Israel/Palestine
In reply to the discussion: The Global March to Jerusalem, a brave and admirable attempt to awaken the world’s conscience [View all]Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)My position is that there's no hope in the status quo. You know perfectly well that I'm right about that, and that perpetuating the Occupation can NEVER lead to a Palestinian leadership more to Israel's liking.
You also know that it's wrong to punish ALL Palestinians for the actions of an extremist minority.
It's not just about ending the Occupation...it's about the reconciliation and restitution process that has to accompany it. One of the most important things those who self-identify as "pro-Israel" could do would be to admit(as people like Michael Lerner do)that Palestinians DO have the right to be angry about what happened to them in 1948, and about the treatment they've received under the Occupation, and the settlements, and that they have the right to regard all of that as a series of injustices. Acknowledging that, admitting that the anger those people feel is valid legitimate even if you reject the tactics some use to express it(and I DO reject those tactics and have said so)cannot possibly harm Israel's security. And it might be the ONLY way to get Palestinians to support a different leadership and different approaches(things that you know as well as I perpetuating the status quo can NEVER achieve).
The one thing than CAN jeopardize Israeli security is to say nothing, back Bibi and Barak in public, and encourage the Israeli government to stay in the self-destructive patterns of stalling for time and "creating facts on the ground".