The Palestinian Authority’s recent draft of a shiny new constitution is meant to mollify Western nations who demand an end to the P.A.’s obsession with killing Jews and destroying the Jewish state. But anyone who’s ever uttered the words “Middle East peace” will surely be disappointed with the make-over.
 
Apparently, the Palestinians can’t help themselves: Their new constitution simply recommits them to the same old jihad they’ve waged for 78 years against Israel. Indeed, the Palestinians’ new document issues no call for peacemaking with Israel—in fact, it doesn’t mention Jews or Israel at all.
 
This constitution is more like a declaration of war, reaffirming four belligerent policies that have blocked “two states for two peoples” for decades:
 
1) Insistence on the fictional “right of return” to Israel of millions of refugee descendants who have never set foot in Israel.
 
2) Continuation of the Palestinians’ terrorist incentive program—“pay for slay”—that handsomely rewards murderers of innocent Jews;
 
3) Declaration of Jerusalem as the Palestinians’ eternal capital, though it has never been the capital of a Palestinian nation, nor even a Muslim or Arab capital; and
 
4) Uninterrupted support for [armed] “resistance” against [Israeli] “occupation” of the Palestinian “homeland,” which mentions no sharing of territory with Israel or the Jewish people.
 
While the new constitution does make promises about introducing some civil liberties for Palestinians, these sops to liberality are like decorative icing on a rotten cake, nullified by the constitution’s commitment to Islamic supremacy.
 
If the Palestinians really want acceptance from Israel, the United States and the rest of the Western world, they will need to reform—throwing out and thoroughly condemning the goals and policies that deny every possibility for peace with their Jewish neighbors. This means affirming reality by renouncing the “right of return,” acknowledging 3,000 years of Jewish history and heritage in the land of Israel, accepting the right of the Jewish people to sovereignty in their indigenous homeland and renouncing terrorism.
 
Unfortunately, given new Middle East poll results showing that 91% of Palestinians oppose recognition of Israel, any constitution that approves peaceful relations with the Jewish state will face tough Arab opposition.
 
The “right of return” equals Israel’s destruction. Article 12 of the new Palestinian constitution mandates “ensuring the right of return for refugees according to international legitimacy resolutions.” This is basically a call for Israel’s destruction, as the “right of return” means flooding present-day Israel with as many as 6 million descendants of the original 1948 Palestinian refugees, which would nullify the country’s Jewish majority, and therefore, the Jewish state itself. Fact: Actual Arab refugees from Israel’s war of independence still living number only about 30,000 to 50,000—not their millions of descendants often cited by the P.A. and the U.N. Relief Works and Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
 
The fact that the new Palestinian constitution insists on a “right of return” indicates that the Palestinians still want to destroy Israel, and thus have no interest in peace.
 
Enshrining terrorist “pay for slay.” Article 24 of the new Palestinian constitution requires that the “State of Palestine” care for the “families of martyrs” and “victims of genocide.” Neither the United Nations nor any other respected body interpreting international law has found that Palestinians have suffered genocide or that Israel intentionally committed it. This is slander.
 
Perhaps more importantly, Articles 24 and 44 mirror the P.A.’s long-standing “pay for slay” program, which provides stipends to families of Palestinians killed or imprisoned for murdering Jews. The Palestinians have long been under pressure by the West to end this practice. Rather than end this practice, however, the Palestinian constitution enshrines it. As long as Palestinians are paid to murder Jews, there will never be peace, let alone a two-state solution.
 
Apartheid Jerusalem. Article 3 of the new constitution proclaims that “Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Palestine” and that “the state is committed to preserving its religious character and protecting its Islamic and Christian sanctities.” There is no mention of Jerusalem’s Jewish holy places or 3,000-year heritage. In fact, there is no mention of Jews at all, either in this article or any other part of the document.
 
Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Muslim or Arab entity, let alone a Palestinian state, which has never existed. The city has, however, been the capital of several Jewish commonwealths, and is now the capital of the modern-day State of Israel.
 
Western powers, including the European Union and the United States, have consistently urged the Palestinians and Israelis to recognize each other’s heritage in the holy city. While Israel has long acknowledged the sanctity of the city for all three Abrahamic faiths, the Palestinians’ new constitution reaffirms a continuing refusal to acknowledge the Jewish heritage of Jerusalem or accept Jewish sovereignty over any part of it.
 
Declaring war rather than calling for peace. The Palestinians’ new constitution accuses Israel of “colonial settlement occupation,” “displacement and ethnic cleansing,” and “genocide,” and calls on Palestinians “to pursue the perpetrators of these crimes,” echoing PLO charters and current educational curricula promoting “resistance,” behaviors that Western powers decry as glorifying terrorism.
 
Islamic supremacy supersedes liberal democratic values in the “State of Palestine.” The new Palestinian constitution masquerades as enshrining liberal democratic values, but in fact, mandates Islamic supremacy. Article 4 establishes Islam as the official religion and “the principles of Islamic Sharia” as “a primary source for legislation.” This is consistent with current Palestinian self-rule, where Sharia overrides civil and democratic rights, even though such rights are already codified in Palestinian law. In effect, the new Palestinian constitution merely formalizes the status quo without liberalization.
 
To achieve peace, Palestinians must reject failed policies and principles. This means 1) renouncing the right of return; 2) acknowledging and accepting Jewish history and heritage in Jerusalem and the rest of Israel; 3) recognizing Jews’ right to self-determination in their native land; 4) demonstrating Palestinians’ commitment to liberal democracy by codifying governance according to rule of law and civil liberties; and 5) renouncing terrorism and ending the pay-for-slay program that rewards terrorists.
 
The new Palestinian constitution simply doubles down on the decades-old failed policies and principles that have left the Palestinians stateless and destitute for nearly eight decades.
 

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