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Photo: Reuters
Mahmoud Abbas. IDF soldiers will leave, another foreign army will enter
Photo: Reuters

Replacing one occupation with another?

Op-ed: Abbas' NATO proposal shows Palestinians are only against a very specific type of occupation

Abbas' old-new idea, to station NATO soldiers in the future Palestinian state, raises philosophical thoughts. Even if we assume that they will defend both sides equally and will not leave at moments of crisis, like the UN troops abandoned the Gaza Strip on the eve of the Six-Day War, there are still two non-security related questions which are difficult to settle.

 

 

First of all, it's quite odd that after all the huge effort the Palestinians put into denouncing the Israeli occupation, Abbas is willing to accept the burden of a different occupation. IDF soldiers, his bitter enemies, will leave his beloved country, but will be replaced with other non-Palestinian soldiers. A foreign army will leave and a foreign army will enter.

 

So what have we done here? Is it possible that the Palestinians are not fighting against every type of occupation but only a very specific occupation?

 

Secondly, and this is clearly a matter which is strictly between ourselves, it's surprising to discover that the Israeli response to the Abbas plan is indifferent to the clause about NATO troops. Politicians from the Right and the Left have been debating his refusal to recognize Israel as the Jewish state, but have failed to show any excitement over his talks about NATO. No one has wondered out loud whether 2,000 years after Titus, we are about to see Roman-born soldiers here.

 

Imagine this: Italian soldiers at the Temple Mount, the British parachute division near Kfar Saba, Greek fighters at the Modiin checkpoint and Turkish men in uniform in a roadblock between Jenin and Afula.

 

If Abbas insists at the last moment, perhaps even a symbolic Philistine unit will be stationed not far from David and Goliath's Elah Valley.

 


פרסום ראשון: 02.08.14, 21:19
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