Israel vs. Palestine, Redux

by Tom Kando

Again and again. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is forever. It has raged since before I was born, and it will not be solved by the time my grandchildren are gone. To paraphrase Dennis Quaid when he played the president of the United States in American Dreamz, the Israel-Palestine problem will NEVER be solved.

The latest war, which pits Israel against the Hamas wing of the Palestinians, was triggered by the murder of three Jewish kids, which led to the reprisal murder of a Palestinian kid, followed by a great increase in Hamas rockets raining down on Israel, and thereupon Israel’s bombing campaign and invasion of Gaza.

Here is a list of some of the issues about which people have been taking sides forever, ad nauseam. A similar article was written by Ali Rizvi on the Huffington Post recently, titled “7 Things to Consider Before Choosing Sides in the Middle East Conflict.”

The case against Israel:

1. The “asymmetrical” number of deaths: Over 1300 Palestinians so far, of whom 75% are women, children and other innocent civilians. About 60 Israelis, of whom 2 or 3 are civilians.

2. Israel practices Apartheid. Palestinians within Israel are second-class citizens, and many of those outside its borders have been living in subhuman conditions for over 60 years.


3. Theocracy is bad. When people’s rights and living conditions are determined by their faith - depending on whether you are Jewish or not - it is wrong. The monstrosity of theocracy is demonstrated more clearly every day by groups such as the Taliban and ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria).

4. Continued Israeli intransigence and expansion, building additional West Bank settlements.

5. During Israel’s war of independence (1947-49) several hundred thousand Palestinians were expelled or fled from what became the Jewish state.

6. Some public opinion is knee-jerk pro-Israel. Conservative American Judeo-Christians are often staunchly pro-Israel no matter what Israel’s transgressions are. And of course, there is some Jewish extremism, for example among some Orthodox Jews.

The case for Israel:

1. Israel happens to be technologically and militarily more advanced. Its Iron Dome intercepts many incoming missiles. Hamas may lack the capacity to cause a large-scale civilian bloodbath, but it certainly has the will do so, as it lobs rockets indiscriminately towards cities, schools, and hospitals.

As I said, the current escalation of violence was triggered by the murder of three Jewish kids. As President Obama said, no country can tolerate a rain of rockets descending on it day after day. Nor can any country accept dozens of tunnels underneath its borders enabling terrorists to enter and murder its population.

2 and 3. It can be argued that Israel is the most democratic and in some ways the most “civilized” country in the Middle East. Nevertheless, the Palestinians remain the victims of injustice and discrimination. This is Israel’s greatest transgression.

4. Israeli has returned some conquered territories ( for example Sinai) but it is holding on to parts of the West bank because the old borders are impossible to defend. The country would have an 8-mile wide “neck.”

5. When Israel declared its independence in 1947, it expelled many Palestinians, although many of them fled in anticipation of a victorious return, which never happened. Since then, the thousands of refugees have become millions. A “right of return” is an impossibility, as it would swamp Israel.

6. It is often impossible to distinguish anti-Israel public opinion from anti-Semitism. Many on the Left and millions of Europeans are downright anti-Semitic, which is an old European habit. In his recent Wall Street Journal article The Ugly Tide Washing Across Europe, Bernard-Henry Levy describes how in Frankfurt neo-Nazis joined hands with left-wing Islamists while chanting “Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas,” and how in some Amsterdam neighborhoods it is impossible to wear a yarmulke without being insulted or assaulted.

7. And one more thing: As the New York Times’ David Brooks (with whom I agree on this rare occasion) wrote on July 30: This conflict is becoming part of a wider struggle between competing Muslim countries and factions: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt and the various Suni and Shiite factions each have their own vision for the future of the Middle East. This competition is a major factor in how each of them deals with Israel. The conflict is no longer one between Israel and a unified Muslim front.

Argument which can go either way:

To whom should the land belong? Who was there first? I wrote about this a few years ago. See my post on Israel and Palestine: Whose Turf is it?: Palestinians, who are Arabs, have lived in Palestine for many centuries. At the time of the foundation of Israel (1947-49), there were many more Palestinians than Jews in Israel. Jews have lived in Palestine since Moses, 5,000 years ago. Their numbers in that region have fluctuated. In biblical times there were several million Jews in Palestine.  During the 1st century, Jews were the majority population in the region, about 2.5 million. During Ottoman rule, the Jewish population declined to almost nil - maybe 5,000. Jews were now a minority, Muslims a majority. By 1890, Jews were a growing minority of about 43,000. In 1914, just before World War I and the Balfour Declaration, Jews were a growing minority of about 100,000. By 1931, Jews had continued to grow as a minority, approaching 200,000. In 1947, just before Israeli Independence, Jews were a large minority of about 600,000. Much of the increase was due to the massive post-World War II immigration of Holocaust survivors.

Solution: This is a conflict between two competing nationalisms. One solution would be for Israel to become a non-Jewish state, as South Africa became a non-white ruled state. But this cannot happen. Jews won’t permit it. The only real solution, therefore, is the two-state solution. In order to achieve this, it is better that Israel negotiate with the West Bank-based Fatah faction and with the Palestinian Authority’s leader Mahmoud Abbas, rather than with the more extreme Gaza-based Hamas. Negotiations must include West Bank land swaps and the internalization of Jerusalem. One thing which is non-negotiable is Israel’s right to exist.   leave comment here

© Tom Kando 2014