As I have long argued. From Barry Rubin in Lebanon’s Daily Star, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
The central question of the Arab-Israeli – or at least the Israeli-Palestinian – conflict is whether it is a “normal” struggle over territory or an existential battle set by religion, identit, and other factors much less susceptible to resolution through compromise.
Many observers, drawing analogies from other issues without properly examining the specifics of the Arab-Israel case, conclude that it is a normal conflict and, consequently, can be easily settled if only the right formula is found. In fact, though, for much of the Palestinian side the question has remained one of total victory, in which only Israel’s extinction and replacement by a Palestinian Arab, and perhaps Islamic, state extending between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea is the acceptable solution.…
The methodology of terrorism, the continuing demonization of Israel on a daily basis by the Palestinian Authority and its media, the insistence, even in 2005, of officially mourning Israel’s original creation, and many other practices, reflect this world view. A more subtle aspect is putting the priority on violence and agitation rather than on building the infrastructure of a future state. In pursuit of total victory – or at least keeping the door open for its pursuit – the Palestinian movement has squandered international goodwill and the huge financial aid it received in the 1990s.
Huge financial aid? Why, I thought we were supposed to believe they were penniless.