Paul Sheehan of the Sydney Morning Herald says that it's impossible for an independent Palestine to come into existence. In his article, he clearly states, "It's no longer viable. At every historic juncture since Israel was created in 1948, rhetoric has taken precedence over pragmatism in the Arab world. As a result, every one of these historic junctions has resulted, without exception, in material defeat for the Palestinians." His article is thorough and points to a plethora of missed opportunities by the Arabs to create a state and bring peace to the region. Meanwhile, you can also read my article of why Palestine is Not a Country in terms of modern geopolitics at this time.
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Comments
Oh boy, I can see the comments on this one…
Palestinians are among a select group of people where geography seems set against them. Israelis don’t want them and when the Arabs had control of West Bank and Gaza they were not even considered their own people. To make matters worse the only Arab country that offers citizenship to refugees and their descendants in Jordan (Syria, Egypt, et al are all content to keep them in camps.)
The final stroke is the micro-civil war going on there. Hamas and Fatah are killing more of each other than they are killing Israelis. Though, rockets are launched daily from Gaza into Israel.
Why just highlight one editorial on this topic from one Australian newspaper? No doubt other writers, and especially, other geographers, have a range of views on Palestine’s future, and are not represented here. Matt, it seems like you let your own political biases take over this week…
Tom,
I would be couscous to assume that anyone with an interest in Palestinian affairs can truly look thru an objective lens when discussing the topic. I personally find it disappointing that you discredit a well thought-out editorial simply because it has been published in an Australian newspaper. As far as I know, they receive the same news feeds that we do here in the U.S. but I guess their concerns don’t count because they’re in the Southern Hemisphere. Using this assumption, where might an objective article with merit be published, Egypt, Israel, Syria or Lebanon? I think your own political biases are the only ones being shown as a result of this publication.