If one looks at the history of the Jewish state it is not hard to see that such a move would be unlikely to bring about peace, in fact, it might just make matters worse.

For one thing, prior to the end of the British mandate in 1948, the founders of Israel were in favor of an independent state for the Palestinians, but that did not keep every Arab nation from attacking as soon as the British pulled out.

It is also true that everything the Palestinians claim they want was in Arab hands prior to 1967, why didn't Syria and the other Arab nations that held that land at the time make a state for the Palestinians then?

Many people look at the Arab-Israeli conflict as the only problem in the Middle East, thereby pretending that if only peace could be brought about between the Jews and the Palestinians, the whole area would become one big peaceful, happy go lucky area.

It is so easy to forget the Iran-Iraq war that lasted from 1979 to 1988 and the 1990 invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, neither of which had a thing to do with the Arab-Israeli conflict.

But, lets forget history for a moment, why am I so sure that a Palestinian state would not bring peace, TODAY. Well, all you need do is look at the land that a proposed Palestinian sate would sit on, the west bank, Gaza and maybe East Jerusalem.

There is no oil beneath that land, no really good sources of wealth of any kind. In no time at all, a Palestinian state would be one of the poorest nations in the region and what would they be saying then?

You can be quite sure that they would blame their problems on the fact that they don't have their ENTIRE country, therefore, we would be right back to square one.

One of the biggest problems that such a state would have is a lack of leadership, who would run such a nation anyway? And not just any nation, but a country that would be located in one of the roughest neighborhoods in the world, where the people would, more often than not, be used as political pawns by their larger and far richer and more powerful neighbors.

In no time, a Palestinian state would very likely become one of the largest havens for terrorists in the world. Well after all, a truly autonomous nation can allow anyone they choose to live in their country, and you can be sure that terrorists of many different stripes would soon find a happy home there.

Given all of this evidence, why are so many people pushing for an independent Palestinian state? I believe that many of the supporters of such a state are suffering from what radio talk show host Michael Medved calls the “do something disease.” They see a terrible situation unfolding and they feel the need to do something.

While that may be understandable from a emotional/psychological point of view, the fact of the matter is that it is rarely better to do something that is counter productive than to do nothing at all.

The Arab Israeli conflict is one of the most intractable problems in the world today, but the basic problem is easy to understand. The Arabs want the Jews out of Israel, and for that matter, the entire Middle East and the Jews don't want to go and they have the military muscle, including nuclear weapons, to ensure that they don't have to.

I do not know what the ultimate solution to that problem is, but I do know that giving an impoverished angry people, an impoverished angry nation on a diminished Israeli border is not the answer.