Speaking to a group of visiting Israeli academics on Tuesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas endorsed a long-standing Israeli demand for Palestinian statehood, saying he believes the future state should be totally demilitarized.
Israeli officials have previously suggested that for the Palestinians to ever have a state, they would never be allowed to have control over their own security, would have no military and no control over their own borders.
Abbas said he doesn’t want a military, and wants “unarmed police forces with batons, not guns.” He says he would prefer to dedicated Palestinian funding to education instead of to maintaining an army.
Officials say Abbas has made similar comments in support of a demilitarized Palestine in the past. He had previously suggested that NATO could be brought in to police the border, which he said should be on the 1967 lines.
It’s unclear what Israel’s response will be, but apparently this is not a new position for Abbas to take, so it’s liable not to advance the cause of peace substantially. Moreover, the talk of dedicating his budget to education may have been targeted to his audience, in this case academics.
This is not new. Israel pockets any concession, takes it for granted, and then demands more concessions because nothing has been given by Palestinians.
Abu Quisling.
What about getting Israel to demilitarize? That would solve lots of problems for Palestinians and all of Israel’s neighbors. Iran and Syria could breathe a sigh of relief.