Bloodthirsty Liberal

This wouldn’t bring us to 57 states, President Obama’s count, but it would be a start:

Palestinian officials said Sunday they are preparing to ask the United Nations to endorse an independent state without Israel’s consent because they are losing faith in the peace talks.

All right! Statehood here we come! Not exactly “we hold these truths to be self-evident” or “we the people”—but “gissa state” has a nice ring to it.

I bet the international community is lining up to hug their Palestinian brothers and sisters.

What say you, Europe?

The European Union rejected requests Tuesday that it support a Palestinian plan for gaining recognition as an independent state at the UN Security Council without Israeli consent.

Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, told reporters “the conditions are not there as of yet” for such a move. “I would hope that we would be in a position to recognize a Palestinian state, but there has to be one first, so I think that is somewhat premature.”

Huh? The Palestinians just declared a state, or close to it—what’s stopping you from recognizing it? Maybe this made sense in the original Swedish.

Let’s ask some people closer to home.

The United States would veto a Palestinian declaration of statehood in the United Nations Security Council, U.S. senators visiting Israel said Monday.

They said the threat by Palestinian officials to take the issue to a United Nations resolution was a waste of time and would go nowhere. They urged Arab states to stop it. “It would be D.O.A. - dead on arrival,” Democratic Party Senator Ted Kaufman (DE) told a news conference in Jerusalem. “It’s a waste of time.”

Senator Joseph Lieberman (CT), an independent, said “an essentially unilateral” declaration of statehood was the one thing that would not move the stalled peace process forward.

“I hope and presume that the United States would veto such a move if it ever came to the Security Council,” Lieberman said.

Yea, well, Kaufman and Lieberman… you wouldn’t expect them to be very welcoming (if you know what I mean, nudge-nudge).

Surely our own State Department would welcome the development. They’ve been yammering on about it forever.:

U.S. Department of State
Ian Kelly
Department Spokesman
Daily Press Briefing

…

MR. KELLY: Well, I don’t think that - I’m not aware that they have come to us seeking our opinion or our approval. I mean, our position is clear. We support the creation of a Palestinian state that is contiguous and viable. But we think that the best way to achieve that is through negotiations by the two parties. And we understand that people might be frustrated, but we would - we just, as I say, we - it is our very strong belief - we are convinced that this has to be achieved through negotiation between the two parties.

Contiguous? Is he aware that Judea and Samaria can’t be contiguous with Gaza, unless someone cuts a channel through Israel? Is that what he’s suggesting?

Or maybe he means a long, thin strand of land from Gaza down the Sinai to where it meets Jordan at the Gulf of Aqaba, and then up to the Palestinian communities of Judea and Samaria.

We could call it the Jump Rope State.

So how come nobody’s jumping at the opportunity?

Here’s one clue:

While Palestinian officials continued to threaten Sunday to unilaterally declare independence, one senior Israeli defense official summed up the growing assessment in the defense establishment by saying, “Just let them try.”

…

One official gave the water situation in the West Bank as an example. While Israel has recently come under growing international criticism for allegedly denying Palestinians adequate access to water, according to Israeli officials the situation would be far worse without Israeli assistance.

“The Palestinian Water Authority wouldn’t last a day on its own.”

…

Another example focuses on security cooperation, which has significantly increased over the past two years, since Hamas violently took control of the Gaza Strip.

…

[W]henever PA President Mahmoud Abbas travels outside of Ramallah to another Palestinian city, the IDF, Shin Bet and Civil Administration are all involved to coordinate and ensure his safety.

“When Abbas travels it is like a military operation,” one officer explained. “Everyone is involved since the PA forces cannot yet completely ensure his security.”

Palestine can’t become a state because its neighbors won’t give it the land; it can’t feed, hydrate, or defend itself; and nobody—but nobody—wants it to become one.

Nobody but me, I guess. I say if Somalia and Biafra can be states, why not Palestine? They’d starve, die of thirst, and kill each other off in weeks, but at least they’d be free. How cynical of the world powers to deny them their inalienable rights.

Let Bloodthirstan be the first to recognize the Warring States of Palestine (surely its official name). If they move straight from independence to civil war, we say never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.