(it was obvious for long time that two state solution is dead as dictated by reality on the ground. Palestinians and their leaders are still in denials. Palestinians will be better of demanding equal rights as citizens of state of Israel rather then wasting blood and resources on two state solution. Peter Beinart is a journalist, supporter of Palestinian rights and two state solution-f.sheikh)
For decades I argued for separation between Israelis and Palestinians. Now, I can imagine a Jewish home in an equal state
I was 22 in 1993 when Yitzhak Rabin and Yasir Arafat shook hands on the White House lawn to officially begin the peace process that many hoped would create a Palestinian state alongside Israel. I’ve been arguing for a two-state solution — first in late-night bull sessions, then in articles and speeches — ever since.
I believed in Israel as a Jewish state because I grew up in a family that had hopscotched from continent to continent as diaspora Jewish communities crumbled. I saw Israel’s impact on my grandfather and father, who were never as happy or secure as when enveloped in a society of Jews. And I knew that Israel was a source of comfort and pride to millions of other Jews, some of whose families had experienced traumas greater than my own.
One day in early adulthood, I walked through Jerusalem, reading street names that catalog Jewish history, and felt that comfort and pride myself. I knew Israel was wrong to deny Palestinians in the West Bank citizenship, due process, free movement and the right to vote in the country in which they lived. But the dream of a two-state solution that would give Palestinians a country of their own let me hope that I could remain a liberal and a supporter of Jewish statehood at the same time.
Events have now extinguished that hope.
About 640,000 Jewish settlers now live in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and the Israeli and American governments have divested Palestinian statehood of any real meaning. The Trump administration’s peace plan envisions an archipelago of Palestinian towns, scattered across as little as 70 percent of the West Bank, under Israeli control. Even the leaders of Israel’s supposedly center-left parties don’t support a viable, sovereign Palestinian state. The West Bank hosts Israel’s newest medical school.
I think it is a big mistake. Two states in peace and security for both Palestinians and Israelis was the best plan. They signed the Oslo Accords in 1995 with lots of fanfare before the whole world. We were happy that suffering and bloodshed will end and peace will return to the Middle East. But the Israelis were never sincere about it. With one excuse or another, they thwarted the implementation. And now this.
This is not even in the Israeli’s interest. Today Israel is strong and powerful. This was the best time for Israelis to negotiate with best intentions and solve the problem forever, and build its economy and trade relations, and focus on better things for its people.
They could work on Israeli image in the world, and also in the Arab and Islamic world as a peaceful, friendly and kind people.
Greed is the worst enemy of man. Greed can destroy a man, a family or even a nation. If Hitler or Mussolini had stopped on their first aggression, they probably would have survived. But they kept on.
Palestinians are not going to disappear from the face of the Earth. And the problem will continue.
Zaki Sabih
I agree with Zaki Sabih on two points: 1) greed is a bad thing and 2) The Palestinian problem will continue.
All decisions – personal, political, religious, philosophical – are made with some combination of the heart and head (by head I don’t mean intelligence).
In my opinion Palestinians – at least the leadership – has been dealing with Israel mostly from the heart, essentially saying we are in the right and even if multiple generations spend their lives in poverty, in refugee camps, without having citizenship or state, and forgotten by most of the world, we’ll just keep fighting and dreaming that Israel will someday hand over the whole of West Bank to them after removing all the settlers.
If they had used more of their head (practicality) they would have had a state with much more real estate a long long time ago. After losing the third war with Israel they should have figured out Israel is there to stay and recognized their right to exist. They should have realized that as long as USA continues to be a superpower and as long as most Western countries are pro Israel, nobody of significance is going to openly antagonize Israel even if it is in the wrong. Even if they get a state now in a two state solution, look at what they get in the link below. Going from one part of their OWN STATE to another they would have to go through Israeli checkpoints.
I feel Palestinians are at least to some extent responsible for the position they are in now.
Map of Palestine