Three years ago, in August 2017, the New Yorker magazine ran an important feature story stating that the Palestinian national project was in a state of atrophy and close to expiring.
"The Palestinians may need to acknowledge that yesteryear's conventional nationalism and 'national liberation' are no longer the best currency for political mobilization and expression in today's world, and that they need to adapt their struggle and aspirations to new global realities."
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The Palestinian national movement – as it was established by Yasser Arafat and expressed through the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority – is reaching its end, determined the authors, Hussein Agha and Ahmad Samih Khalidi. The peace treaties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, with a tailwind of support from Saudi Arabia, seemingly provide further damining context to their original assessment of the Palestinian situation. Those who experienced Tuesday, September 15, as a day of excruciating mourning and grief, won't like what several Palestinian intellectuals, former close advisers to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, think. True, age is a part of it, but Saeb Erekat is packing his bags for Harvard for a reason.
Beyond the historical barriers, this is also the view of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Whether we like it or nor, the credit for minimizing and even dismantling the Palestinian national enterprise, goes to him. And this is also the prism through which he views the historic deal with the UAE and Bahrain. As is the case with any successful diplomatic initiative, it achieves more than one goal. This move, more than anything else, pushes Iran into a corner. The Iranians consider Bahrain a Persian province, just as Saddam Hussein saw Kuwait as an Iraqi province. Yet lo and behold, Bahrain was not deterred by Iran and signed the peace deal with Israel.
The treaty signings generate momentum. Iran isn't just feeling the squeeze from a security perspective, it is now even more isolated diplomatically. It is perceived as the single largest force against peace in the region. Israel is suddenly in the spotlight as a champion for peace in the Middle East. The international community, which is always happy to embrace the jovial foreign minister of Iran, Mohammad Javad Zarif, will have to face reality. The Europeans don't like this peace, and as surprising as it may sound, this was also their position when Israel and Egypt made peace.
It's good to start the new year with an optimistic diplomatic horizon, but the Israeli psyche has changed since those treaties of old. Which is a good thing. We need to shed the concept of a utopian peace. Francis Fukuyama's thesis in The End of History was wrong in general, and even the most fervent of messianic Jews, even if they fail to realize it, won't be erased from history. The treaties signed this week are a partial victory over the campaigns to delegitimize and boycott Israel, and the strategy of destroying the Jewish state.
The internal political-legal protest campaign is ultimately the price to be paid by a lone, daring star. If Israel would have continued sputtering in place in pursuit of fruitless negotiations and concessions to the Palestinians, and continued delegating the authority to fight the Iranian nuclear program to "the world," we would never be where we are now. The moment the Palestinian cause was severed from Israeli-Arab relations. This is the right time to begin rethinking solutions to the Palestinian issue. Perhaps even solutions that have been gathering dust for decades.
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