Palestinians reject peace
The march of pro-Palestinian demonstrators through the streets of Cape Town will not achieve its stated outcome. A Middle East peace settlement will be possible only after the Palestinians realise that decades of futile war against the Jews and Zionism have failed.
The Palestinians and their supporters still entertain hopes that Israel can be dismantled despite its victories on the battlefield against Arab armies and the prosperity it has brought about. They cannot see the futility of pursuing a policy of hatred and violence, and continue a strategy aimed at delegitimising Israel.
An important reason is that the Palestinian Authority and Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions are encouraged by the indiscriminate support they get from abroad, in the mistaken assumption that their desire for a state is dependent on the demise of Israel. SA should not become involved in this illconceived attempt to attack a member of the UN.
Israel finds itself in a state of war and not in a peace process, attacked by an oligarchy of dictators. The truth that the Palestinians are not interested in peace is not palatable to the global community. As a start, the world, including SA, needs to demand from the Palestinians a clear recognition of the right of Israel to exist in peace.
US Vice-President Mike Pence, addressing Christians United for Israel, said earlier in 2018: “How unlikely was Israel’s birth, how more unlikely has been her survival, and how confounding against the odds has been her thriving. Since the moment of their independence, the Jewish people have awed the world with their strength of will and their strength of character. Indeed, anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear must acknowledge that Israel is a living testimony to the power of hope over hate. Any [Israeli-Palestinian] peace requires an end to the incitement of hatred, an end to any support whatsoever of terrorism. And above all else, a lasting peace requires true and complete Palestinian willingness to accept and recognise the Jewish state of Israel.”
This is what SA should be promoting.