Last week the U.S. introduced and the U.N. Security Council
passed a resolution calling for "a region where two states, Israel
and Palestine, live side-by-side within secure and recognized
borders." A Palestinian state run by Yasser Arafat will not deliver
long-awaited "salvation" for Palestinians; it would only bring them
more misery and death.
Consider Arafat's and the PLO's long history of terrorism and
violence. Over a span of 35 years, Arafat and the PLO have been
responsible for the deaths of thousands of Israeli, American,
Lebanese, and Palestinian civilians. Through the PLO, Arafat has
orchestrated the kidnapping and murder of Israeli school
children, the hijacking of airliners, numberless car bombings and
death squad killings. Often Arafat's violence has been targeted at
his Arab "brothers," as is evidenced by the PLO's role in
Jordanian (1960s-70s) and Lebanese (1970s-80s) civil
insurrections. And he hasn't changed his ways. Recently Arafat
attempted to smuggle into Gaza a shipload of Iranian arms to be
used against Israelis, and Arafat's Al Aqsa Brigade deliberately
target and kill Israeli women and children through suicide
bombers.
Consider also the track record of Arafat's Palestinian Authority -
the temporary governing body of the Gaza Strip and West Bank
territories. Arafat is the dictator of the Palestinian Authority in
everything but title. The Los Angeles Times has described his
domination as stretching "from the largest to the most minor
matter." Palestinians live in constant fear of having their property
arbitrarily confiscated by Arafat's corrupt "police" force. Laws
prohibiting free speech are common and are enforced brutally.
To silence those who oppose him, Arafat shuts down radio and TV
stations and imprisons and tortures journalists who criticize the
Palestinian Authority. Dissenters are arbitrarily detained,
tortured, or "encouraged" at gunpoint to leave the territories. In
November 1999, a group of prominent intellectuals who signed a
petition accusing Arafat's regime of corruption was summarily
jailed. They were lucky; some recalcitrants are assassinated.
Remember the mayor of a Palestinian village, Zuhir Hamdan, who
publicly stated that his villagers preferred to live, not under
Arafat, but Israel? He was gunned down, but luckily survived.
Arafat's current regime is barbaric and oppressive. One can
logically predict that conditions in an independent Palestinian
state would be worse than they are presently.
Viewed in this context of dictatorial rule, the alleged right of
Palestinians to "self-determination" is groundless. No group has a
right to its own state if what it seeks is a dictatorship. Arafat's
"Palestinian self-determination" really means more of Arafat's
despotism - it means granting legitimacy to a state that is utterly
hostile to its own citizens.
As Ayn Rand wrote, "the right of 'the self-determination of
nations' applies only to free societies or to societies seeking to
establish freedom; it does not apply to dictatorships." The only
legitimate reason to found a new state is to escape tyranny and
secure freedom. Thus, America's Founding Fathers rightly fought
for independence from England's oppressive rule; the United
States was founded on the recognition of individual rights. What
Arafat desires, however, is the "right" to rule rightless serfs in a
state run by a ruthless dictator. Nobody has a right to create and
maintain such a state.
Palestinians would be better off staying under Israeli rule (as
some Palestinians admit, when safe to do so). To the extent that
the Arabs living in Israel have accepted Western values such as
individual responsibility, property rights, and the rule of law, they
have thrived. The material evidence of that flourishing can be
seen in the relatively high standard of living found in many Arab
villages in Israel. Indeed, Palestinians rely on the relative
economic freedom and prosperity offered in Israel to make a
living.
But Israel also offers Palestinians more precious values. What
Arab country gives its inhabitants the liberty to protest, to publish
articles and books opposing the government (as many Jews and
Palestinians do in Israel)? What Arab country has free elections
or a judicial system in which all are treated equally before the
law? None. In Israel, Palestinians have more freedom and more
economic opportunities than they have in any Arab country, and
than they could possibly have in a future Palestinian state run by
the PLO or any other dictatorial group. If the choice is between a
Palestinian state run by terrorists like Arafat and remaining under
Israeli rule, the latter is by far the better option.
If Palestinians were serious about having their own free state,
they would start by deposing and arresting Yasser Arafat for his
crimes against his own people. In place of the terrorists now
representing them, Palestinians should send to the negotiating
table representatives who believe in and honor individual rights -
leaders who plan to establish a free civilized country where
violence is abhorred and suppressed. Only then will Palestinians
have earned the right to a state of their own.