The Right Has A New Palestinian Strategy: Just Declare ‘Victory’

Daniel Pipes

By Nathan Guttman November 9, 2017

Right-wing Israeli and American politicians and activists are launching a new initiative that they say will “shift the paradigm” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The idea behind the Israel Victory Project, first reported by The Jerusalem Post, is to to adopt policy that “calls for an end to the continuously futile ‘peace process,’” organizers stated.

“The Israel Victory Project introduces a new policy for a peaceful solution: The Palestinians ‘lose’ by giving up their century-long rejection of the Jewish state, and Israel ‘wins’ by truly succeeding in its 150-year quest for a sovereign homeland,” they explained.

The drive to declare Israel as the victorious side and Palestinians as the losers has its roots in the Congressional Israel Victory Caucus, launched in April by the Middle East Forum, a right-wing research group headed by Daniel Pipes.

Pipes will present his idea on Monday at the Columbia University Chabad center, alongside two Israeli members of Knesset. “This approach holds that Palestinians must recognize that their century-long rejection of Israel as the Jewish state has failed,” the Middle East Forum stated.

Israeli and American lawmakers involved in the initiative will later hold talks in Washington in attempt to advance the idea.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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