Weekly Commentary: Mistake To Cite Model of Post WWII Germany/Japan
Sovereignty with Foreign Troops
Dr. Aaron Lerner 8 June 2017

A sovereign Palestinian state with a Palestinian agreement that the IDF can
operate within its territory.

That's the "deal" Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu apparently has in mind.
And it’s a "best case assumption" deal (see below).

I say "apparently" because Netanyahu had Minister Tzachi Hanegbi on the
radio today to pitch his talking point that if post WWII sovereign Japan and
Germany could agree to the then permanent deployment of foreign troops in
their countries that the Palestinians can agree to the deployment of the IDF
within their sovereign state.

But that's not the question!

I fear that the presentation of this argument lulls us into making the
incredibly reckless assumption that if the Palestinians were to sign an
agreement that the IDF can operate within their sovereign territory that
this would somehow miraculously resolve the fundamental - I daresay
existential - problem with having a sovereign Palestinian state.

And it wouldn't.

That's because a sovereign Palestinian state that decides to send the IDF
packing would continue to be a sovereign Palestinian state.

And if you can't think of a scenario under which the Palestinians find a way
to pulls this off then you either are operating under the working assumption
that the Palestinians will actually be permanently satisfied with the "deal"
or have absolutely no respect for their intelligence and drive.

We cannot afford to embrace a program that hinges on best case assumptions.

Is this "sovereign Palestinian state with IDF deployed inside" no more than
a "non-starter" offer Netanyahu makes to placate President Trump?

It is a high stakes gamble.

I will put it bluntly: Mahmoud Abbas might end up getting a bullet in his
head for accepting such a deal.

But he may very well have the vision to appreciate that such a move could
ultimately give him a place in the history books that vies with Arafat.

Yasser Arafat founded the PLO and established the Palestinian autonomy.

Mahmoud Abbas could anticipate the honor of not only establishing the first
sovereign Palestinian state but also setting into motion the process of the
destruction of the Jewish state.

And at his age and health condition a place in history might take priority
over temporal concerns.
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