Closed Dossier: The Tollgate State

A Palestinian state no one means to build has become the most powerful polity in the region[because a gate is most effective when it stays shut].

There is a state that has held up the largest diplomatic prize in the Middle East for two years, and it does not exist. No army, no borders, no capital it properly governs — and this week it is the most powerful polity in the region, powerful the way a tollgate is powerful: everyone who wants to pass has to stop and pay. The Palestinian state is worth more to Riyadh, Paris, and Ramallah unbuilt than it would ever be worth built, and each of them collects a different rent on its non-existence. Israel pays in gravel, year after year, for the privilege of waiting at a gate that was built to never open.

The Palestinian state is worth more to the people invoking it unbuilt than it would ever be worth built.

The Israel Brief is the Mitzpe Institute's read on Israel and the region — most mornings, Sunday through Thursday. More at mitzpe.org.