Every time the Palestinian resistance is clobbered, or appears to be so, there is new hope in some quarters that the Palestinian component of the Arab-Israeli conflict will somehow disappear from the Middle Eastern scene. Such was the case after the showdown in Jordan in 1970-71, and the Syrian intervention in Lebanon in 1976; such is the case today after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
However, the hope will remain elusive because it is based on a fallacy. This is that the salience of the Palestinian component of the Arab-Israeli conflict is necessarily a function of the organizational strength or military prowess of the Palestinians.
-- Thinking the Unthinkable: A Sovereign Palestinian State by Walid Khalidi; Foreign Affairs, July 1978.
Photo: Palestinian youths dance in front of Israeli soldiers and border police during a demonstration against the construction of Israel's separation barrier near the West Bank village of Maasarah, near Bethlehem, Friday, Aug 22, 2008. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)
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