Cheney: Palestinian state 'long overdue'

The Associated Press

Vice President Dick Cheney and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

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Cheney: Palestinian state 'long overdue'

Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday said that a Palestinian state is "long overdue" -- but also delayed by continuing terror attacks on Israel. But the two sides have been at war for generations. Is a Palestinian state possible? And would it bring peace to the Middle East?

Ben likes: Negotiating without benefit

R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr./New York Sun

A recent book, "The Global War on Terrorism: An Assessment," by Robert Martinage of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, illuminates the problem that Israel faces with Hamas and that the West faces with Islamic terror in general.

Mr. Martinage says, "Since the death of Muhammad in 632, Islamic history has been punctuated by many periods in which various heterodox sects have emerged and clashed violently with mainstream Muslims, as well as with the West." We are living through one of those periods. Whether Israel existed or not, these Islamic terrorists would be with us still.

All that Israel and the West can do is resist the terrorists, the best way being to go on the offensive. Withdrawing from Gaza certainly has not weakened the terrorists. It has made them and their Palestinian sympathizers more eager for violence. There is one sentiment, however, in this poll that I for one agree on. Negotiations have been of no benefit, at least not to those who want peace.

Joel likes: Alternatives to Palestine

Matt Yglesias/The Atlantic

What makes the Palestinians so special that they deserve their own country when the Catalans and the Québécois and all the rest don't have them? The answer is pretty simple -- the alternative to independence is citizenship. The Québécois don't have an independent country, but they are citizens of Canada. Catalans are citizens of spain. Flemish and Walloons are both citizens of Belgium. Komi are citizens of Russia. When you see legal discriminatory treatment against citizens -- as with African-Americans in the United States until very recently -- that's a problem. People are owed equal citizenship.

It's clear, though, that granting Israeli citizenship on terms of equality to residents of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is incompatible with the idea of Israel as a Jewish state. Thus, Palestinian independence emerges as a reasonable, practical, and moral alternative.