Reply To: Palestine-Israel Conflict
I don’t think the possibility of far greater atrocities that can be inflicted upon a more or less unarmed Palestinian population is fully appreciated by many people. There is a great potential for bloody pogroms and the Palestinians are very much defenceless.
Jewish-Israeli extremists seek the ethnic cleansing of ALL Palestinians, both inside Israel and in the occupied territories. They want a theocracy.
I don’t think that they presently have the consent of the majority of Jewish-Israelis to conduct such. But it is close. It is presently half-half.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/plurality-of-jewish-israelis-want-to-expel-arabs-study-shows/
A policy of escalating violence would only exacerbate the situation and reinforce their siege mentality increasing support for another Nakba and expulsion of the Palestinians.
Violence in the past, and there has been much of it, has not succeeded in shifting the mind-set of Jewish-Israelis.
With American Jews and the Jewish diaspora elsewhere slowly becoming less supportive in their pro-Zionist sympathies and more critical of Israel’s government policies, such violence would be counter-productive and end such progress, discouraging any US endeavour to pressure Israel into offering concessions.
Non-violent civil disobedience, crucially within Israel itself, the full acceptance of the existence of Israel by supporting the One-State federation option, in effect, satisfying the Zionist demand for “Eretz Israel” which solves to some extent the West Bank settler question but, most importantly, demanding a secular state with full equality to all citizens, turning a national liberation struggle into a movement for civil rights.
I have said I am somewhat of a pessimist about any solution and don’t suggest that such a proposal will bring any speedy support from either side and that political opposition between the communities would still continue. But I recall the Israel author Amos Oz saying, I don’t need to love my neighbours, but I do need to live alongside them.
There are too many sticking points such as the Israeli Law of Return versus the right of return for Palestinian refugees that require to still be overcome. But they are not totally irreconcilable problems. Basically, it is about numbers and time-scale.
As an aside, it is refreshing that on this topic we can have a somewhat friendlier exchange where we can comradely disagree because we both have the interests of our Palestinian fellow workers at heart. But I think I go one step further and recognise Jewish-Israelis need security reassurances as well to reach peace.