Given the recent fighting in Gaza it may be worth revisiting one of the definitive (in my views) articles about the Palestinians that has ever been written:
What, actually, are the possible futures for the Palestinians? I think the following list is exhaustive.
1. An independent state, under Arafat or someone just as thuggish.
2. Military occupation by Israel.
3. Re-incorporation into a Jordanian-Palestinian nation.
4. Some sort of U.N. trusteeship.
5. Expulsion from the West Bank and Gaza, those territories then incorporated into Israel.
Derbyshire then points out that none of these options are particularly easy on the Palestinians but they are what they are and anyway “he doesn’t give a flying falafel about which option they choose”. Part of his indifference lies in compassion burnout (too many problems caused by stupid cultures). And part lies in his disdain for the Palestinians who refused to better themselves. He points out that refugees in Hong Kong, facing equally dire straits, created an economic Mecca.
I prefer option 5 because it is best for Israel and also makes the Arab states that have egged on this problem for decades deal with the mess they made. It also precludes the use, as we see today, of a Palestinian state harboring and exporting terrorists.