Strategic Assessment

The Palestinian leadership has postulated its perception of its people’s national, historic and religious rights to the Land of Israel, both publicly and in bilateral negotiations. However, unlike Israel, the Palestinians do not underline their security needs as a major consideration, nor do they present sweeping demands in this respect. The Palestinian leaders must realize that the future Palestinian state will encounter serious security problems, yet they have not submitted details on how they plan to deal with them. In effect, the only public attempt to present a consolidated concept on this issue has come from a handful of Palestinian academics, whose conclusions have presumably also reached the ears of the decision-makers. The Palestinian leaders themselves have so far confined themselves to the presentation of isolated elements, not a comprehensive picture, of the security problems to be dealt with by the future Palestinian state.