Ever Stop To Think How Creating A Palestinian State Could Make Matters Worse In The Middle East?

The idea that creating a second Palestinian state is key to bringing peace and stability in the Middle East is alive and well, despite indications that the Arab world thinks Iran is the bigger issue.

But even putting that aside--what makes creating a Palestinian state so important for the future of the Middle East?

It can't be because the 'Palestinian cause' is near and dear to Arabs in the region--

• Palestinians have been expelled from Kuwait.
• Palestinians have been killed, imprisoned and kicked out from Iraq
• Palestinians exist as second-class citizens in Lebanon

And according to Stratfor, the Palestinian Arabs have alienated other Arab countries as well:

Palestinian nationalism represented a challenge to the Arab world as well: to Syrian nationalism, to Jordanian nationalism, to Nasser’s vision of a United Arab Republic, to Saudi Arabia’s sense of security. If Arafat was the father of Palestinian nationalism, then his enemies were not only the Israelis, but also the Syrians, the Jordanians, the Saudis and — in the end — the Egyptians as well.

The bottom line is that although Palestinian terrorists make much of the need to destroy Israel, the fact of the matter is that

...if Israel ceased to exist, the question of an independent Palestinian state would not be settled. All of the countries bordering such a state would have serious claims on its lands, not to mention a profound distrust of Palestinian intentions. The end of Israel thus would not guarantee a Palestinian state. One of the remarkable things about Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza was that no Arab state moved quickly to take aggressive steps on the Gazans’ behalf. Apart from ritual condemnation, weeks into the offensive no Arab state had done anything significant. This was not accidental: The Arab states do not view the creation of a Palestinian state as being in their interests. They do view the destruction of Israel as being in their interests, but since they do not expect that to come about anytime soon, it is in their interest to reach some sort of understanding with the Israelis while keeping the Palestinians contained.

The emergence of a Palestinian state in the context of an Israeli state also is not something the Arab regimes see as in their interest — and this is not a new phenomenon. They have never simply acknowledged Palestinian rights beyond the destruction of Israel. In theory, they have backed the Palestinian cause, but in practice they have ranged from indifferent to hostile toward it. Indeed, the major power that is now attempting to act on behalf of the Palestinians is Iran — a non-Arab state whose involvement is regarded by the Arab regimes as one more reason to distrust the Palestinians.

So if one takes a serious look not only at the Israel-Palestinian conflict but at the Middle East as a whole, one would be justified in asking the question:

Just how would the creation of a Palestinian state not make matters worse?

See also: Stop Putting Words Into Hamas's Mouth--They Cannot Afford A Two-State Solution

Technorati Tag: Middle East and Palestine.