This grand design is based on the "Arab peace plan" penned by the Saudis. It envisions settling millions of the 1948 Palestinian refugees and their descendants in Israel, a country the size of New Jersey. This would irrevocably change the nature of Israel and create an ever greater terror threat. In pursuing this track, the Obama administration risks repeating the mistakes of its predecessors, who also eagerly embraced instant solutions.
The administration seems to be making three grave errors. The first is disregarding reality. The entrenched hostility of the Arab world and radical Muslims toward Israel is there for all to see. The core issue is that the Arab elites have not accepted Israel's existence in the region.
A second major mistake is arm-twisting a democratic ally to curry favor among a deeply anti-American Arab and Islamic world. Doing so would send a message of weakness. A new wave of anti-American attacks may be the unintended consequence.
The third mistake is to reward terrorism. A seven-year barrage of rockets from Gaza has not broken the will of the Israelis. Neither have the terror attacks, which killed nearly 1,200 Israelis since 2000. We should not allow the threat of terror to break the will of America to stand up to terror masters and financiers.
Israelis would be delighted to live in peace with their neighbors. But that can't happen until Hamas and Fatah abandon terror and cease teaching hatred to their children, brainwashing them about suicide bombing and driving Jews into the sea. Palestinians have a long way to go to develop civil society, the rule of law and economic prosperity before being ready to run a state. Israel will be in grave danger unless Washington stands with its ally in this fight for survival. The Middle East needs U.S. leadership, but not the kind of leadership that imperils Israel while creating a Hamas-controlled terror state.
Ariel Cohen is a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation's Davis Institute. This article originally appeared in The Christian Science Monitor.
