Why Some Western Liberals Love Palestinian Terror

As Israeli ministers sit around the table for a crucial cabinet meeting, some suggest annexing the Gaza Strip. One discusses the importance of working on Western public opinion to explain Israel’s right to control the West Bank. Known for his right-wing opinions, that minister adds that the Arabs living in the area should get Israeli residency and only later receive citizenship. Another participant, from the other side of the political spectrum, argues that despite the moral, democratic, and even security problems with refusing immediate citizenship to West Bankers, he is not yet willing to raise that possibility. Instead he believes Israel must prioritize the strategic depth the area provides.

One former security official promotes creating a Palestinian entity—even a state—in some parts of the West Bank with Israel annexing other areas. A fourth—considered particularly charismatic—suggests autonomy for West Bankers, perhaps linked to Jordan. Countering that position, a fifth minister wonders how the international community, so opposed to anything that smacks of colonization, will ever accept a plan for autonomy rather than independence.

Israel’s justice minister believes that the failure to clarify Israel’s intentions regarding the territories will ultimately expose the country to international criticism and undermine its crucial relations with the U.S. He also warns that absent an Israeli withdrawal, there is danger of a binational state “in the not-too-distant future.” Such a scenario, he emphasizes, will soon lead to Jews becoming a minority between the river and the sea and Israel being “done with the entire Zionist enterprise and become a ghetto.” The education minister warns that if Israel publicly announces its refusal to budge, only to fold later under international pressure, it would be disastrous.