A TALE OF TWO COUNTRIES

AN ARAB AND A JEWISH STATE WERE TO BE BORN ON THE SAME DAY. SOMETHING WENT TERRIBLY WRONG.

What Palestinians were doing while Israel was building a country and improving the world.

The greatest tragedy of the current conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is that none of it had to happen. No soldier or civilian had to die. It is all a catastrophic result of a single, fateful decision eight decades ago.

Twin countries were to be born at the same moment. In 1947, the United Nations determined that what had been the British Mandate for Palestine should become a Palestinian Arab and a Palestinian Jewish state.

The Jews of the region, with the support of practically the entire global Jewish population, threw themselves into creating a successful country. That country has evolved into one of the greatest miracles of statecraft — indeed, one of the highest examples of the potential of humankind in general and of Jewish people in particular.

The Arabs of the region, goaded by the entire Arab and Muslim world, rejected the very premise. What was to become the Palestinian Arab country has seen eight decades of catastrophic failure, their human potential smothered, generation after generation raised to kill and be killed as tools in a theological and ideological war on their neighbors.

If we do not understand what happened at that moment in history, we cannot possibly understand current events. The cause of the conflict then, as now, was and is the refusal of Arab and Muslim states to abide the existence of a self-determined Jewish people in the Middle East.

This entire conflict — every life tragically lost, all the potential needlessly cut short — is because of the universal Arab rejection in 1948 (and the almost-universal rejection ever since) of the Jewish people’s right to their own country. That is the root of this conflict. Everything else is commentary.

That is relevant to my point — but it’s not my point.

In 78 years, what have the Jewish people done with Israel?

Since its founding in 1948, Israel has achieved an extraordinary transformation, emerging as a global leader in countless fields. It has one of the highest numbers of startups per capita in the world, with pioneering breakthroughs in cybersecurity, AI, medical technology, and agricultural innovation — including drip irrigation and water desalination systems now used to feed millions of people. It has produced Nobel laureates in multiple disciplines, and its universities are among the most respected in human history. Israel has been the birthplace of countless groundbreaking scientific and medical innovations, including Copaxone for multiple sclerosis, and Rasagiline for Parkinson’s disease. Israeli scientists created the PillCam, a swallowable camera for non-invasive internal imaging, revolutionizing gastrointestinal diagnostics. ReWalk, a wearable robotic exoskeleton, enables paraplegics to walk. Israeli companies have pioneered advanced cancer detection technologies, AI-driven diagnostics, and genetic screening tools like Amniocentesis-free prenatal testing. Necessity being the mother of invention, Israel developed mobile intensive care units and battlefield trauma systems now used globally — as well as the near-miraculous Iron Dome anti-missile shield. Israeli scientists are also at the forefront of stem cell research, regenerative medicine, and personalized cancer vaccines, maintaining Israel’s status as a powerhouse of scientific progress and life-saving discovery.

And this is to say nothing of cultural achievements like music, art, film and literature — which is mostly created in what was a century ago for all intents a dead language, at least in terms of vernaculars. And a million other small and large miracles.

In less than eight decades, while under constant attack or threat of attack, and while absorbing successive waves of refugees, Israel turned desert into farmland, built a high-functioning democracy and established a knowledge economy that rivals those of much larger, more stable nations. The country is a miracle of human capability.

Now …

In 78 years, what have the Arab people done with Palestine?

Nothing. Less than nothing. By many measures, the place is worse today than it was in 1947. It is a catastrophe.

More than what the Palestinians and their Arab allies have passively failed to do, their primary objective has been to actively undo the magnitude of what Israelis have accomplished. They repeatedly attempt to annihilate the Jewish state and, by extension, its contributions to the world. Failing that, they mobilize campaigns to boycott the good coming out of Israel — all the lifesaving and world-bettering science, technology and medicine. Palestinianism is a nihilistic, destructive black hole that not only produces nothing of value (including the Palestinian freedom and self-determination they falsely claim to promote) but they aggressively strive to erase all that is positive emerging from the region.

What have Palestinians invented other than hijackings and suicide bombings?

Oh, in my brief sojourns into the West Bank, I was told I had to taste the Palestinian national sweet, knafeh. Meh. Some achievement. I’ll leave dessert to the French, merci.

What else? Even ChatGPT struggled to come up with anything more than some apologies for Palestinians not achieving a goddamn thing of note in almost 80 years. (“Palestinians, despite facing decades of displacement, military occupation, and limited sovereignty, have made notable contributions in education, culture, entrepreneurship, and international diplomacy.” Bahahaha. Even AI could barely keep a straight face.)

And whose fault is this situation?

Yes, well, that’s the question, isn’t it?

Twin countries, birthed at the same moment. One nurtured and loved by its family; the other abused and neglected by the very people who claim to be their protectors.

Let’s not put too fine a point on the neglect, though. Palestinians have, by some measures, for many years, received more foreign aid per capita than any other people on the planet. But it is like raising kids on the popular all-sugar diet. The grocery money was not spent, let’s say, on healthy alternatives.

Imagine if the Arabs had agreed to create an independent Palestine, which was offered to them on a silver platter, in 1947-’48 (and again in 1967 and again in 2000 and again and again in exchange for nothing but a promise to live in peaceful coexistence).

There is absolutely no reason to believe that a Palestinian state would not be as successful as the Jewish state has been.

It’s not apples to apples, of course.

Israel has been more successful by almost every measure than every other state in its region for a number of reasons, including its democracy and pluralism, which are mostly or completely absent across the rest of the region. If Palestine were a pluralist democracy, it would be the only Arab state of its kind. So that might be a handicap in our fantasy football statecraft exercise.

We could also note that Israel benefited from practically all the Jews in the world investing their hopes, money, volunteerism and every other resource into the development of the country — and that is absolutely true.

But, in 1948, there were only 11 million Jews in the world. Today, there are only about 17 million.

In 1948, there were 100 million Arabs. Today there are 450 million. The Muslim world in 1948 was 400 million people. Today, it’s 2 billion. If the combined hopes of 11 to 17 million Jews could catapult Israel to where it is, imagine what constructive engagement by 400 million Arabs or 2 billion Muslims could have done for an embryonic Palestine?

Instead, consider where Arab and Muslim leaders, activists and “the Arab street” chose to pour their considerable resources. They threw themselves into anti-Israel activism — endless UN resolutions, global obstinacy, the coopting of every diplomatic channel, the weaponizing of Palestinian tragedy to distract from the oppression of hundreds of millions of people subjugated by Arab and Muslim dictators across half the planet.

All that energy, all those resources. And for what?

None of this has advanced the well-being of Palestinians one damn bit.

The fate of the Palestinian people is a grotesque tragedy. But it will never be resolved if we do not recognize why the tragedy began and why it is perpetuated. By blaming Israel for the plight of the Palestinians, we ensure that the problem is not resolved and that the tragedy continues.

The Palestinians of 2048 and 2125 will be no better off than the Palestinians of 1948 or 2025 if the world does not clue in to the fact that blaming others (not incidentally, by the way, that dependable scapegoat: The Jews) will never advance the well-being of Palestinians.

We can’t change the past.

But we can change the future.

We cannot do that, though, if we do not acknowledge what we have been doing wrong for 78 years and change our path.

Palestinians are not poor, disadvantaged or lacking self-determination because of Israel.

If you want to understand why things are the way they are, why a status quo is the status quo, the first question a wise person asks is: Who benefits?

Who benefits from the statelessness and hopelessness of Palestinians? The answer, a wise person already knows, is not Israel.

Sadly, there are not enough wise people in the world, which is why we are in the state we are in. And why Palestinians are in the state they’re not.

So in tomorrow’s post I’ll answer the question: Who benefits?