Israel vs Palestine
It is probably impossible to write anything original on this long-term conflict, but I will make a few short remarks.
Both sides are in the habit of claiming historical rights to the land of Israel / Palestine and both are right, but of course, they chose different historical periods to base their claims on. Both sides now have millions of people who are native born. There is no way that the maximal claims of either can be fulfilled without either a genocide or ethnic cleansing; either option is morally unacceptable.
A two-state solution would be ideal, but you cannot expect either side to agree to this so long as one side seeks the elimination of the other. This would be equivalent to suicide or a guarantee for even bloodier wars. Attitudes need to change into mutual acceptance, but how can this be achieved?
This is likely a work of generations. A place to start would be in the education of the children. Textbooks should stress the common humanity of the other. More joint ventures which encourage working together for common goals and which provide respectable employment and a future for the young people are also important. But how? The problem remains that it only takes a couple people a short time to destroy what has been built with much investment of effort and money. Who will invest when there is no security?
I am not naturally a pessimist, but perhaps it will take even more wars and mutual destruction for the extremists to learn that their maximalist goals are self-defeating.
I can recommend some reading. I am presently about a third of the way through Enemies and Neighbors by Ian Black and I am impressed. It is as evenly balanced presentation as you are likely to find. Several years ago I read A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin. It is more about the post World War I division of the spoils in the Middle East and the consequences across the region than solely on the Israeli / Palestinian conflict, but it is also highly informative. There have been ample historical crimes to ensure that no nation or peoples is without sin.
One thought on “Israel vs Palestine”
It’s very sad. You are correct in that instead of teaching hate, if they could just teach tolerance their world could be so much brighter. I cannot begin to imagine how traumatic all of this fighting is to the people let alone the children of the region. They have created a seemingly neverending cycle for themselves.
Comments are closed.