Cartoonists on Palestinian UN Bid

The cartoons slant overwhelmingly to the Palestinian side. I have seen many cartoons that show Israeli concerns. Why almost none here?

By MICHAEL OREN

The Palestinian Authority, which has already made a pact with the
Hamas terrorist organization, now seeks recognition for a unilaterally
declared state at the United Nations. President Barack Obama, though
deeply committed to Palestinian statehood, declares his intention to
block that scheme, even by exercising an American veto in the Security
Council. Congress, for its part, threatens to cut off aid to the
Palestinian Authority if it breaches its commitment to direct talks
with Israel and pursues unilateralism.

American mediators, meanwhile, lobby other members of the Middle
East Quartet?the U.S., the European Union, the U.N., and Russia?in an
attempt to forge a new framework for renewing Israeli-Palestinian
negotiations. And Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waits for
the Palestinians to rejoin him at the negotiating table.

Sound confusing? Indeed it was for many observers of this past
week’s dizzying diplomacy in New York. They asked themselves what
exactly had transpired at the U.N., and why? What had spurred the
Palestinians to turn their backs on a sympathetic U.S. president and a
strong Israeli statesman capable of leading his skeptical people to
peace? How could the Palestinians risk all they had achieved in recent
years?a thriving economy, restored law and order, and significant U.S.
aid?in a reckless bid to snatch the statehood that they could easily
have earned?

Confusing, perhaps, but the answer is simple. The Palestinians came
to the U.N. to get a state, but without giving Israel peace in return.

Understanding the Palestinians’ decision requires a review not only
of this past week’s events but of one that occurred nearly 64 years ago
at the same U.N. On Nov. 29, 1947, the General Assembly voted to
partition British-controlled Palestine into two states, one Arab and
one Jewish, that would live side-by-side in peace. The Jews accepted
the agreement, but the Palestinians rejected it and joined with five
Arab armies in an ultimately thwarted attempt to destroy the Jewish
State of Israel.

Forty six years later, in 1993, the Palestinians received another
chance to accept the two-state solution. In the Oslo Accords, which the
U.S. co-signed, Palestinians and Israelis pledged to resolve all
outstanding issues through face-to-face negotiation and to achieve an
historic peace. In fact, these discussions produced two Israeli peace
proposals, in 2000 and 2008, that met virtually all of the
Palestinians’ demands for a sovereign state in the areas won by Israel
in the 1967 war?in the West Bank, Gaza and even East Jerusalem.

But Palestinian President Yasser Arafat rejected the first offer
and Mahmoud Abbas ignored the second, for the very same reason their
predecessors spurned the 1947 Partition Plan. Each time, accepting a
Palestinian State meant accepting the Jewish State, a concession the
Palestinians were unwilling to make.

In between Israeli peace offers, the Palestinians waged a terror
war that killed and maimed thousands of Israelis. When Israel uprooted
all of its settlements from Gaza in 2005, the Palestinians failed to
create a peaceful enclave and instead created a Hamas terrorist
stronghold that fired thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians. Yet,
in spite of their rejection and trauma, Israelis continued to uphold
the vision of two peaceful adjacent states.

That goal was embraced by Mr. Netanyahu, leader of the Likud Party,
in a speech at Bar Ilan University in June 2009. Turning to “our
Palestinian neighbors,” he declared, “let’s begin negotiations
immediately without preconditions.” But Mr. Abbas refused to negotiate.
Nevertheless, Mr. Netanyahu ordered the removal of hundreds of
checkpoints in the West Bank, facilitating remarkable economic growth
and dramatically increased transport in and out of Gaza. When President
Obama asked him to freeze construction in West Bank settlements, Mr.
Netanyahu announced an unprecedented 10-month moratorium. But over the
course of two and a half years, Mr. Abbas negotiated for a total of six
hours, and then refused to discuss Israel’s security needs.

Those needs have grown immensely in the wake of the upheaval in the
Arab world, the rise of Iranian proxies, and the deployment of tens of
thousands of terrorist rockets on our borders. Though doubtful of the
Palestinians’ readiness for genuine peace, Israelis retain the hope of
a two-state solution. Mr. Netanyahu championed that hope and even
brought it to the U.N. this week. “I am extending my hand, the hand of
Israel, in peace,” he told Mr. Abbas?and the world?on Friday. “I hope
you will grasp that hand.”

Unfortunately, Mr. Abbas did not come to New York to shake Mr.
Netanyahu’s hand but to grab a state which, he wrote earlier this year,
“will pave the way for the internationalization of the conflict” and
“pursue claims against Israel at the United Nations.”

The U.S. and other principled nations are standing strong, though,
and Mr. Netanyahu is ready to negotiate today?if only Mr. Abbas is
willing. While the circumstances have changed since 1947 and even 2008,
the formula for peace remains unaltered. By accepting the Jewish State,
the Palestinians can have their own.

Mr. Oren is the Israeli ambassador to the United States.

You can also find MANY cartoons at
www(dot)cartoonmovement(dot)com