Many years ago I really thought that there could be peace, a proper constructive and mutually beneficial peace between the Israelis and those Arab Muslims who call themselves ‘Palestinians’. Like so many others I’ve prayed that one day the sons of Isaac and the sons of Ishmael would water their sheep together in the Jordan. But over the years, nay the decades, I’ve come to the conclusion that there can be no peace with these Arabs especially as there seems to be far too many of them whose only desire is to murder Jews. Even though peace is desirable it is morally and practically impossible to make peace with those who have vowed to kill you. I’m now of the opinion that the Moschiach (Messiah) is more likely arrive before the ‘Palestinians’ make the conscious decision not to hate and not to kill because of that hatred and the wait for the Moschiach has been long enough already.
When I was much more naive about the situation with regards to the Israel / ‘Palestinian’ conflict I thought, as did many others, that giving the ‘Palestinians’ self government or swapping land for peace or helping boost the economic prospects of those who live in those areas claimed by the ‘Palestinians’, would if not bring peace on their own but would at least create the foundations for peace. I know longer believe such a thing. It was a monstrous delusion that myself and others have had. This is because we’ve realised what the person who is the subject of today’s ‘From Elsewhere’ piece has also realised. This is that this conflict is not about politics, not about land, not about rights or economics or any thing that a reasonable man, the sort of ‘Clapham Omnibus’ sort of chap could understand. This conflict is about jihad and the desire of some Muslims and some Islamic communities to do anything they can to kill or oppress Jews. No amount of land or additional rights or economic development opportunities could bring peace because the desire for jihad cannot be appeased by such things.
A Jordanian ex-Muslim named Danny Burmawi published on the 9th February a brilliant piece on the X platform that lays bare the herculean effort that Israeli politicians made to bring peace, a peace that was rejected by the ‘Palestinians’ because it’s not peace that they want it’s jihad against Jews.
Mr Burmawi said:
*Listen up. I am Jordanian, and I tell you that the two-state solution is dead, stone cold. And I’ll tell you why.
Back in 1994, when Yitzhak Rabin was ready to hand the Palestinians a state on a silver platter, who was the loudest voice against it? Benjamin Netanyahu. And what did the world call him? A radical, an enemy of peace, a warmonger.
Even inside Israel, many thought he was being extreme. But was he? Bibi’s argument was simple: You don’t hand a state to people who openly declare that your country has no right to exist and that their ultimate goal is to wipe you off the map. That’s not a “peace process”, that’s national suicide.
He understood the security risks. A Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) would leave Israel a mere 9 miles wide at its narrowest point. That’s nothing. That’s an easy invasion route. That’s a security nightmare. It would take minutes to cut Israel in half and massacre its people. But did Israel listen? Of course not.
In 2000, Ehud Barak came back and sweetened the deal. He offered Arafat a state again. Thank God Arafat said no. And why did he say no? Because he never wanted a state, he wanted Israel gone.
Fast forward to 2005. Ariel Sharon tried another approach. He said, “Fine, let’s give them a test run.” So he pulled every single Jew out of Gaza, 70,000 settlers, forcibly removed. He even went so far as to dig up Jewish graves to ensure Gaza was 100% Judenrein. No excuses left. The Palestinians had a chance to prove they could run a state.
So what did they do? Did they build hospitals, schools, and infrastructure? Did they work on nation-building? Did they take this golden opportunity and create a thriving mini-state to prove to the world that they were ready for independence? Nope. Instead, they turned Gaza into a terrorist launchpad.
Since 2005, Gaza has been a rocket factory, a jihadist training camp, and a tunnel network straight out of a horror movie. Billions in aid poured in, and instead of building a future, Hamas built weapons to destroy Israel. So let’s go back to the original question: Who was right, the dreamers who kept offering the Palestinians a state or Bibi Netanyahu, who warned them this would be a disaster? The answer is clear. Bibi was right.
The Palestinians never cared about statehood. They only cared about destroying the Jewish state. And this is the part most people don’t want to say out loud: This conflict was never about “occupation.” That was always a lie. The West Bank and Gaza are just convenient excuses. The real issue is Islamic jihad. Bibi understands this better than anyone.
The people Israel has been negotiating with for decades don’t want borders. They want annihilation. It’s not about compromise. It’s about erasing Israel from the map. So, no, the two-state solution isn’t “dying.” It’s already dead. And it’s been dead since the first time Israel tried to make peace with people who don’t believe in peace.*
More people and especially the political classes in the West need to understand what Mr Burmawi is saying here. He’s saying that all the efforts made by the Great Powers of the world to bring what they believe is peace in the form of a two state solution are doomed to fail. They are doomed to fail because it is not peace, coexistence and prosperity that these ‘Palestinians’ want, it’s the opportunity to murder Jews. We saw that in full detail on October 7th and it would be naivety beyond belief to take the view that this would not happen again. There can be no peaceful coexistence with the ‘Palestinians’ because that’s not what the ‘Palestinians’ want. It would be less wasteful of resources for the politicians of the West to grasp the fact that the usual peacemaking policies will not work and instead concentrate on dealing with the jihad that is the ‘Palestinians’ sole desire in a muscular and realistic manner.