Palestinian Terms for Peace

The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct 'Palestinian people' to oppose Zionism.
-- PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein, March 31, 1977
Let us, for the sake of argument, assume Mr. Muhsein's statement was and still is accurate. There is certainly plenty of independent evidence to support it. Look for the term "Palestinians" in any writing dating from prior to the birth of the State of Israel in 1948. The term, at that time, most often referred to Jewish resident of Palestine, most of whom had no other country to call home. There were certainly references to both Jewish and Arab Palestinians at the time, but when talking about nationality the terms Jew and Arab were the two existing national identities.
Without Jerusalem there will be no peace. Peace starts in Jerusalem and ends there. Peace starts by recognizing our right to return, to self-determination, the establishment of an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital and the cessation of settlement. construction
--Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, July 26, 2005
Mr. Qurei (a/k/a Abu Ala) is demanding that millions of Palestinian Arabs must be allowed to settle in Israel. This is what "right of return" means. He also insists on "self-determination". We must assume that should Palestinians become a majority in Israel they are demanding the right to run the country. The are also demanding Jerusalem, of course, which is holy to the Jewish people. The last time part of Jerusalem was under Arab rule the courtyard of the Western Wall was used as a garbage dump.

It would seem Prime Minister Qurei adheres to Mr. Muhsein's vision. First a "two state solution" as called for under the Roadmap, and then the Palestinians take over the Jewish state and eliminate Israel as we know it.

The terms for peace Prime Minister Qurei and President Abbas continue to demand amount to an offer to Israel of only one sort of peace: the peace of the grave. If you don't believe me ask one of the leaders of the Israeli left. Yossi Sarid is a Member of Knesset (MK) from Yahad, the farthest left party in the parliament. Under Prime Minister Ehud Barak he, along with party leader Dr. Yossi Beilin, were part of the "peace cabinet" working for an agreement with Yasser Arafat. Here is what MK Sarid, then Minister of Education, had to say in 2000:
There is one issue that can topple everything, and that is the right of return. It is very important that they understand and internalize this. The meaning of the right of return means Israel's suicide. As far as I know, we don't have any plans to commit suicide.
Those are indeed the terms for peace with Israel demanded by the Palestinians: commit suicide. In light of this, and the myth of longstanding Palestinian national identity, why is the Bush administration now again pushing the Roadmap? The Palestinians themselves continue, on a daily basis, to insist they have no interest in peace unless peace is a euphemism for the destruction of Israel. Surely that isn't what the President wants, is it?