Recognizing Palestine

Ari Bussel



Five Latin American countries have already recognized Free, Independent Palestine: Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. American Friends for Peace Now estimates that 30 more countries around the world will recognize Palestine by the next United Nation’s General Assembly in September.



APN also laid down the path for recognition as espoused by the Palestinians. The Palestinians will come to the UN and invite its members to see a viable state, building itself from the very foundation, with security forces that oversee peace and order – in close coordination and cooperation with Israeli forces – transparency that fights corruption and a government that is by the people, for the people and removed from Hamas’ military fight against Israel. It seems a recipe for guaranteed approval.



I see Israel digging her own grave, and a new Palestine emerging from the very fertile graveyard ground that used to be Israel.



APN’s head even went as far as calling one of the Palestinians technocrats the new David Ben Gurion, building an actual state, with a vision for the future.



Only the vision does not stop at the mere act of creation of a Palestinian state. It is the prelude to the grand act of destroying any remnant of the Jewish state, exterminating the Jews and ridding the world of their continued existence once and for all. That is the true and sole purpose of the “Palestinian” exercise.



There are rumblings within Israel against the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian State, even admonitions of those countries who have already taken the path toward this eventuality. Others in Israel seem to have reached the conclusion this is already the de facto state of affairs, and the full recognition is just an upgrade of current status.



How should Israel respond? Is a free, independent Palestine a bad thing? Why is the declaration of a free, independent Palestine creating such a wrath?



Should Israel boycott the world as country after country rise to the challenge, raising its hand in support of Palestine? After all, would Turkey welcome a new Kurdistan sprouting from within its borders? How about the United States of America relinquishing California or Texas to Mexico? China and a free, independent Tibet? And the list goes on as Israel is held to a different standard.



Should Israel embrace the idea, since a majority of her citizenry support “two states for two people?” Will this misguided notion (“Peace on Earth” ushered as a result of the creation of Palestine) stand the test of reality or expose the naked truth with all its horrors, evilness and ugliness? Palestine is just a stepping-stone to Israel’s destruction and that is its sole purpose of existence.



How should Israel respond?



The Palestinians have made their intentions clear for some time. There were no secrets and the goals were declared explicitly. The package was put on display for all to see. By now, Israel should have had an action plan, other than “let us live and see how this thing plays out.” Acquiescing is interpreted as a sign of weakness. Allowing a Palestinian State to come into fruition is tantamount to allowing Iran have the bomb.



Excusing the status quo as inevitable is agreeing with the process, rather than responding to it. Likewise, those who say that parts of Jerusalem are de facto “Arab,” gravely mistake. They should highlight that Jerusalem is one city, Israel’s eternal capital, unified and indivisible, and work to stem out any misconceptions, misleading notions or action of the ground that creates such a divide.



Whereas Israel has been urging the world community to act against Iran, has it heeded its own advice? In many ways, Israel’s response (or lack there of) to the latest Palestinian move is no different than the world community’s failure to do anything at all to stop Iran.



I argue that a unilateral move by the Palestinians is a blessing in disguise to Israel, and the fact it will be fully supported by the world community is nothing but a reflection of the growing tsunami of anti-Semitism to which Israel must respond.



There is one way for Israel to respond. I am afraid, though, that Israel lacks the leadership, the courage and the conviction to carry it forward.

In response to the new free, independent Palestine, Israel must annex Judea and Samaria. If the former is ludicrous, the latter is long overdue and much more reasonable. To then achieve peace, or for it to be negotiated in earnest, there would be value assigned to Judea and Samaria, whereas today there is none – it is taken for granted not to belong to Israel, not to ever have belonged to her.



Israel must fight for her survival, for she exists in the land of her forefathers, from time immemorial to time everlasting. It is the land of no other, despite any illusions to the contrary.



Israel must call things by their name, and Judea and Samaria must stop to be “Occupied Territories” with Jewish towns and cities referred to as “Settlements.” Judea and Samaria is Israel’s heart and should be no different than any other region in Israel. Possibly if Israel treated it that way, others would concede, or at the very least listen.


The Middle East understands action, as does the world. There is no one “understood” more, or possibly feared, than the Russians or the Chinese who make no bones about their intentions or determination. Israel should follow suit and do what is good for her, and the only thing good for Israel is to wake up and fight for her own survival.



Judea and Samaria are as much a part of an imaginary “Palestine” as one tearing out another human being’s beating heart and holding it for display in one’s hand with a roar of joy. Just as such an action ensures the death of the person from whom the heart was removed, likewise, removing Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem from Israel would be a brutal deathblow to the Jewish State.



There is only one Jewish country in the world, in a place that has been its home for the past three millennia. Empires rose and fell, countries were created and others disappeared into the dustpan of history. Israel was and still remains. She alone has a claim over her land, and neither Israelis nor the world at large has the right, or the ability, to relinquish even an iota of this ownership to others.



Palestinian Authority’s latest attack against the Jewish State is good in so far as it will force Israel to respond to the reality she is trying to avoid. Annexing Judea and Samaria is an equally brilliant move that will force the world to recognize that Israel is not a laboratory in which experimentations are carried out on a live subject.



Judea and Samaria are the cornerstones of Israel, past present and future, and Israel will not allow anyone to tear her heart out or stab her to death; in theory at least.





The series “Postcards from America—Postcards from Israel” by Ari Bussel and Norma Zager is a compilation of articles capturing the essence of life in America and Israel during the first two decades of the 21st Century.



The writers invite readers to view and experience an Israel and her politics through their eyes, Israel visitors rarely discover.



This point—and often—counter-point presentation is sprinkled with humor and sadness and attempts to tackle serious and relevant issues of the day. The series began in 2008, appears both in print in the USA and on numerous websites and is followed regularly by readership from around the world.



© “Postcards from America — Postcards from Israel,” January, 2011