No hope as both sides stall on peace in Mideast

After four years of stalled peace talks and the Palestinian Authority – the largest employer in the West Bank – on the verge of going broke, it is understandable why frustration is brewing in the troubled region. Economic woes and an absence of sustainable peace are a bad combination.

This may explain why Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas last Thursday renewed his bid for recognition of Palestinian statehood before the United Nations General Assembly. 

He tried the same thing last year, but the United States and Israel strongly opposed a move that would help the Palestinians further their cause. They prefer that the Palestinian Authority negotiate with Israel rather than make a unilateral attempt at statehood. 

On top of this diplomatic failure, the Palestinian Authority was faced down by a vengeful US Congress, which cut financial support to the governing body of the Palestinian people. That was nothing less than short-sighted, because American lawmakers know full well that it is in the interest of Israel to keep the Palestinian Authority going. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton restored some of the funding, but more is needed if donors are looking to strengthen the capacity of the Palestinian governing body.

It will be in no one’s interest if the Authority collapses. It was created by the Oslo Accords in 1993. Much work has been done in clamping down on terror suspects. The number of Israeli deaths from Palestinian terror attacks has dropped. That should count for something. Instead, the Authority has little to show for its dealings with Israel. Settlement building on occupied territory – land that the Palestinians were hoping would become part of their state – continues unabated. 

Knowing that the Authority’s collapse would not serve Israel’s interests, the Jewish state has at least taken some steps to guard against it. These include advances on customs duties it collected on behalf of the Authority, as well as work permits allowing Palestinians to work in Israel. 

But these piecemeal measures are temporary in nature and do not address the long-term solution that the Palestinian problem requires. 

Israel is offering little in the way of concessions and the US has done little to prod Israel in that direction, suggesting that the land grabbing, if it continues, will leave too little territory for a Palestinian state to be even viable.

But there is more to this than just a stronger and larger Israel. Another question is what to do with the millions of Palestinians living on Israeli territory. Israel cannot remain a democracy and deny equal rights to Palestinians living there. And if Israel decides to treat them as equal in the eyes of the law, it will relinquish its Jewish majority. 

The debate about Palestinian statehood is devoid of optimism. It cannot remotely include the possibility of the birth of a new nation as long as there is stalemate in the peace process and neither side is willing to make serious concessions. 

With a complete lack of progress in the peace process, we can forget about seeing the current Israeli administration address such existential questions. 

It’s one thing to take land from the Palestinians. It is entirely another matter when the Israeli government refuses to even think about what kind of country it is becoming.