I have not written on the
topic of the Israel/Palestine conflict before. Perhaps rightly, I concluded
that the issue is so controversial and complex that my few hundred words on the
matter are of little value to the debate. Nevertheless, there have been a few
points made and ideas raised about the long-running conflict that deserve
examination.
I recently watched two
documentaries, one on the system of military justice which has been existed in
the West Bank since the beginning of occupation and one on the changing shape
of the two nations in the 21st century given the large population of
Israeli Arabs and Jewish settlers in the West Bank. The theme of both films
suggested that Palestine is rapidly approaching the point at which it cannot be a
viable independent state. Although it recently gained Observer status at the
United Nations, its own Google domain, and has almost achieved the
international recognition of nationhood it deserves, Israel’s moves to crush
its economic viability have been very successful. After all, the
entrepreneurial spirit which we credit Palestinians with is of little use if
they cannot trade. And two generations of dependence on meagre international
aid payments takes its toll on a country’s self-esteem. It has been suggested,
and I am basing my opinions on the assumption that nearly every media source is
biased, that a number of young Palestinians, who have only ever known Israeli
occupation, no longer view independence as a serious goal, but aspire to be
equal citizens of a ‘Greater Israel’.
It is certainly true that a
number of Israelis support the idea, which would see the West Bank annexed and
Arabs awarded full citizenship of a bicultural state, but with constitutional provision for the maintenance of Jewish
institutions and laws. As the population of Greater Israel would be approximately
50% Arab and 50% Jewish, it sounds like ‘both races are equal, but one is more
equal than the other’. And to do that is to make the unified nation flawed from
day one. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine that such a country would exist
without demand from the Arabs for a greater share of the national wealth, and
the cessation of state benefits for the ultra-orthodox community. In such a
country, it would be only a slender majority who support unification, and separatist
violence would render government impossible.
And yet the alternatives
involve the mass displacement of people. Attempts to remove Jews from the West
Bank are of course going to depend on the co-operation of those who believe
they have a divine right to settle there. People who claim divine rights to
things will often resort to violence to defend those ‘rights’, in my
experience. Not that that means that they can be allowed to continue: Israel
has breached international law by effectively annexing occupied Palestine, and
it is intolerable that Arabs are being treated like second class citizens in their
own territory. There is no freedom in the West Bank. There is little wealth.
There are few good jobs. That is, unless you’re a citizen of the occupying
power. That is why I am outraged that Israel rejects Palestine’s request for a
temporary cessation of development on the West Bank while negotiations take
place. The international community should be using every peaceful means
possible to stop Israel’s illegal actions continuing.
Palestine, it is said, would
have more international credibility if its population didn’t support terrorist
activity to achieve independence. I don’t dispute that. Though many of us would
resort to militancy if our country was not only being absorbed by a hostile
neighbour; our protests not only being ignored by the rest of the world; but
for decade after decade even peaceful demonstrations against this being broken
up with tear gas and water cannons. Hamas, which is guilty of unjustifiable
actions, is successful as a consequence of justified desperation. We can only
hope that the moderate majority in Palestine, in whatever nation they find themselves
in in the future, will reject extremism once true peace is established. To an
extent, they already have, given how reasonable their representatives have been
in negotiations with Israel in the past few years.
‘Fortress Israel’ will not
last forever. “Traditional” Israeli Jews are undergoing a demographic squeeze between
the ultra-orthodox and Israeli Arab communities, to the point that Israel will
change beyond all recognition, and it will be impossible to maintain a large
army to subjugate Palestine and periodically attack neighbouring states, in
self-defence or otherwise. It is in everyone’s interests that Israel adapts
now, rather than find itself in a situation in which militancy and violence
destroys any prospect of a peaceful future in the region.
Related articles
- Israel snubs EU aid workers in West Bank, Gaza (ramyabdeljabbar.wordpress.com)
- ‘Israel’ continues judaizing activities: Railway to connect all WB ‘settlements’ (realisticbird.wordpress.com)
- Israel To Vote On Freeing Palestinian Prisoners Ahead Of Peace Talks (huffingtonpost.com)
- Israel Orders Cease of Cooperation in Projects with EU in West Bank (occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com)