The real obstacle to Israel-Palestinian peace
There are better options than a two-state solution if the real problem is tackled.
Jew-hatred and the Palestinian leadership’s refusal to accept the reality of Israel and live with Jews is the biggest obstacle to peace. This is why a political solution is so hard to achieve.
It is amazing that after 75 years, the world still does not understand the role that religion and anti-Semitism play in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Western liberals insist it is primarily about territory. They fail to grasp that Islamism and Jihadism - the sort that even many Arab states have cracked down on - has infected the Palestinian body politic. Generations of Palestinian children have been raised to hate Jews, taught that their religious destiny is to destroy Israel, and (for Hamas) build a Caliphate.
This thinking is uncomfortably mainstream. Forward-thinking leaders of Arab states that recognize Israel, and of those such as Saudi Arabia that would like to do so, are out of lockstep with their populations. Among Palestinians, the indoctrination is so deep that a cultural solution is needed as much as a political one.
A negotiated settlement is required for peace, but what is the starting point for negotiations with someone who wants to exterminate you? Hamas is a Palestinian Islamist group that wants to destroy Israel. It views any political arrangement, including a two-state solution, as a stepping stone towards that goal. The Palestinian Authority, under its current virulent leadership, is no better. Under these conditions, two states is not a solution, and nor is any other treaty or constitutional arrangement.
History teaches us that political systems are as strong only as the culture that supports them. The Weimar Republic (1918-1933) had what was considered to be a near-perfect democratic constitution, but German political culture was too weak to constrain the rise of Nazism.
An acceptance of Israel, and a willingness to live peacefully with Jews, would make all sorts of constitutional arrangements possible. The world remains oddly fixated on a two-state solution, despite it having failed as an approach for decades, and despite Israelis and Palestinians not supporting it. Superior options exist.
The most interesting proposal is for an Israel Palestine Confederation. It is the most imaginative because it addresses Israelis’ and Palestinians’ needs, rather than focusing on nation-states per se. The principles of this version of a confederacy would be:
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