Aaron Goldstein: Do Palestinians Really Want Their Own State?

Aaron Goldstein writes from Boston, Massachusetts.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to submit an application to the UN Security Council to recognize Palestine as an independent state later this week. The Obama Administration is expected to use its veto in the Security Council to quash that application.

Yet given its implacable hostility towards the State of Israel, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the Obama Administration does an about-face and gives a Palestinian state its blessing. Then watch the UN General Assembly welcome Palestine into the family of nations with open arms.

One could make the argument that George W. Bush opened the door to this mess when he became the first president to call for a Palestinian state back in June 2002. Bush proclaimed: "I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror. I call upon them to build a practicing democracy, based on tolerance and liberty."

Well, the Palestinians in Gaza elected new leaders all right. But in choosing Hamas they elected leaders not only compromised by terror but defined by it. Needless to say, legalizing crucifixionisn't exactly a sign that the Palestinians are practicing democracy based on tolerance and liberty. The West Bank, governed by the supposedly secular Fatah, isn't exactly a beacon of benevolence either, as it frequently arrests dissidents (including last November's arrestof one blogger who criticized Islam). As Khaled Abu Toameh, an Israeli Arab journalist, wroteearlier this year, "Hamas is bad; but who said that Fatah is any better?" President Bush would go on to say, "A Palestinian state will never be created by terror -- it will be built through reform." But what do the Palestinians know other than terror?..