Parisian delusion: Deradicalisation must precede Palestinian statehood

Stop peddling fantasies from the Quai d’Orsay: a “two‑state” miracle will not spring from champagne toasts while hatred is still subsidised, sanctified and celebrated in Ramallah and Gaza.

Ramallah’s welfare ministry now sits directly under Mahmoud Abbas, but the cash that rewards families of gunmen keeps flowing. 

His February decree merely shifted the notorious “pay‑for‑slay” system to a new bureaucratic shelf, preserving the same poisonous incentive with a fresher label Reuters. When murder remains a salaried career path, Europe is not funding peace; it is underwriting jihad.

Inside classrooms, the seed is planted early. A recent European Parliament amendment again denounced UNRWA textbooks for hate speech, incitement to violence and antisemitic tropes, and demanded EU aid be conditioned on real reform European Parliament. 

Draw whatever borders you like—children drilled in blood‑soaked mythology will grow into adults who see coexistence as betrayal.

Gaza’s rulers are more candid. Senior Hamas strategist Osama Hamdan told an interviewer in May that disarmament is a “red line” and any cease‑fire without total Israeli withdrawal is “pointless,” a mere station on the railway to Israel’s destruction Drop Site News. A movement founded on holy war is not auditioning for Swiss neutrality.

Public opinion follows its shepherds. The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found only 40 percent of Palestinians back a classic two‑state formula, while three‑quarters flatly oppose disarming Hamas even after a deal PCPSR. When rockets are considered non‑negotiable by most of the population, summit communiqués become confetti.

Israel has heard enough. On 23 July the Knesset—Left, Centre and Right—passed a 71‑13 motion declaring the West Bank an inseparable part of Israel and branding any externally imposed Palestinian state an “existential danger” The Times of Israel. No coalition, however dovish, will hand sovereign high ground to regimes that glorify their citizens’ murderers.

Meanwhile, regional patrons bankroll the intransigence. Qatar’s money still reaches Gaza salaries—hand‑carried in cash after electronic transfers through Israel, a process confirmed by Reuters Reuters. Tehran supplies the rockets. Neither benefactor ties its aid to deradicalisation; why should Ramallah or Hamas reform when the cheques clear either way?

There is a simple sequence the grand diplomats refuse to utter:

• End the terror stipends—and audit the books in daylight.

• Scrub every textbook, sermon and TV slot of genocidal propaganda, with outside verification.

• Choose ballots over bullets; leaders who accept electoral defeat can sign binding accords.

Deradicalisation first, sovereignty later. Until that foundation is laid, the two‑state solution remains a lethal mirage, flattering Parisian egos while mortgaging Israeli lives—and Palestinian futures—to a lie.