Former Israeli President Shimon Peres Calls for a Palestinian State

[Ken Burch]

8. With a Palestinian state, peace can happen. Without, we both know it can't.

Last edited Thu Dec 25, 2014, 08:58 PM - Edit history (1)

And it's not like accepting a Palestinian state would leave Israel helpless.

A two-state solution does NOT equal unilateral Israeli disarmament.

It might be different if the Occupation were showing any humanity, any recognition that Palestinians were equal victims in the conflict and equal in common humanity, but it refuses to do that.

Instead, it pretends, even as it takes more and more land, uproots more and more olive groves, hoards more and more water, inflicts more and more collective punishment, that Israelis are the only victims and that Palestinians haven't unfairly suffered in any of this.

In European history, Jewish people were victims of horrible persecution, and Europe and North America are still indicted in that.

But the I/P conflict is not connected to that, since Palestinians and other Arabs played no role in the Inquisition(in which some Arabs and Muslims were themselves victims)or the establishment of the ghettos, or the spreading of the blood libel, or 2000 years of Christian lies about who was responsible for the Crucifixion(the Romans did that, because they saw Jesus, as they'd have seen any colonial subject with a personal following, as a threat).

Hamas is a horrible organization, I've always opposed it, but all the Occupation ever did was to GROW Hamas(which didn't exist in 1948 or 1967-and no, the Muslim Brotherhood's existence in those years doesn't count as part of Hamas in its present form). And the fact remains that the military defeat of Hamas is impossible(f it could have been done, the IDF would have done it by now, world opinion or not), and, even if it did occur, could ONLY lead to the emergence of other, more extreme groups vowing revenge. So, while Hamas is loathesome, it has to be dealt with in some way involving negotiations, because it's simply always going to be there.

Palestinians cannot get a better leadership under the Occupation(obviously, if they could have, they would have)and the Occupation itself is ultimately just as dangerous to Israel's security as Hamas could be.

Why defend the status quo when there isn't any hope at all of anything good ever happening under it?

All the Occupation has done is to make Netanyahu the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli history(at this point, he's outlasted Ben-Gurion, a man who, unlike Netanyahu, at least had humane and egalitarian social values). It's created and politically empowered the settlers, a group whose continued existence in their current homes depends on the Occupation never ever ending, and a group that has brought nothing but ugliness and hatred to the Israeli political scene(it's still a real possibility that their leader, hatemonger Naftali Bennett, could be the leader of the largest single party in the Knesset after the next elections).

The Occupation is nothing but a trap. It prevents any advancement of anything positive. Why not just admit it?

It's time to move on from what we all know can never work.