+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Like it or Not: There Will be Two States
By Sherwin Pomerantz
After five months of bloody war, we have buried the 1,200 Israelis killed on October 7th, as well as more than 225 of our best and brightest who died in combat while only God really knows how many thousands have died on the other side as well. I submit it’s time to face the often-painful reality of our future and stop trying to kid ourselves about our ability to call all the shots about our status in this neighborhood.
“Between the river and the sea” as our enemies like to term this sliver of land on which we all live, are 7.2 million Jews and 6.9 million Arabs. That is a fact as is the fact that none of us are going anywhere. And if none of us are going anywhere there is only one solution that holds any promise for a productive future for both of us and that is to find some way to live together so that we are not constantly trying to kill each other.
Living here for over 40 years, I am well aware that we have tried any number of times to come up with a plan to address this challenge. Our argument has always been that “they” have either always rejected peace proposals or that “we” simply do not have a partner for peace. Their argument? This is our land, you are colonizers, you have no right to be here and we can wait as long as it takes to get it back. Everything else we always hear is simply a manifestation of this basic axiom which is rooted in a belief system that categorizes every non-Muslim as an infidel. Nevertheless…….
What have we learned from the events of October 7th? Specifically, that (a) we were not invincible; (b) our government and military could not protect us; (c) even with our hi-tech security systems, if we live next door to chaos, eventually that chaos will seep across the border and envelop us as well; and (d) we did not have sufficient military materiel so that if not for the “keys to the supply locker” that the US gave us, we would not have been able to sustain the battle for anywhere near five months.
We also learned a lot about our Palestinian neighbors. We learned that (a) the Hamas leadership couldn’t care less about what happens to their people; (b) the idea of transferring displaced Arabs to other countries is a non-starter because no country wants to accept them; and (c) UNRWA has, for 75 years, perpetuated refugee status on those who were displaced in 1948 during which time the refugee population has continued to multiply.
In addition, there are other things we always knew. For example, (a) people brought up in a place where there is no positive future horizon will eventually rebel, as we saw in multiple past intifadas; (b) the longer a war draws on, the less sympathy and support we will get from the rest of the world; and (c) the western powers who supported us will “pull the plug” on that support when their home political positions became untenable.
We have, therefore, only one choice, to put forth our own plan that creates some future sovereign entity for the Palestinians drawing on the good will of the Arab states with whom we have maintained diplomatic relations in spite of what is happening in Gaza to assist us in this effort. Note well that no Arab country has recalled its ambassador, except for Jordan, in spite of local pressure to do so.
Admitting all of this to ourselves, there may be a path we can suggest that will give us the security we need and deserve while putting a framework in place that stops the killing for the next 75 years (we don’t want to be too optimistic so let’s not call it a permanent peace treaty). Some possible parameters could include:
The IDF stops the war, all the hostages are returned and the Hamas leadership is given safe passage to some other country never to be allowed to return either to Gaza. Judea or Samaria.
All weapons of war in Gaza are confiscated and the tunnel system is destroyed.
A coalition of Arab and Western countries takes responsibility for administering Gaza for three years to rebuild the strip’s infrastructure and groom local leadership to become Gaza’s governing authority.
Israel completes the 1km buffer zone on the Gaza side of the border which will be off limits to Gaza residents.
A functioning port and airport is built in Gaza so residents there can travel in and out without accessing Israel or Egypt.
For three years Judea and Samaria will be designated the Protectorate of Palestine where a coalition of Arab and Western countries will perform the same role there as their counterparts in Gaza.
At the end of three years Gaza, Judea and Samaria (except for the large Jewish communities like Ma’ale Adumim, Efrat and Beitar Illit) would ideally join together as the Sovereign State of Palestine with civil security forces but no military and no capacity to engage in war.
Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria will have the right to remain there as long as they so desire. It is anathema to the concept of peace for the Arab leadership there to say they want the area Judenrein, as previously stated, just as we would never say that no Arabs can live in Israel. Residents of these Jewish communities would hold Israeli citizenship and be eligible for Palestinian citizenship as well after the three year period ended should they wish to avail themselves of that option.
A functioning international border would be established between the two entities with an express lane for Israelis living in the Palestinian enclave to enter Israel and return.
There are many other details to be clarified but the objective is clear: to build a non-military political structure that provides the framework for us to live together without killing each other every few years.
Understandably, there are those who say that so close to October 7th now is not the time to talk about peace with the Palestinians, nor any concept of Palestinian sovereignty. Yet there is an opportunity right now, and these chaotic times worldwide do not augur well for the maintenance of the status quo. As such, we need leadership who can clearly and honestly see the challenges that face us and, using the relationships that have developed with our neighbors over the last few years, build a new framework that gives all of us hope for the future and the possibility of many years of quiet progress together.
As a person of faith, I believe that all of what happens to us here is in the hands of the heavenly one. Nevertheless, Deuteronomy 30:12 tells us “it is not in the heavens” and that we were given this earth to continue the work of heaven which implicitly means that the Eternal is happy to have our help to achieve anything close to nirvana. Pirke Avot 2:16 enjoins us to act by saying, it is not our duty to finish the work but neither are we at liberty to reject it. Our task is clearly laid out for us. We dare not shrink from it.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
TOUGH!
What I know about military strategy you could put in a thimble. However, I have lived long enough to understand human nature. Therefore, I believe it is time for Israel to inform Hezbollah they have 24 hours to vacate a hospital.
Neither, Iran, its proxy, Hezbollah, nor Israel want an expanded war at this time but allowing Hezbollah to persist its rocketing sends the wrong message and becomes an invitation Hezbollah can escalate sans retaliation
There are some 100,000 Israelis who have had to vacate their homes and are living in hotels etc. while Hezbollah continues to prevent their return. The cost, disruption, danger and strain this places on Israeli families and the government, which cannot protect citizens, has reached an intolerable level and Israel must now visit comparable discomfort and risk upon Lebanon.
Yes, the world will accuse Israel of barbarism and such a warning, followed by action, will allow the mass media to expend more ink printing Israel spills more civilian blood. Biden will lose more Muslim votes and Blinken will tick off more anti-Israel State department personnel. Tough.
America and the Pentagon may now believe wars are won by tucking tail , I believe otherwise.
Giving 24 hour notice to Hezbollah they must vacate a specific hospital, or some other strategic civilian facility which is known to both sit atop tunnels and whose location is known to Israel and allow Hezbollah sufficient time to act.
It is time for Israel to cause Lebanese both discomfort and receive a message they have gone beyond Israeli tolerance. Until this message is delivered and followed by action, Hezbollah will inch forward, escalate their rocket attacks and act with abandon.
Biden is a Chamberlain appeaser and look where that has gotten him, several unwanted wars. His path is not one Bibi can follow. Doing so harkens back to why Oct. 7, occurred.
Yes, Israel does not seek a two front war but neither can it tolerate attacks on its nation to persist because it is unwilling to confront a bully. Death by a thousand unwanted cuts is not a winning prescription. Allowing such is tantamount to food and only nourishes bullies.
+++
Harvard’s anti-Semitism task force proves to be a total joke as another leader resigns
By Post Editorial Board
Harvard’s effort to root out antisemitism has officially entered Keystone Kops territory.
Business prof Raffaella Sadun, appointed co-chair of the troubled task force just last month, abruptly resigned over the weekend — reportedly because the task force’s mandate doesn’t include any high-priority changes to actually combat Jew-hatred.
The remaining co-chair, meanwhile, is Derek Penslar, an Israel-hating historian who claimed that the problem of Jew-hatred at Harvard had been exaggerated by “outsiders.”
And don’t forget the earlier resignation of world-famous Rabbi David Wolpe from the task force, explaining on X that the “system at Harvard” — and “the ideology that grips far too many of the students and faculty” and that “places Jews as oppressors” — is “itself evil.
And of course, all this follows now-ousted prez Claudine Gay’s inability to tell Congress whether calls for the genocide of Jews violated Harvard’s code of conduct.
Color us totally unsurprised that a university whose staff and faculty came out in force to support the terrorist killers of Hamas after Oct. 7 never planned to actually do anything about dealing with its deep-rooted Jew-hatred.
Guess that’s why the school’s muckamucks brazenly refused to hand over key documents around this ugly issue to a House probe and now face a congressional subpoena.
Plainly, Harvard’s rampant Jew-hatred, far from being exaggerated by “outsiders,” has been fostered by insiders who then set up the task force to whitewash the school, its faculty and its administration.
To draw false equivalences between Israel’s justified counterattack against Hamas and the atrocities that provoked it.
And to shore up the hard-left political complex in which rank hatred of Jews is laundered via social-justice jargon and junk history into a legitimate form of social protest against the non-existent “colonialism” that allegedly underlies the foundation of Israel and the non-existent “apartheid” that Jew-haters claim reigns there today.
The task force is a moral disgrace, and anyone blind enough to remain a member now deserves only public shame.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This Italian video spoof has gone viral:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
No comments:
Post a Comment