Why A Palestinian State Does Not Exist and Will Not Be Created

Why is there no Palestinian state today, when the idea of partition is nearly a century old and the Jewish state came into existence in 1948? Will there ever be a Palestinian state, and if not what are the alternative ways of ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? 

I address these questions in Mosaic‘s monthly essay for September, published September 2nd. It begins this way:

Late this month, and exquisitely timed to coincide with Rosh Hashanah, the United Nations General Assembly will meet and, addressing it, the president of France will recognize “Palestine” as a state. France will be the 148th country (by most counts) to recognize a state that does not exist and never will—a “state” with no borders, no government, no economy, and no control over its claimed territory. 

The problem, I argue, is that Palestinians have never really wanted a state--and according to polls, still today have little enthusiasm for that enterprise of state-building. Their goal has been to destroy the Jewish state, and violent “resistance” continues to have high levels of support. What, then, are the alternatives to a Palestinian state that would be an immense threat to the security of Jordan and of Israel?

I invite you to read the essay, found here at the Mosaic web site.