Among many buzzwords in diplo-speak around Palestine is the support for “a demilitarized Palestinian state living side by side in peace next to Israel.” The idea that a Palestinian state would not have the ability to defend itself was long assumed, but officially unstated until U.S. President Bill Clinton described a “non-militarized Palestinian state” in his Clinton Parameters of 2000. What international force would actually repel an Israeli force if it decided to invade this hypothetical Palestinian state? But the idea that a Palestinian state would be demilitarized has endured and become an essential part of the envisioned two-state framework. The notion of a “demilitarized Palestinian state” is repeated often and rarely, if ever, challenged.