The Palestinians already have a state

In all of the clamouring about the need for the Palestinians to have their own state it seems to have slipped under the radar that since September 15, 2005, the date that Israel withdrew completely from the Gaza Strip and West Bank, there has indeed been a Palestinian state. Ruled at the time by Fatah, they even had open elections and managed to vote in a jolly group of suicide bombing, death cult terrorists called Hamas to run the joint. For those that refer to Hamas as 'freedom fighters' then you must have been just tickled pink to see the progress your freedom loving Palestinians had achieved.

There are a lot of people, indoctrinated by our mainstream media, education institutions and Arab lobby groups, that think it's Israel that's stopped the progress of the formation of a Palestinian state. I have just one thing to say to you - you are either a complete idiot or an immoral, dishonest, piece of crap. Ahhh, that feels better.

If you believe that there used to be a land called Palestine then you've been sucked in by the rhetoric of those that use Palestine as the symbol for their own wider regional goals. Answer these questions if you can: When was it founded? Who founded it? What was its capital? Who were its leaders? What language did it use? And what religion? I'm going to guess that you draw a big blank on all of those questions but go ahead and ask Professor Google and see for yourself.

The fact is that a Palestinian state now exists. It has its own popularly elected government with an administration, public officials and social services. And what has been the result? In the one year since the election of Hamas the place has descended even further into social chaos, violence and, lately, outright civil war between Fatah and Hamas. Both parties have as their goal the destruction of Israel and they both indoctrinate their young to hate Jews and the West. In an area where the average age is less than sixteen and where they have no economic prospects due to the militant leaders they enjoy is it any wonder that the place is a mess? If it wasn't for billions of dollars of international aid that's poured into the place there'd be a complete human catastrophe.

You may be wondering why it is that society has broken down so badly. It must be the fault of Israel, surely? In 2000 the Second Intifada started after Yasser Arafat rejected the Israeli settlement offer negotiated at Camp David. At that time there were 125,000 people living in the West Bank that were working in Israel or in joint industrial zones. Arafat, however, ramped up suicide bombings to such an unprecedented level that Israeli patience ran out and they fought back hard, inflicting much damage on capital infrastructure and disrupting local administration, which had the effect of closing large numbers of businesses and forcing more than 100,000 people out of work. Way to go, Yasser! He really was a tyrant on the level of Stalin, Hitler, Mao or Hussein and, like those delightful mass murderers, thought nothing of sacrificing the well-being of his people in pursuit of his own maniacal goals.

For the Arab nations, the 'Palestine Issue' has always been a card they've played in order to achieve other strategic goals. The thick-headed analysts of the Baker-Hamilton Commission Report even suggested that solving it would lead to peace in Iraq. How you could come to such a conclusion is beyond the cognitive capacity of this reasonably undumb correspondent.

So there you have it. A Palestinian state already exists and it's a complete nightmare for its people. The only question to be answered is why anybody would be in the least bit surprised.

Update: Quartet goes gaga over Gaza