have fought against you, the Israelis – We say to you today in a loud and a clear voice: Enough of blood and tears. Enough.”
‘Yes, Israel would be delighted to make peace with the Palestinians. But Israel can’t do it unless the Palestinians are willing to make peace with Israel.’
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