Dear President George Bush,



It is most troublesome that your administration - which condemns Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for organizing "The World without Zionism" conference, for labeling the Holocaust a myth, and for suggesting that Israel must be "wiped off the map" - is the same US administration that sees nothing wrong in considering a plan to declare an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders within the next two years.



The administration is also entertaining handing hundreds of millions of dollars to Fatah, an entity that refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, denies the Holocaust ever happened, calls for the obliteration of Zionism, opposes compromise, justifies support for terrorism, champions the use of violence and, just like Hamas, defies in words and deeds, 'the inadmissibility of the use of violence.'



Fatah, the main faction of the PLO, to which Mahmoud Abbas belongs and was one of its founding members, displays its constitution on its website. Under Article 12, it calls for the "complete liberation of Palestine, and obliteration of Zionist economic, political, military and cultural existence."



As for how it will achieve its goal to wipe Israel off the map, Fatah's constitution, Article 19, minces no words:
Armed struggle is a strategy and not a tactic, and the Palestinian Arab People's armed revolution is a decisive factor in the liberation fight and in uprooting the Zionist existence, and this struggle will not cease unless the Zionist state is demolished and Palestine is completely liberated.
In light of the Palestinians' history of violence and their poor performance coping with limited freedom or autonomy, the equivalent of a "half-way house" to test their readiness to join the Family of Nations should be devised. Because of the support (rather than pressure to 'toe the line') that Palestinians enjoy in the international arena, Palestinian independence could very well turn into a genuine nightmare.



Palestinian promises continue. Palestinian hostility continues. Rejectionism and violence remain the most salient features of Palestinian discourse. Palestinians believe that terror works and they expect US support for the creation of a Palestinian state. This Palestinian state is likely to become a rogue state - the kind of polity our country is currently grappling with in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Iran, North Korea and elsewhere.



The US administration's model in evaluating Palestinian readiness for statehood should parallel the European Union's yardstick for Turkey, a peaceful country, asking to join the EU. It demands of Turkey far-reaching political and social reform "on the ground," and 10 to 15 years of negotiations while Turks prove democratic change is "irreversible."



The fundamental freedoms the EU cites, and which the Palestinians should be required to match, include "women's rights, trade union rights, minority rights, and problems faced by non-Muslim religious communities," as well as the "consolidation and broadening" of legal reforms, including "alignment of law enforcement and judicial practice with the spirit of the reforms," and a host of other demands. In fact, the EU demands a complete makeover, from women's rights to recycling of trash.



The United States' yardstick for Palestinians, a hostile society, demanding to join the Family of Nations should start with the demand to execute the letter and intent of the first set of requirements spelled out in the "Performance-Based Roadmap," and "10 to 15 years of negotiations" while Palestinians prove genuine democratic changes is irreversible. No short cuts. No discounts. Any other approach will promote Arab support for terrorism and the belief that terrorism pays off.



The Palestinian Authority is not the only adversary Israel faces. Historically, anti-Zionism has been the glue behind Arab nationalism. It has provided a convenient scapegoat for deflecting Arab states' frustration over unsolved domestic problems, but it also stems from a deep, innate intolerance that exists throughout the Muslim world to any non-Muslim presence. Israel has no alternative but to remain strong enough to fend off the combined capabilities of all Arab states - a reality that leaves little room for risk-taking or margin for error in establishing another independent Arab state with provisional borders in two years' time.



That Palestinians have not even begun to make an end to violence nor to implement democratic reform is intolerable. The establishment of a Palestinian state now would be a genuine danger to a free and democratic Israel, and a threat to the maintenance of international peace and security.



Wishing you and your family a happy and healthy New Year.



With trust,

Eli E. Hertz