This post is likely to bring some flak on me.
It needs to be said, however; not only because it must be said, but also because hypocrisies must out, regardless of who commits them.
Israelis and Arabs are both on the wrong side of history in Lebanon and Gaza.
There, I’ve said it. There’s no sugarcoating this, it is self-evident.
In this matter, the media have fallen prey to both-sideism — poor Palestinians, poor Israelis, poor militants, poor hostages — without really digging in a bit deeper (as they should) and letting the sound bite, rather than the truth, lead and colour their coverage.
So let us try and get to the truth behind the current incarnation of the Arab – Israeli conflict.
After WW2, Great Britain decided tho cede part of its Palestinian protectorate over to the Jewish people. The intentions were good, it was thought of and perceived as an act of justice after the Holocaust, no one denies this. Trouble is, that action was not consulted with the Arabs who were already living there.
As a result, when the Israeli State was, essentially, established top-down on the Arab population in Palestine, it was perceived as an infringement of the local population’s rights. This in turn fuelled a wave of animosity that caused 3 wars in 70 years, which has no prospect of abating.
It does not help that the Israeli government has pandered so much to its own sense of nationalism, embodied in Zionism, to the point that the only way that it can solve the current situation is by increasingly escalating to save the Prime Minister’s political life. Let us remember that the Israeli Prime Minister is the target of several judicial investigations that, if allowed to continue, would spell the end of his political career.
I digress, however. The political future of one hard-liner Israeli politician has little influence on the larger picture: Israel has consistently behaved as a bad actor, and has fully exploited the guilt most of Western society feels over the Holocaust to justify its own malfeasance.
Let’s be clear however: The Arabs are guilty too — guilty of falling to their own prejudice, not only towards Israel — but also towards the West, which, directly or indirectly, supports Israel, however misguided that support might be.
What is the way forward? How can peace be achieved?
Obviously, the removal of all Arabs from Israel and its immediate vicinity is a nonstarter. An equal nonstarter is the denial of the State of Israel’s right to exist.
The way forward, in my opinion, is for the international community to stop supporting Israel unconditionally, to pressure it into the negotiating table.
There should be consequences to Israel here. Several come to mind — similar to the ones imposed upon Germany at the end of WW1:
- The recognition of Palestine as a State.
- The dismantlement of any and all Jewish settlements in Cisjordania.
- Releasing the Golan heights to Syria and the Sinai peninsula to Egypt. Under this scheme, Gaza would become either a Palestinian exclave in Egypt or an Egyptian city.
- The establishment of a customs union with Palestine.
- establishment of Jerusalem as an independent city-state, governed in condominium with Palestine, under the “open city” regime.
In exchange for all these measures, Palestine would also need to adhere to some conditions as well:
- The removal of anti-Israel language from the political charter of any and all Palestinian political organisations.
- The end of any claims on the existing territory of Israel.
- The establishment of a customs union with Israel.
Strict adherence to this proposal would be the predicate for Israel to regain support by the West — and for Palestine to be formally recognised as a State by the international community.