Q&A: The Solution to the Israeli-Arab Conflict
The Solution to the Israeli-Arab Conflict
Question
Hello,
As I understand it, neither side in politics today has a solution to the Palestinian problem. The right doesn’t really offer a solution at all, only conflict management (that is, rounds of fighting and terror and fighting, over and over again), and the left offers a solution that may sound workable on paper (some kind of separation; the details aren’t important right now), but based on experience (Oslo, the disengagement, etc.) it won’t work.
So I have two questions: 1. Do you have some basic idea of how this problem could be solved, at least in broad outline? And if not (or if it’s not going to happen), 2. How can one overcome the feeling of despair about living here forever by the sword (as opposed to other places in the world)?
Answer
I don’t have an idea for a solution, but I do think it’s worth trying. I don’t agree that experience proves that nothing works. There were things that didn’t work, and among them were also mistakes we made (I wrote about this here on the site in several places). It is indeed difficult, and our partner is very problematic (and we aren’t exactly entirely righteous ourselves). But it’s worth trying. I wrote not long ago that the left is optimistic—too optimistic—but there is something to learn from its optimism. Things do sometimes change, and reality is not a decree of fate. Enemies have become friends before.
Regarding the feeling of despair, it doesn’t seem to me all that hard to overcome it. The struggle with the Palestinians is no more bothersome than traffic accidents or illnesses. It’s something you live with, and for most people it doesn’t really interfere with day-to-day life. This is our life, and it’s quite easy to get used to it. The despair here is just hysteria, in my opinion. We have problems in life, and we need to learn to live with those among them that have no solution. This really is not the biggest problem we have.
Discussion on Answer
With God’s help, 21 Tammuz 5781
Herzl’s mistake (the 117th anniversary of his death was yesterday) was that in the Land of Israel the outline of “a land without a people for a people without a land” would come true. But alas, when increased Jewish settlement began, the Arabs too suddenly remembered to develop a “national consciousness.” The economic prosperity brought by Jewish settlement encouraged migration of Arabs from the neighboring countries, and thus “the Palestinian people” arose.
It seems that it would be worthwhile to establish the Jewish state in Antarctica, which is empty of human settlement.
Best regards, Pini Gvini
I agree that it’s not our biggest problem at any given moment, but if you add up the more than hundred years it has already existed and the time it will continue to exist in the future (forever?), then it seems to me that overall it really will be the biggest of them all.
As for the chances of peace, I read this here: https://twitter.com/hananamiur/status/1410510381525708806?s=1006
A fascinating thread about what the Arabs are thinking (your neighbors :)). In my opinion it’s very discouraging.