For 77 years, Palestinian leaders—whether Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority (PA) or Hamas’s Ismael Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar—have held fast to their mission of removing the Jewish state from the Middle East.

Despite repeated failures to destroy Israel militarily or achieve similar ends through negotiation, the Palestinians have persisted. Indeed, though they have launched numerous terror campaigns—and frequently, often with the help of their Muslim neighbors, full-scale wars—to defeat Israel, they have never prevailed.

Still, the majority of Palestinians, whether in the Gaza Strip or Judea and Samaria have enthusiastically supported these failed leaders.

Why, despite this obstinate, but utterly unsuccessful effort to conquer “Palestine”—a land they have never owned or controlled—do the Palestinians refuse to give up? Over the decades, it has become clear that their motivation is neither political nor strictly territorial: They demand neither independence nor living space. They have been offered both many times in the last 100 years.

Rather, the Palestinians are motivated by an Islamic religious requirement that they expel the infidel Jews from land they believe is an inalienable Muslim endowment. It is this intractable religious drive for conquest that explains why, despite persistent failure, the Palestinians don’t have a state, and why Israel, for nearly eight decades, despite superior military might, has not achieved victory . . . or peace.

Ironically it is now the Europeans, who achieved their momentous peace with Germany after a definitive military victory, enemy surrender and extended occupation of enemy territory, who want to skip these critical steps, and force upon Israel a ceasefire and creation of an enemy state still sworn to Israel’s destruction on its borders.

Yet, the European lesson is clear—even though the Europeans refuse to follow it: To achieve peace between Israel and its intransigent enemy, that enemy—the Palestinians—must be defeated. Despite their deep-seated and blind religious adherence to a moral belief requiring the expulsion of the Jews, they must be persuaded to give up that goal . . . to surrender unconditionally.

Only then will the Palestinians have the opportunity to achieve independence, prosperity and peace. Only then will Israel achieve protection of its citizens from terror, security for its democratic institutions and respite from nearly eight decades of constant defensive wars.

The Palestinians refuse to accept a Jewish state or peace. The Palestinians and their Muslim neighbors have initiated numerous unsuccessful wars attempting to destroy Israel. In 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973, multiple Arab states attacked Israel in the hopes of destroying it. The Palestinians launched unsuccessful wars of their own against Israel—the First Intifada (1987-1993), Second Intifada (2000-2005), and Hamas’s Gaza wars (2008-2009, 2012, 2014, 2021, 2023-today). Iran has also tried to destroy the Jewish state by creating a “ring of fire” around Israel composed of its proxies—Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis—only to be decimated earlier this year by Israel’s superior military strategy and arsenal.

Nevertheless, Israel has consistently tried to sue for peace with its Muslim neighbors. After the 1967 war, for example, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan famously said that Israel was “waiting for a telephone call” from Arab leaders to discuss peace. Instead, the Arabs responded with the infamous “Three No’s”: No peace, no recognition, no negotiations with Israel.

Meanwhile, Palestinian leaders have refused every offer of peace and statehood for nearly a century—the Peel Commission (1937), UN Partition Plan (1947), three American-Israel proposals in 2000, 2001 and 2008, and most recently President Trump’s “Deal of the Century” in 2020.

Nonetheless, until today the Palestinian people have persistently supported their leaders’ goals and failed strategies, and seemed doomed to persisting until Israel convinces them their cause is hopeless: They will never destroy Israel, and any option other than peace will be hellish.

The Palestinians’ goal has always been “maximalist”—resolution of the conflict that positions them to conquer Israel. The Palestinians have never demanded peace nor freedom, nor a patch of living space for a state. This fact makes the Western leftists’ battle cry “Free Palestine” a hoax, since the Palestinians’ goal since 1947 has never been independence, but rather, conquest of the Jewish state.

The Palestinians believe “Palestine” is a waqf—an Islamic endowment that cannot be relinquished to “infidels.” Indeed, the 1988 Hamas Charter states that “the land of Palestine has been an Islamic Waqf throughout the generations and until the Day of Resurrection, no one can renounce” or abandon any of it. Hence, the Palestinians refuse all offers for peace, territorial negotiations and a path to statehood. Instead, they insist intractably on a “right of return”— the immigration of five million descendants of 600,000 Arab refugees from 1947 into Israel—a land almost none of these millions have ever seen or set foot in. Such a tsunami of Arabs into Israel would mean the demographic defeat of the Jewish state.

On its side, aspiring to be good Westerners—both by negotiating in good faith and always fighting to a standstill—never to victory—Israel has failed to achieve peace. Just as Hamas currently refuses to surrender in its losing war with Israel, the Palestinians likewise do not believe in surrender. They believe time is on their side: Allah wills that they continue their futile quest to destroy Israel. An enemy that refuses to surrender must be forced to lose hope . . . through its decisive, crushing defeat.

The U.N. and European nations ignore lessons of World War II—Germany and Japan’s surrender and rebirth. Thus, the United Nations, backed by the West, are today offering the Palestinians a state, with absolutely no insistence they surrender or even abandon their obsession with destroying Israel. In essence, the compassionate Westerners propose simply to install yet another Islamist terror state on Israel’s borders.

Please make the point when speaking with family, friends, colleagues—or in letters to the editor—that just as the Germans and Japanese were defeated definitively as a requirement to achieve peace, so must the Palestinians understand devastatingly that they have lost the war and abandon the fantasy that they can cleanse “their land” of Jewish infidels. In surrendering, they will affirm that their only tolerable future means embracing the promise of peace and prosperity.

If you agree we need to spread this truth, please use your email browser to forward this Hotline issue to fellow lovers of Israel—and encourage them to join us by subscribing to the Hotline at no charge.

Best regards,
James Sinkinson, President
Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME)

P.S. Surely you’ve recently read of some celebrity, politician, radical student, foreign head of state or media pundit slander Israel with the “Gaza genocide” lie. Many who spread this lie are ignorant, but most are anti-Israel haters. They care nothing for the truth. The tragedy is, when they utter the Gaza genocide falsehood, too few knowledgeable people—and virtually no media—stand up to refute it. Indeed, when you share the simple facts, the genocide lie crumbles. Upon learning that Israel conducts its war against Hamas terrorists with the highest ethical standards—and that nothing Israel does in Gaza fits the definition of genocide—fair-minded people quickly see through the lie. I hope you’ll agree that we supporters of the Israel-U.S. relationship need to speak out. FLAME’s new hasbarah—explanatory message—“Facts Shatter Gaza Genocide Lies”—describes what genocide is and is not and proves factually that Israel’s tactics in the war are ethical and righteous. It also reveals demographic data showing that the Palestinian population in Gaza is actually increasing. Finally, it notes that those who spread the Gaza genocide lie fit the classic definition of antisemites. Please review this convincing, fact-based editorial, which FLAME is about to publish to millions—in leading social media, as well as in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Tampa Bay Times, Denver Post and Los Angeles Times. This piece will also be sent to all members of Congress, the President and Vice President. If you agree that this kind of public relations effort on Israel’s behalf is critical, I urge you to support us with a donation.

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