Iran, Hezballah screw Palestinians again

Amir Tahiri:

WHILE Iran and Hezbollah celebrate their "strategic divine victory," the real losers of the Lebanon war may be the Palestinians.

The narrative woven by Iran and Hezbollah around the Lebanon war is designed to achieve three goals:

* To turn Palestine from a political issue into a messianic cause. This means that Palestine is no longer about such issues as statehood, boundaries, security and diplomatic recognition. The redefined Palestinian cause is about "wiping the Jewish stain of shame" off the map as a prelude to driving the United States and its allies out of the Middle East.

* To make the redefined Palestinian cause into a small part of a much bigger cause: challenging the global domination of the "infidel" led by the United States, and creating an Islamic world order.

* To transfer control of the Palestinian cause to "the Ummah." This means that no Palestinian leadership, not even Hamas, has the right to make a deal with Israel without the consent of whoever happens to lead the Ummah at any given time. (Currently, Iran and Hezbollah claim leadership.)

If this narrative succeeds, the achievements of three decades of diplomacy, which culminated in almost universal consensus over a two-state solution, could be in jeopardy.

The Islamic Republic has always opposed the two-state solution. It proposes a "one-state" solution that envisages the reunification of the whole of Palestine as put under the United Nations mandate after World War II, and the return of all Palestinian refugees. In such a "greater Palestine," Jews would become a minority in a majority Arab state. The hope is that most Jews would then emigrate rather than live under Arab-Islamic rule.

...

So, what is the incentive for Israel to agree to such a "deal"? Beats me. Iran's proclamation of victory is totally hollow. She has suffered a strategic defeat and lost her deterrent to a strike by Israel or the US on her nuke program. Hezballah's rocket attacks were more impotent than a human bomb attack and Hezballah suffered more than a human bomber, because it si still around to pick up a few of the pieces of what it ahd before its hubris prevoked the recent war. Taheri has much more on the history of the "one state" solution.