A Palestinian State?

By Terry Payne 

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World history scholars, in high school and college during the 1960’s, taught chronicles in the Middle East based on facts. Historical revisionism by Islamic extremist, Marxist institutions and college activists has “muddied the waters.” For instance, the toxic anti-Semitic Palestinian student group called the Students for Justice in Palestine is active on over 200 campuses across the United States.

The history of the Jews and Judaism in the Land of Israel has its origins in the 2nd millennium, between the years of 2000 BC and 1001 BC. A United Kingdom of Israel existed prior to the disputed territories in Israel.

Never in world history has Palestine existed as a nation. Palestine’s region was ruled by Rome, by Islamic and Christian crusaders, by the Ottoman Empire and, briefly, by the British after World War I. In the 1917 Balfour Declaration, the British restored part of the area to the Jewish people as their ancestral homeland. Palestine never was ruled by Arabs as a separate nation.

Forty years ago, there was no controversy on Palestine’s statehood. Why is the issue of a two-state solution being discussed today? The answer is because of an extensive misinformation campaign and unabated terrorism.

Remember late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir made an audacious political statement: "There is no such thing as a Palestinian people." Golda Meir was corroborated by historical records and by the candid, but underreported, pronouncements of Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO’s) Yasser Arafat.

Arab propagandists promote Golda Meir's "racism." They rejoice proclaiming she’s in historical denial and her statement is patently false – an intentional lie and strategic deception.

They avoid discussing similar statements made by Arafat’s inner circle of political leadership years after Meir told the truth. There is no distinct Palestinian national identity. In March 1977, a Dutch newspaper published an interview with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein:

“The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today, there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.”

Arafat made a similar unequivocal statement in 1993 that the Palestinian nationhood argument is the strategic deception – one designed to empower the destruction of Israel. After Arafat signed the Declaration of Principles on the White House lawn in 1993, he explained his actions on Jordanian TV:

"Since we cannot defeat Israel in war, we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine, and establish a sovereignty there, and we use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel."

Israel and the West mustn’t surrender to terrorism by granting the murderers a public relations triumph and strategic victory. It's not too late to confront terrorism and say no to another Islamic terrorist state. It's never too late to tell the truth about Palestine.