Time for Chicago Tribune to declare there’s a Palestinian state, even if there isn’t

 Time for Chicago Tribune to declare there’s a Palestinian state, even if there isn’t

The Chicago Tribune Editorial Board makes a valid point in praising President Trump for prematurely declaring an end to the Israeli war (genocide actually) in Gaza (Editorial: The benefit of declaring war is over, even if it’s not).

The Board points out correctly that “if the U.S. president says that the war is over, period, then he is also anchoring that notion within an otherwise muddled reality.”

It would have been helpful if the Trib went further and declared ‘if the US president says there is a Palestinian state Israel must negotiate into being,’ then he is also anchoring that notion within an otherwise muddled reality.’

The ‘muddled reality’ the Trib refers to on Palestinian statehood is not muddled. Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Party leaders have made it crystal clear that there will never be a Palestinian state.

In a previous editorial praising Trump’s agreement obtaining ceasefire and hostage release, the Trib said “We even think Trump was right to bat away questions, for now, about the so-called two-state solution.” Wrong. If President Trump told the Knesset ‘There will be a Palestinian state that America officially recognizes,’ that would represent an anchor that would sink any future Israeli plans to ethnically cleanse and eventually fold Gaza and the West Bank into Greater Israel.

Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn IL