Palestine: A Cause or a State?

Iranian-born author Amir Taheri posits that “palestine” is a cause, not a political project to create a state. 

Excerpt:

A recent creation, the modern state is the political expression of a nation’s existence. One must first have a nation and then look for a state to express its existence.

Is Palestine a nation, in the modern sense of the term as described by Herder at the end of the 18th century?

You might be surprised, even angered, by this question. However, none of the dozens of political parties that have claimed to represent the Palestinians in the past seven decades ever described itself as national.

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Islamist or leftist, Palestinian political movements treat Palestine as a “cause” rather than a political project.
But what is that “cause”?

This was clearly put by Hamas leader Khalid Mishal in a speech in Tehran on 3 October. “Our aim,” he said, “is liberating all of Palestine from the River to the Sea.” In other words, the cause is not to give Palestinians a state but to destroy Israel.

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Palestine must choose what it wants to be a “cause” or a state.

Sounds very similar to what Pat said.

Read the whole thing.

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