Palestinian State?

One of the biggest problems my novel Rebirth points out for Palestinians: they were not ready to govern a state in 1948 and they're not ready now. A Palestinian state today would draw even more aid that it is now to govern themselves. If they can't govern their people without land today, how are they going to run a country tomorrow? The American government (among many others) still gives millions every year to Palestinians and much of that money is UNACCOUNTED FOR.  

• In a few weeks, an overwhelming majority in the UN General Assembly will likely vote for collective recognition of a Palestinian state. But the purely imaginary state that the assembly will endorse has neither a functioning government nor meets the requirements of international law.

• The PLO does not seek statehood for the West Bank. Its minimum demand is a state that includes Gaza and the eastern part of Jerusalem, demanding title to lands and authority over populations it does not control.

• Mahmoud Abbas is presenting himself as the president of the Palestine that is pressing the claim in the UN, but he is not considered to be the president anymore by Hamas, the largest political party in the putative state. Abbas' term expired in January 2009.

• The Palestine that the General Assembly will recognize also will have two rival prime ministers pursuing incompatible policies. Hamas denies that Abbas has the authority to appoint Salam Fayyad as prime minister. This putative state also has a legislature that never meets. Elected on Jan. 25, 2006, for a term of four years, the PLC has enacted no laws, and conducted no meetings since 2007.

The writer served for 23 years as a senior official of AIPAC and is now the director of the Washington Project of the Middle East Forum.
(Steven J. Rosen - Foreign Policy)

Bottom portion originally posted by Israel Alert