By Steve Kramer
On May 18, the Jerusalem Post published an editorial entitled “Israel cannot abandon the two state solution.”
I maintain that Israel must leave that tired so-called panacea behind.
The subtitle of the editorial is: It is time for Israel to strengthen its ties with moderate Palestinians [actually, Palestinian Arabs] and keep cooperating with pragmatic Israeli-Arabs. Unfortunately there are few pragmatic Israeli-Arabs. The Arab members of Knesset, even those from Ra’am, the one party supporting the current (teetering) government, don’t genuinely support a Zionist state. Mansour Abbas, Ra’am’s head, has periodically said that he recognizes Israel as a Jewish State and that,“It will stay like this.” He doesn’t mean it.
As for “moderate” Palestinian Arabs, the vast majority want to usurp Israel and rid “Palestine from the (Jordan) river to the (Mediterranean) sea” of Jews. So far, they and the other Jew-hating Arabs and Muslims (primarily Iran and its cohort: Lebanon, Syria, Iraq) haven’t succeeded. But they don’t stop trying.<
“A public opinion poll published on March 22 found that Palestinian support for an ‘armed struggle’ against Israel has risen from 42% three months ago to 44%.
In the lexicon of the Palestinians, ‘armed struggle’ is a euphemism for various forms of terrorism against Israel, ranging from rock-throwing to shooting, stabbing, car-ramming, rocket salvos, and suicide bombing attacks.
The poll, conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, showed that a majority of 70% oppose a resumption of the peace process with Israel.” April, 2022
Yes, as the editorial continues, some Jewish Israelis acknowledge the existence of the Palestinian Arabs and their history here. That’s very nice, but peace can’t be made when even the minimal demands of the opposing parties have no overlap. It’s a fact that Israeli prime ministers have made (grossly over-generous) peace offers to the Palestinian Authority/PLO – notably Ehud Barak in 2000 and Ehud Olmert eight years later.
But Israel’s enemies among the Palestinian Arabs have an “all or nothing” mentality. Their minimum demands (which are just a cloak for their ultimate goal of usurpation) include Israel withdrawing to indefensible borders and exclude Judaism’s holiest sites from the diminished state. There’s zero chance that Israel could exist under those conditions.
The editorial board admits that, “It is true that it is not possible to make peace with the aging and intransigent Mahmoud Abbas, who barely controls the West Bank, and without Israel’s help would be toppled by Hamas that wishes to wipe out the State of Israel.” Since Abbas will never sign a peace treaty which would make him a traitor to his cause, and Hamas readily admits its goal of destroying Israel, exactly with whom would Israel negotiate?
The editors ask this question: “Does Israel want to maintain a situation in which millions of people live under the control of its military while being refused citizenship? Or does it want to make those people citizens and lose the Jewish majority?” Obviously the answer is neither. So what does that leave as a solution?
The editors conclude: “It is time to start talking again about solutions to the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians. Ignoring it does not serve Israel’s interests of remaining a Jewish and democratic state.”
The label “Jewish and democratic state” is a red herring. Israel is a democratic state, as anyone looking at our politics knows. It is also a fundamentally Jewish State, and that is the rub. Evidently, the world has trouble swallowing even one Jewish nation, while abiding dozens of Muslim states. It’s down to the Palestinian Arabs who have to propose a situation that would not diminish Israel as the Jewish State; anything else will not suffice.
There are 57 Muslim states in the UN, plus so-called “Palestine.” The initial charter of the United Nations reaffirmed the legitimacy of a Jewish state in Palestine which originated at the League of Nations. The UN itself proposed a Jewish State in Palestine in 1947 and accepted Israel as a member on May 11, 1949, one year after Israel declared its independence and defeated six Arab armies which attempted to overwhelm it. This problem with the Palestinian Arabs is something the Arabs will have to deal with. Our sovereign state is not going to commit suicide with a two-state solution because some Arabs whose grandparents lost a war of annihilation against the Jews want to be rewarded with our demise.
There’s no obvious “solution” for the Israeli-Palestinian Arab conflict. What is crystal clear is that there must not be a terrorist Muslim state in the Land of Israel. Therefore, forget the two state solution already!
@Raphael
This, after the Arab have already stood up to the US and Europe and said NO! but keeping hold of their authority and continuing to receive their checks from the US and others, with the single exception of President Trump who stood up the Arabs and said “No more US checks!”
The only reason that the Two-State Solution is still around, is lack of political will to stand up to the US and Europe and say NO! Which, by the way, is the same reason that Israel is still at war and does not exercise full sovereignty over all of Eretz Israel. Yes, if Israel did assert itself, their would be the devil to pay, but the problem is not going to go away, IMHO.
Actually, our utter diminution and demise lies in the extension of equality to the Arabs within the Jewish State.
In the Jewish State, equality should be maintained upon the civil rights and privileges of all present within her lands, for it is not within the hopes or interests of Israel to disparage anyone from living out their lives in a manner that supports the public good while pursuing personal success. The political control and demands of citizenship, however, should be reserved for those people in whose interest the state was initially intended, as noted in international law, ie the Jews. Should the Arabs care to find full equality, perhaps they should exercise these noble pursuits in any number of Arab nations where tyranny is the established order. Should the Jews be so generous and irresponsible to share their rights of heritage and dominion over the rump of what Jewish lands have been left for them to control, an unpleasant reality will soon teach them that building the security of their people on untenable foundations will simply lead to the liberty shared in Israel being replaced with the Arab tyranny expressed throughout the rest of Arabia. In fact, the hubris of extending full equality to Arabs in the Jewish State is littered with such folly that it beckons the call for it to be enshrined in a constitutional manner, forbidding such a detrimental authority to any govt, legislative or judicial prerogative that might find a liberal spirit desiring to pursue such simple folly. No matter the claims of such a dream, it portends only a vision of nightmares and destruction for the Jews and their nation. It is not ordinary folly to consider this path. It is perfidy to do so.
No it doesn’t. The land belongs to the Jews according to the San Remo resolution. We have no obligation to share it. Don’t ex0pect Jews to give up what is theirs. Demand the Arabs to give up on their desire to get what is not theirs..
The answer lies in equality. The Arab side demands it. GIve it to them, as a cake they cannot also eat. Demand loyalty from all Knesset members. Impose freedom of worship on the Temple Mount. Eliminate the rioter’s veto. Punish Israeli citizens, Arab and otherwise, who engage in “nationalistic violence” by stripping them of the nationality they do not want.
In other words, do as any sane country would do. Stop humoring the disloyal irredentist individuals and groups (including Israeli Jewish anti-Zionist NGOs) and start acting like all of this matters. Assuredly it does.