If you ever go to an amusement park, at the beginning of the line to get on the roller coaster, there is a sign that reads, "You must be this tall to board this ride?"
As the United Nations get ready to decide on whether or not to recognize Palestine as an independent state, the same question should be applied. Are the Palestinians tall enough to ride this ride?
Of course, there is a prior question. Which Palestinians are being measured? In the West Bank, there is still a woefully corrupt government structure that, among other things, was unable to prevent terrorists from conducting attacks against Israel. The much maligned security wall the Israelis constructed has kept the terrorists from bombing pizza parlors and discoteques. In Gaza, the Palestinan government does not harbor terrorists, it employs them. Hamas runs Gaza and they are rightly considered a terrorist organization. So, the two territories that would constitute a putative Palestinan state are not even governed by one government. Should Hamas get a seat at the UN? Why not Hezbollah too?
Until the Palestinians put an end to a curriculum that spreads anti-Semitic lies to the next generation, they should not be granted international recognition. Until the Palestinians cease celebrating terrorists as martyrs, they should not be granted international recognition. Until the Palestinians recognize that as long as they insist on half of Jerusalem, their hold on Nablus will be unsecure, they are not tall enough to ride this ride. Facts are stubborn things and the fact that Jerusalem is not going to be divided in your lifetime or mine is a stubborn fact.
The UN should consider the light of the Palestinians to be sure. It could start by re-evaluating its own policies. In every quarter of the globe, refugees are encouraged to re-settle in their new lands and to integrate with the ambient culture, but not the Palestinians. They are kept in UN-sponsored refugee camps in squalid conditions for which Israel gets blamed. The UN should consider its history of anti-Semitic rants before it questions Israeli suspicion of international brotherhood. If it really wants to deal with the Palestinian issue, it should consider what to make of the one truly existing Palestinian state, Jordan, which is led by a Hashemite king. Why? Because the Brits liked kingdoms, Lawrence of Arabia prefered the Saudis to the Hasemties, the Brits needed a place to plunk down King Abdullah. Voila - Jordan was created. I do not recall any cries about the the dignity of the Palestinian people being trampled upon at the time but, of course, I was not alive.
The United States will likely veto the Palestinian request for full membership at the UN. That suits me. I have no objection to rewarding the Palestinians for good behavior, but I should like to witness some of that good behavior first. Instead, seared into my memory, is the image of Palestinians dancing in the streets on the night of September 11, 2001. Whatever those people celebrating want out of life is not what I want out of life. And, I am happy to belong to a country that stands with Israel, where they wept on 9/11, they did not dance.
