The world's fixation on a Palestinian state is symptomatic of a worldwide disease. Some would diagnose this disease as Jew-hatred. Others would call it stupidity. Still others would say both. Let's focus on stupidity, which, after all, accounts for much of human history.

It would take heavy tomes to document all the stupidity evoked by the Palestinian state issue. Still, let's enumerate some points: first, about the Arabs in question, and second, geostrategic considerations.

The Arabs in question:

1. There is no Palestinian language and no Palestinian culture. The Arabs in question are part of the Sunni Arab majority of the Middle East.

2. The Arabs don't really want a separate independent state.

3. They lack the habits, the temperament, and skills required for independent and responsible statehood — as some of the following points make obvious:

4. They indoctrinate their children to hate Jews and Israel.

5. They train children to be jihadists.

6. They have used children as human bombs.

7. They elected a variety of thugs to rule over them.

8. They venerate a religion whose followers have slaughtered some 270 million human beings since the time of Muhammad.
    

   Turning to geostrategic considerations:

9. There isn't enough room between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean for two viable states. More than two million Arabs restricted to 2,323 square miles of Judea and Samaria (the "West Bank), and another million Arabs squeezed into 141 square miles in Gaza, is a formula for economic stagnation and discontent — a cauldron of envious hatred of Israel fueled by one or another terrorist goup.

10. The imagined state would be a constant threat to Jordan.

11. The imagined state would be split by Fatah and Hamas.

12. The imagined state, consisting of a dozen rival tribes and clans from the Middle East and North Africa, would invite Iran to quell any internal disturbance.

Now, please indulge my frankness: Aren't you tired of being reminded of the poor "Palestinians" whose charming media call for "Death to Israel" and "Death to America"?

Alternatively, aren't you tired of being reminded that the US Joint Chiefs of Staff warned that Israel must retain the Judean and Samarian highlands, the Jordan Rift, Gaza, the Golan Heights, etc., to avoid catastrophic attacks from its enemies?

Aren't you tired of hearing that the conflict in question is not a territorial conflict but an ideological conflict? This is so obvious that one might reasonably conclude that President Obama and his Middle East advisers are either Pavlovian idiots or Pavlovian Jew-haters responding to a bell called "Israel."
 

Prof. Paul Eidelberg is a political scientist, author and lecturer. He is the founder and President, Foundation for Constitutional Democracy, a Jerusalem-based think tank for improving Israel's system of governance. Contact him at eidelberg@foundation1.org This essay was distributed may 21 2009.

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