The explosive controversy surrounding the newly proclaimed independence of Kosovo ought to alert the world to the dangerous delusion that a similar declaration of Palestinian statehood could advance the cause of peace.
The striking similarities and glaring differences in the two situations can provide much-needed perspective on the seemingly endless conflict in the Middle East.
First, the dramatic parallels between the Kosovars and the Palestinians: both represent a population of impoverished Muslims who’ve dreamed for decades of establishing an independent state. In both cases, the aggrieved nationalists want to separate from a more powerful neighbor that’s granted only limited autonomy. In both situations, the new state will have no economy capable of feeding its more than two million inhabitants (some 60% of whom –in both Kosovo and the Palestinian territories -- are unemployed) but leaders assume that the nations of the west and the UN will continue to provide needed aid to keep them alive. Both peoples also wink at the obvious fact that their new nations will be indistinguishable in language, religion, ethnicity, culture, history or political outlook from much larger neighboring states: in the case of Kosovo, that neighbor is Albania, and for the Palestinians there’s no clear difference between their national identity and that of most other Arab states in the region, such as Jordan, Syria and Egypt.
The differences between the two aspiring nations, however, suggest that Palestinian dreams of statehood count as even more far-fetched than those of the Kosovars. In the case of Kosovo (4,300 square miles with 2.1 million people) the population is almost entirely Albanian—93%, according to internationally accepted figures, and only 5% who are hostile Serbs.. In the case of the Palestinians, however, a prospective state on the West Bank (the only area ruled by the Palestinian Authority since Hamas holds exclusive sway in Gaza) would comprise only 2,300 square miles and 2.5 million people – with less than 82% Palestinian, and fully 17% Jewish residents who have no desire to leave their homes.
In return for the support of European powers (including Germany, France and Britain) and the United States, the Kosovar leaders have promised to respect the rights and security of their 5% Serb minority. The Palestinians have never made similar offers to their 17% Jewish minority on the West Bank and have, rather, insisted that these residents must be expelled or slaughtered as part of any new Palestinian state. The refusal to accept any presence of a non-Muslim population in their midst shows the Palestinians lagging far behind even the Kosovars.
Moreover, in Kosovo, international human rights organizations agree that the Serbs massacred at least 10,000 ethnic Albanians in the brief, brutal conflict of ten years ago. Among Palestinians, 1,162 died in the first “Intifada” of 1987-to-91, and in the second Intifada (from 2000 to the present) 4,944 have died – with more than 10% butchered by their fellow Palestinians. In other words, despite their prominent and persistent claims of victim status, the Palestinians suffered far fewer casualties, and a much lower casualty rate in light of their larger population.
Finally, the Kosovar declaration of statehood occurred nearly nine years after their militant arm (The Kosovo Liberation Army, or KLA) renounced violence and local political institutions demonstrated their determination to live in peace with their Serb neighbors. Ibrahim Rugova, the late, non-violent nationalist leader who helped steer his people toward independence, has no counterpart whatever among the Palestinians.
In fact, imagine if this weekend’s declaration of Kosovo independence occurred at a time when the Kosovars were launching daily rocket and mortar attacks into Serbia. Would any nation on earth support statehood for a nationality totally unable to control the terrorist crazies in its own midst? In Israel, more than 700 rocket and mortar attacks have been launched from Gaza since January 1st – a total of more than 15 a day.
To much of the world, the current bid to establish a new state of Kosovo (with Albanian language, culture and national symbols) looks shaky, questionable, and potentially misguided.
But if Kosovar independence represents a destabilizing development, how much more so would the creation of a Palestinian state provoke more violence and political chaos? At least the Kosovars have expressed respect for the rule of law, and committed themselves to respecting the rights of their local minorities.
And what, exactly, have the Palestinians done?
The latest outrage, aimed at the tiny Christian minority in Gaza, involved the total destruction over the weekend of the 8,000 volume library in the beleaguered YMCA.
If the Kosovars behaved as the Palestinians do, or identified with the same ferociously intolerant Islamic radicalism, the whole world would treat their bid for independence as a sick joke.
The different approach to the two embattled Muslim populations highlights the double standard that always seems to apply to any conflict involving Israel and the Jews.