Fatah stoking false expectations and rage

Peggy Shapiro

Palestinian leaders have announced that "the world is about to witness the birth of a Palestinian state" as a result of their bid for the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) by the United Nations.  As the United Nations does not have the authority to endow statehood and cannot "create" a state, and as the U.S. has promised to veto any such move, what is the purpose of raising false hopes, which must surely be dashed?  It is precisely the false hopes and resulting frustration which are the unstated but clear agenda for the Palestinian gambit.

Palestinian leadership is using the language of war, not diplomacy. What else do they mean by calling for a state of "general alarm?" Fatah is urging Palestinians to turn September 21 into a day of "national struggle," a phrase which translates in Arabic as "jihad,"  and go to the streets for mass marches.  It is cynical incitement at its worst urging thousands of Palestinians to gather in masses awaiting the "birth" of a state, only to find out that their hopes were stillborn.

The question is why a leadership would set up its population for severe disappointment and rage. The answer is that the Palestinian Authority exists only because it maintains a state of rage against Israel. Should that rage abate, Palestinians would look to their own government and really get angry.