Dear Larry...

Today's post is a rarity here on treppenwitz. It is directed at one person. That one person is my old friend Larry.

I have known Larry since my university days, and can say without reservation that my deep respect and genuine love for him has only grown from those days to these.

Larry was our children's pediatrician for several years, and if I were to ever become independently wealthy, I would fly him in to treat my kids' every sniffle and cough before letting anyone else touch them. And then I would buy him a house right next to mine.

But Larry and I do not agree on many things political. That's fine. I don't demand that my friends agree with me... and I assume they grant me the free expression of my mind. But that doesn't mean anyone should smile and nod without giving a response when they don't agree with something a friend says. Intelligent people can continue to be friends while expressing their profound disagreement, no?

That is what I intend to do today. I am doing it publicly rather than in a private email because my friend Larry is no crackpot with unique or crazy ideas about the world. No... his opinions are extremely mainstream and are shared by many people. So even though this post is meant to be a direct response to a comment Larry left on yesterday's post (see below), I encourage others to read along since it might also address opinions you hold:

Larry's comment on yesterday's post:

"If you are a Palestinian Arab and live in Ramallah, how do you fly to Paris? Is it an easy process, like if you live in Efrat? Can you vote in national elections (ie Israel's, since there is no internationally recognized Palestinian state)? Do you have representation in Parliament? Do you really believe they have equal rights under Israeli law? If not, do you believe the Palestinian authority is completely self-governing? Should they have their own state so that they can have a voice in their daily lives? I'm not saying that there is an obvious solution, or that there is any tenable solution to the political crisis, but your post seems to ignore the rights that the average citizen of a democracy takes for granted that Palestinians lack. I'm not pointing blame, but I think one has to face reality. Larry"

Heres' my response:

Dear Larry,

If you read yesterday's post, you will recall that I freely admit that the Palestinians have far from a perfect existence. In fact, I went so far as to say that the past hundred years has been a profound trial for most of these people, albeit only recently due to anything israel may have done (or not done, as the case may be).

Since you mention international travel as your litmus test for a free people, let's talk about that.

I'll admit I didn't know the first thing about the subject when I saw your comment, so I did a little research. It turns out that since April of 1995 the Palestinian Authority has been issuing passports to anyone born in Palestine who requests one. It remains unclear how they define 'Palestine', but suffice it to say that anyone under their authority who wants a passport can apply for one and will likely receive it.

That said, a passport is only as good as the number of states who will honor it. So I did some more research. It turns out the following countries recognize the passport document issued by the PA: Algeria, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Malta, Morocco, Netherlands, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States and Yemen.

It is worth noting that Lebanon and Syria adamantly refuse to honor Palestinian Passports and will not allow a Palestinian to travel to, from or via their territory unless they hold another valid passport issued by another country. That means that Palestinians in those countries are prisoners and cannot leave or travel.

Even though there is a long list of countries who accept the PA Passport, that doesn't mean instant admission, of course. There are visas and immigration policies to be considered, and I have no idea how free any of these countries are with admitting PA citizens or anyone else for that matter.

In the course of my research I found out that if a PA passport holder also holds citizenship of another country (such as Jordan or some of the Gulf states, which is quote common among the Palestinian population), they are required, according to the terms of the Interim agreement with Israel, to enter and leave via Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport. Otherwise they may come and go either through Israel or Jordan.

That's in theory (and largely unenforceable).

In practice I don't have any way of telling you how easy it is for a Palestinian to reach Ben Gurion or Amman for an international flight. I know it happens all the time since Palestinian big wigs are turning up around the world in the news all the time, and the gulf states and north African countries are full of Palestiian workers who got there somehow.

But my guess is that given that Palestinians raised Hijacking to an art form in the 60s, 70s and 80s, anyone holding a PA passport is going to be asked a few extra questions by security in any airport in the world.

Moving on... You asked about voting in National elections ("i.e. Israel's") and their having representation in Parliament.. I'm confused. Why should they vote in Israeli elections when they have an internationally recognized government body (the Palestinian Parliament and Authority) for which they can cast their vote?

There have been elections already, as you know. Hamas was chosen by popular vote, although the PA has not honored the results of that election. This is actually quite telling since Israel is being asked to enter into an agreement with the PA when the PA doesn't even honor agreements made with their own citizens.

Do the Palestinians have equal rights under Israeli law? No, nor should they (at present). They have their own government, representation and laws. I don't have equal rights under P.A. law and they don't have equal rights under Israeli law. [~shrugs~]

Do I think the Palestinian Authority is self governing? Yes. Does Israel have unhealthy influence over them? Yes. But then there are few countries in the world who aren't beholden to richer, more powerful countries when forming policy and pondering action.

The PA isn't a full fledged state, so it can't do many of the things that states can... but they have representation and missions around the world, and have assumed the ability to enter into binding agreements with foreign sovereigns even though it is not clear that they are legally allowed to do so under international law.

Larry... you are a doctor (and a damned fine one), so I will frame the following in terms that I hope will resonate with you:

States are not created in the laboratory or delivered whole in a sterile delivery/operating theater... they come to be in the real world, many times under less than ideal (i.e. 'field') conditions.

Let's say you are out driving when you come upon a multi-car accident and being a doctor, you get out to see if you could help treat the injured.

When you get to where a crowd is gathered, you see another doctor trying to treat a gravely injured patient who is stretched out in the dirt next to his destroyed car. Instead of lending a hand, you begin criticizing the doctor loudly enough for the gathered crowd to hear: "Hey, you can't treat a patient like that? Where is the sterile field? Why doesn't he have a neck collar on? Why aren't you wearing a cap, gown and double gloves? Have you sterilized all the instruments and bandages you are using to treat this man?..." and on and on you rave.

My point is that yes, I agree with you that the Palestinians are not getting the gold standard of care when it comes to a people trying to assert self-determination. But that is not the fault of Israel. We were handed a gravely wounded patient on the battlefield in 1967, and that patient's wounds had been inflicted by multiple parties... and ignored for so long that the patient's condition was already critical.

Admitedly, Israel bungled the decision of how to treat this patient by thinking it could take a wait and see approach. Critical patients rarely thrive on such a regimen.

But at this point the one thing that everyone agrees upon is that something must be done. What that something is is open to debate, and while we debate, the patient's condition worsens.

Worst of all, many of the 'doctors' who have been performing first aid on the patient since long before Israel came on the scene (the UN, various GOs and NGOs) have created a situation where the patient may never be able to be weaned off of life support and breathe (much less stand) on his own.

Should the Palestinians have their own state? That's the $64,000 question. Most of the world (and much of the Israeli political spectrum) says yes. I'm not among them.

Personally, I have always been in favor of annexing the west bank and giving all the Arabs Israeli citizenship. The myth of the demographic time bomb is just that. I could go on, but I'd rather link to an excellent article that lays out this idea for more eloquently than I ever could: Enjoy.

I hope you take what I have written in the spirit it was intended, and that you won't stop offering your opinions here (or anywhere you see fit).

Sincerely,

David (treppenwitz)