So, what do the elections “tell us”? Do Israelis want peace or not? This is the central question people abroad ask, but if anything, the Israeli elections tell us that, for the high majority of Israelis, the question is irrelevant. Who cares? Netanyahu’s party got less than a quarter of the vote, and the “center,” the largest “bloc,” about a third.
The fatal flaw in most analyses of the Israel-Palestine conflict is the assumption that if the Palestinians can just get a state of their own, then all will be fine. A state on all the Occupied Territories (UN Resolution 242), on most of the Occupied Territories (Oslo and the Road Map to the Geneva Initiative), on even half the Occupied Territories (Sharon’s notion) - it doesn’t matter. Once there’s a Palestinian state the conflict is over and we can all move on to the next item on the agenda.
For those who hoped for a just verdict on the death of Rachel Corrie, the American college student and ISM activist killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza in 2003 as she was defending a Palestinian home about to be demolished, this is a sad day – not surprising in any way, but still sad and bitter.
IS THE TWO-STATE SOLUTION DEAD?
Jeff Halper
The Palestinians should first make peace with Israel and then get their state.
-- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the UN, Sept. 23, 2011
TOWARDS AN END-GAME IN PALESTINE-ISRAEL –
WHILE IMAGINING THE FUTURE
Jeff Halper
So, what do the elections “tell us”? Do Israelis want peace or not? This is the central question people abroad ask, but if anything, the Israeli elections tell us that, for the high majority of Israelis, the question is irrelevant. Who cares? Netanyahu’s party got less than a quarter of the vote, and the “center,” the largest “bloc,” about a third.
The fatal flaw in most analyses of the Israel-Palestine conflict is the assumption that if the Palestinians can just get a state of their own, then all will be fine. A state on all the Occupied Territories (UN Resolution 242), on most of the Occupied Territories (Oslo and the Road Map to the Geneva Initiative), on even half the Occupied Territories (Sharon’s notion) - it doesn’t matter. Once there’s a Palestinian state the conflict is over and we can all move on to the next item on the agenda.
In the Name of Justice: ICAHD Raises Key Issues Around a Single State as a Step Towards Resolving the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
For those who hoped for a just verdict on the death of Rachel Corrie, the American college student and ISM activist killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza in 2003 as she was defending a Palestinian home about to be demolished, this is a sad day – not surprising in any way, but still sad and bitter.
In another few days, I will sail on one of the Free Gaza movement boats from Cyprus to Gaza.
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