Perry was asked the following question:
Question: Do you believe there should be a Palestinian state?
“I certainly have some concerns. The first step in any peaceful negotiation for a two-state solution for the Palestinians is to recognize the right of Israel’s existence. They have to denounce terrorism in both word and deed. And they have to sit down and negotiate with Israel directly. Anything short of that is a non-starter in my opinion.”
— Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), in an interview with Time magazine, Sept. 15, 2011
Handling the Israeli-Palestinian relationship is one of the most delicate and time-consuming tasks faced by a U.S. president, as demonstrated by this week’s drama concerning the Palestinian push for recognition as a state by the United Nations. In fact, one can argue that missteps early in President Obama’s tenure have helped lead the administration to the crisis it now faces today.
That’s why Perry’s comments to Time magazine struck us as interesting and potentially revealing. How deep is his understanding of this long-running conflict?
I’d say it’s deeper than the people questioning his command of the facts, that’s for sure.
WaPo goes on to blather on and on in an attempt to prove Perry is wrong, but then hits this point:
The PLO has long recognized Israel’s existence — though not the militant group Hamas that controls the Gaza Strip, so maybe that’s what Perry meant. Israeli officials in recent years have also demanded Palestinian recognition of Israel as a “Jewish state” — which Palestinians have refused — but Perry did not make that distinction.
Just to be sure, we sent Perry’s remarks to three experts on Middle East diplomacy — an Israeli, a Palestinian and an American. All three said he appeared to be remarkably uninformed.
We contacted Perry’s spokesman for an explanation but as usual he did not respond.
Wow. That’s pretty harsh. The PLO has recognized Israel’s existence, they say, so case closed. Perry is wrong. Right?
Yeah. Not exactly.
The image above is the PLO logo. Notice that green thing in the middle? Sure you do. It’s Israel.
So unless your argument is that the PLO wants Israel to exist as long as it’s controlled and occupied by the PLO, the argument that they recognize Israel is so asinine it borders on not even needing a response.
For its entire existence, the Arab world’s stated goal is to remove the Jews from Israel, turn the land back over to the Palestinians, and drive the Jews into the sea. The PLO has a logo that essentially calls all of Israel Palestine. Reconcile all of that with the WaPo’s claim that they want Israel to exist. Go ahead. Fly in the face of facts if you must. It’s never stopped anyone before.
For all the criticism on his depth of understanding of the issue, it seems that Perry has a better command of the realities facing Israel than those that claim he has none.