ZOA Letter to NY Times About Palestinian Arab State

ZOA Letter to NY Times About Palestinian Arab State

Dec. 21, 2014 To the Editor,        You allege that "anything less than statehood will not satisfy the Palestinian's longing for a self governing homeland."(The Embattled Dream of Palestine, editorial, 12-20-14, p. a18) But the Palestinian Arabs rejected a State in 2000 and 2008, offered by Israeli Prime Ministers Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert respectively, without a counteroffer. They also rejected a State offered by the Peel Commission in 1937 and the UN in 1948, not to mention never establishing or even discussing a State from 1948 to 1967, when the Arabs controlled all of the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem, and Gaza during that period. And they've refused to even negotiate directly with Prime Minister Netanyahu for the last five years (except for a temporary several week period). Each of these times, in order to establish  a Palestinian Arab State, they would have had to have accepted Israel as a sovereign State and agree to no further claims against Israel.. They refused.  Isn't it clear that the Palestinians will never accept Statehood if it means formally ending the conflict and accepting the sovereign State of Israel. Morton A. Klein President Zionist Organization of America 4 East 34th St. New York, NY