So, I got a little push back when I put something on Facebook yesterday, suggesting that the recognition of a Palestinian state by Ireland, Spain and Norway might be just the thing to do. And, by the way, these three countries are not the first to recognize a Palestinian state – many others have done so over past thirty years. So far, those recognitions have been meaningless.

Here is my thinking.

Do we favor a two state solution? If so, guess what…..you can’t have a two state solution if you don’t have two states. So, the second state is a necessary step. And this recognition has to come some time. Maybe this is the time.

Now, Benjamin Netanyahu is yelling and screaming about this. But you can’t take his emotional reaction too seriously, if you want a two state solution. Netanyahu does not want a two state solution. And because he does not want a two state solution, he has to want one of two things: either he wants the continuation of the Israeli occupation ad infinitum, or he wants an Israel from the river to the sea with a guaranteed Jewish majority, or with two classes of citizenship. Probably neither of these choices are possible, so why should we play along with him?

Of course, you also can’t take the Hamas leadership seriously either. They don’t want a two state solution. What do they want? They want to induce Israel to act more and more irrationally against both Gaza and the West Bank, losing friends along the way, until – one way or another – Israel collapses, and a single state, this one run by Palestinians, will stretch from the river to the sea.

Under the Hamas one state solution, what will happen to the Jews? Under the Netanyahu one state solution, what will happen to the Arabs? We don’t know either way, and we can’t take a chance that either will be mercilessly endangered, can we?

There has been talk about a two state solution for decades. It appears that there will never been the perfect time for its implementation, especially as long as no one in the immediate area is in favor of it. So, if you really want a two state solution, you have to bite the bullet (figuratively) for once and for all and get started.

But there is a big difference between recognizing a state-to-be and recognizing a state-that-is, and there now is no Palestinian state-that-is to recognize. Many things must be resolved in order for a Palestinian state to actually exist. Palestine may think it already exists as an independent state – it’s been about 35 years since it has claimed it was. But it really isn’t, and it knows that. The 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence has had no real effect and has been forgotten by many outside observers today. There was no on-the-ground follow-up.

Let’s look at a few of the things standing in the way.

For example, at this point, the two parts of the territories occupied by Israel (and which would make up a future state) are being led by two very different and competing factions, neither of which seems competent enough to do the job on its own, and neither of which has shown the ability to work with the other, and where one of the two factions is a true terrorist organization bent on Israel’s destruction. Until the Palestinian state has a governmental structure (with all that entails) and recognized leadership, you can only recognize a state-to-be, and not a state-that-is. There will have to be a constitutional convention, or a constituent assembly, or something to create such a structure.

Then again, it won’t help the situation if you recognize a state which will pose a continual threat to Israel, with the ability to make, store and use as it will destructive weapons against its neighbor. One the other hand, residents of a Palestinian state-that-is must have control over their own travel, and their importing and exporting (especially as to food and other necessities).

Therefore, recognition of a Palestinian state-that-is must come with a treaty between the parties, and this treaty must be monitored and enforced, presumably by outside forces. This will require concessions on the Palestinian side, and even bigger concessions on the Israeli side, as Israel refuses to rely on any outside party to help secure their border. The United States will undoubtedly have to use its influence to assure Israel that it can relax with some external controls, as unpopular as that will be among some circles in this country.

And finally, a state-that-is must have boundaries, and the situation in the West Bank, where hundreds of thousands of Israeli Jews live, will require boundary adjustments of the type that have been almost agreed to in past years, and those Jews living outside of the negotiated boundaries will simply become citizens of new Palestinian state. And, of course, similar decisions have to be made regarding East Jerusalem.

So, I am all for recognizing the Palestinian state-to-be, and setting the rules and beginning the process to create the Palestinian state-that-is. I will say it again – the moderate Arab states, the United States, and other interested parties (but probably not the United Nations) will have to come together as the sponsoring parties of the new state-to-be (and eventually the new state-that-is), and move things along with (to quote a book with which most of us are familiar) “a heavy hand and an outstretched arm”.

Having said all of this, I must recognize that I have no idea what Ireland, Norway and Spain have in mind in saying they are going to recognize a Palestinian state in short order. I doubt that they and I are thinking the same way, although they have said it’s to spur a two state solution.  And the actions of the three European powers might be a catalyst for the creation of the Palestinian state-that-is, but only if all parties of interest treat it as progress, and chip in to guide it along, and don’t treat it simply as something to be fought tooth and nail.

And by the way, if all they want to do is say “we now recognize the existence of a Palestinian state, whatever that is”, only chaos can result.

Remember Portnoy’s Complaint? At the end of the book, after working out all of the dysfunction in the Portnoy family that has so seriously crippled their son, at the very end of the book, when Portnoy goes to his psychiatrist, having increased his understanding but knowing he has more work to do, his psychiatrist looks at him and simply says “Now vee perhaps to begin? Yes?”