Well folks it's cards on the table time in the Middle East. Apparently, here is where "the rubber hits the road" in the region. Since President Obama has taken office and George Mitchell has been pursuing a workable two-State solution, we have had a series of up's and down's. However, it seems that now the decision is starting to be forced.
The P.A. has been holding out on direct negotiations due to the continued settlement building in the Occupied Territories and Annexed East Jerusalem. They state (and I think make a reasonable point) that any negotiations could not be done in good faith while the Israelis are "creating new realities" on the ground and taking more and more land.
The U.S. and E.U are meanwhile is trying to establish regional stability and are trying to create an alliance of "moderate" (meaning Pro-Western) Arab States to counter "radical" Iranian influences in the area. In order to do this it is important that the Israel / Palestinian conflict be solved.
And surging against this is the latest news from Israel that the Right Wing is beginning to enact their end goal of "Greater Israel" and has formed a new Knesset Lobby to kill the Two-State Solution.
Today Ynet is reporting:
Kadima, Likud MKs against 2-state solution ...
....The lobby was founded by MK Eldad and MK Zeev Elkin (Likud). The opening event was also attended by ministers Benny Begin and Moshe Kahlon, Likud MKs Carmel Shama and Tzipi Hotovely, and Kadima MKs Otniel Schneller and Zeev Bielski .
"The possibility of creating a foreign, sovereign independent state led by the PLO or Hamas goes against our right over the Land of Israel and our right to live securely," Minister Begin said, who formerly expressed support of the decision to freeze settlement construction.
http://www.ynetnews.com/...
Now... this latest development from the Israeli Knesset is troubling. I wonder do the folks that are striving for "Greater Israel" recognize the issues that they are forcing? These following issues present themselves as problematic to the very survival of Israel should Israel annex the Occupied territories. I list just a few of them here:
- A "de-facto" One State Solution - all of a sudden Israel gains a huge new population of Non-Jewish citizens. If Israel is to remain a democracy those citizens need to be given equal rights. All things being equal how does the Jewish State maintain itself as a Jewish Democracy if the majority of the voting population is not Jewish? Isn't the purpose of Israel to be a Jewish State so that Jews can never again be subject to the persecution that has so often marked our history. Additionally, IF (and that is a big IF) these right wing forces want to maintain our proud history of fighting oppression and injustice how can they create anything but the One State solution advocated by Palestinian Civil Society. In doing so... they destroy the Jewish State.
- A One-State Solution in the model of South Africa - Well, we all know how that worked out. If, the Israelis continue settlement activity and building more and more to dominate and annex the territories what will they do with the local population. To continue to displace them will simply cause more anger and not only among the people but amongst the populations and governments of neighboring states. This anger only serves to help Iran's regional aspirations and leads to a state of "permanent war". Further creating a "subject" population is antithetical to this part of the Israeli Declaration of Independence:
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; (my emphasis) it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
This is a beautiful paragraph - does the Right wing now want to destroy what the founding fathers and mothers of Israel created.
- A One-State Solution with population transfer. This is not even close to being workable unless Israel wants to become the next North Korea or Myanmar - Isolated Rogue regimes that will fall at some point. Aside from the complete immorality of this - where would people go? What state will take them? This has been done in the past but this is the year 2010 - the world has moved on and the Middle East is a strategically important region. Does the Right Wing really think that transfer is an option? Do they think that the U.S. or the E.U. will go along with this? American Jews are progressive (See our voting record for let's say......EVER). I mean do they think America would continue it's support for Israel in the face of something like this?
NO... These are simply UNWORKABLE solutions. But this is where things are heading if both parties don't get to the table to talk. President Obama and his team see this. For the Palestinians holding out - Option #1 is the least likely to happen given the political instincts of the Israeli right. The inevitable outcome of this option is perpetual war ending in the destruction of either one or both peoples at the minnimum and destruction of the region at worst. Sometimes your hand gets called and this is one of them. Is a resulting war, destruction, and death worth it when it doesn't need to happen?
With the proliferation of terror and Weapons of Mass Destruction how will every major weapon be stopped? The only way is through peace and just negotiations. How many times do we have to keep on making mistakes before we realize that there is a peaceful way to solve this issue?
For the sake of both people's and for the strength of U.S. foreign policy we must be involved with helping our government and the E.U. Governments get both parties to the table. They need to be talking now about borders, settlements (Freeze and withdrawal), security, normalized relations between nations. It is time to toss cards on the table. What have you got?
UPDATED OPTION *****************************************************
Option # 4: What I call the Most Likely Option: Israel plays for time grabs as much as they can resets the separation Wall and unilaterally withdrwaws grabbing all of Jerusalem the E-1 and so forth. Thus creating Gaza Part II
God help us all if this comes to pass.