In response to Mahmoud Abbas’s intention to sue Britain over the Balfour Declaration, Moshe Arens contemplates what might have become of the Arabs of Palestine if no such document had ever been written:
We can only speculate, [but] one would expect that [the Palestinians’] fate would have been intertwined with the fate of the Arab populations in the Middle East [from] the years after World War I until the present time, and no doubt would have been affected by it. . . .
It hardly seems likely that the Palestinians, had it not been for the establishment of Israel, would have avoided being caught up in the Arab national catastrophe [that currently besets the rest of the Middle East].
Some minority groups living in Israel, [moved by] events in Syria, have begun to show an appreciation for Israel and the tranquil living conditions and economic opportunities it provides. . . . Will the time come when Palestinians, those who are citizens of Israel and even those living in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, recognize that Providence has been kind to them? That the establishment of the state of Israel may have saved them the suffering of their Arab brethren in neighboring Arab countries?
The rhetoric of Palestinian leaders like Abbas in Ramallah and Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza might lead you to believe that nothing can be worse than Israeli “occupation,” but it’s not likely that all Palestinians believe that. Maybe some even consider the establishment of the state of Israel a blessing in disguise.
Read more on Moshe Arens: http://moshearens.com/2016/08/15/the-palestinians-can-thank-israel-for-their-skirting-the-arab-catastrophe/