Is Peace an Illusion?
Israel continues to seek a peaceful resolution with its Palestinian neighbors, facing hurdles from Hamas and Hizbullah's aggressive stance
Israel, in its 76th year, has survived wars and terrorism launched by its Arab neighbors and the Palestinians. Following the cessation of each war and/or outbreak of hostilities, there was the perennial quest to seek a peaceful solution to, once and for all, resolve the conflict between Israel, its neighbors, and the Palestinians. Whereas peace has been achieved with Egypt and Jordan, the last two decades have seen the Palestinians through Hamas and Hizbullah in Lebanon, aided and abetted by Iran, continue to seek Israel’s destruction. Irrespective of how the current war ends, Israel will survive. The world, led by the US under the Biden Administration, has made clear its determination that, this time, it seeks to use the cessation of hostilities to create a Palestinian state with the aim of ending the conflict. Is there hope, or is it just a fantasy?
The Oslo Accords was the first real attempt to forge peace between Israel and the Palestinians. From 1993 to 2000, many taboos regarding the conflict were broken. No longer was the Palestine Liberation Organization a terrorist organization—a party with whom Israelis could have no contact. After all, to make peace, one is required to negotiate with one’s enemies. The primary goal of Oslo was to establish a pathway to a two-state solution. Israelis and Jews around the world were optimistic that one day soon, Israel could live in peace.
Despite the suicide bombings of 1995/1996 and the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, the dream was not abandoned. The manic desire for peace was best exemplified by Ehud Barak’s willingness to concede sovereignty over the Temple Mount to the Palestinians at the Camp David and Taba negotiations conducted in 2000 and 2001, respectively. Conceding the division of Jerusalem and sovereignty over the Temple Mount was, to many, a breach of the ultimate taboo. How could the Jewish nation, after 2,000 years in exile and living in the age of redemption, yield sovereignty over the Temple Mount? Yet, the polls at the time indicated that the majority of Israelis were willing to make this concession if true peace and a real end of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians would be achieved.
What transpired following Yasser Arafat’s rejection is well-known to all. It resulted in the launch of the second intifada. The Oslo dream was dead, although its realization did not occur immediately. The demise of the peace camp was gradual. It barely survived the second intifada. It received a temporary boost from the withdrawal from Gaza. It was frustrated by Mahmoud Abbas’s rejection of Ehud Olmert’s attempts to outdo Barak. One can measure this by looking at the decline of the Labor/Meretz vote over the last 20 years. In the 15th Knesset elected in 1999, Labor (One Israel) had 26 seats, Meretz had 10, and there were an additional two center-to-center-left parties that had 12 seats. Fast forward to the last elections, and Labor has a paltry five seats and is on life support. Meretz did not reach the threshold. The final nail in the coffin for the peace camp was delivered on October 7. Ironically yet tragically, many of the victims from the kibbutzim and moshavim attacked, murdered, raped, and kidnapped that day were known to be strong advocates of the peace camp.
What most Israelis have learned over the last two decades is that, notwithstanding its yearning for peace, it has no partner in the Palestinians whatsoever. Whether viewed through the prism of the Hamas Covenant, which calls for the destruction of the Jewish state and the killing of all Jews, or the corrupt Palestinian Authority, who have rejected every peace offer tabled over the years and have yet to abandon their quest for the right of return for refugees or to accept that Israel is the state of the Jewish people. This is not to mention their duplicitous support for pay for slay and educational curriculum, which rejects Israel, dehumanizes Jews, and glorifies terrorism.
Notwithstanding, the Western world, led by successive American administrations, has constantly attempted to foist upon the Israelis and Palestinians a two-state solution. How many times have experts said what the solution would look like, namely, a return to the 1967 borders with various adjustments and exchanges of territory? Regrettably, they have been unable to comprehend that the conflict is not a dispute over land but rather the refusal by the Palestinians to accept the right of Jews to self-determination in their ancestral homeland.
The peace camp in Israel is down but not out. If, by some miracle, the Palestinians can convince the Israeli public that they, too, have a genuine belief in peace and coexistence, we would see a revival of the peace camp. But herein lies the problem. There is no equivalent peace camp within the Palestinian population. Instead, you have had 100 years of vehement rejection of any notion of Jewish sovereignty in whole or in part of what now constitutes Israel.
Americans and Europeans are delusional to think that a two-state solution is feasible today, more so after the events of 7 October, which was an attack that clearly illustrated Hamas’ genocidal intent but garnered support from over 70% of Palestinians living in Gaza and 80% in the West Bank. So, we hear talk of at least establishing a pathway toward a two-state solution. How does one create such a “pathway”?
Can the Palestinians reverse decades of indoctrination where they have denied that the Jews have any attachment, nor are Jews indigenous to the land of Israel? Will they accept that the promise of the right of return for refugees, which has not applied to any other conflict, is a non-starter? Are they prepared to renounce violence and terror and create true institutions to govern themselves? Will they abandon their dream that Israel can be destroyed?
Is there a cadre of emerging leaders among the Palestinians willing to advocate for peace? Could such a cadre arise and replace the incumbents? If the Western world is to have any chance of real success, rather than exert pressure on Israel, it should be targeting the malevolent player whose support for Hamas and its creation and arming of Hizbullah are key ingredients in its goal to see the eradication of Israel; namely, Iran.
Israel is currently ruled by the most extreme right-wing government in its history following Benjamin Netanyahu’s alliance with Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir. It is reviled by many in the Western world and has its fair share of detractors within. But when Netanyahu stands up to the world and warns that a Palestinian state in the West Bank in today’s environment would result in a replica of Gaza with the entire country at peril, he has the agreement of the overwhelming majority of Israelis. Moreover, any future government, be it headed by Benny Gantz or Yair Lapid, would share this view.
So when the world ponders about the day after the war, it should concentrate its efforts on how to rehabilitate the Palestinians in a manner similar to how Germany was denazified, and Japan demilitarized and transformed into societies that largely rejected the crimes against humanity committed by their predecessors who propelled their countries to war, destruction and the murder of millions of innocents based on ideologies which indoctrinated their people. Israelis are under no illusions that if Hamas had the means, they would do to them exactly what the Nazis did.
Peace cannot be imposed. It can only succeed when there is genuine grassroots support emanating from both sides, which are willing to mutually recognize one another’s rights to live in peace, dignity, and security. In the case of Israel, it needs to see evidence of a true desire on the part of the Palestinians to accept Israel as the legitimate homeland of the Jewish people. For the Palestinians, they need to eliminate 100 years of rejection, hatred, and the unrealistic dream that Israel will disappear.
