The horrors of October 7, including killing civilians, raping women, and kidnapping children can't be morally justified. How can there be peace with people who would do such things? I'm a Zionist; I want Israel to endure not just for 100 years but for 200 and more. Unfortunately, most discussions among Jews on how Israel should respond to Palestinian aggression are likely to increase the jeopardy to Israel in the long run. Such dysfunctional responses incorporate inconstencies, ignore the lessons of history, and lack appropriate empathy.
First, defenders of Israel often mention the ancient roots of the Jewish people on the land in question. To be consistent, anyone who thinks this is a serious consideration would have to accept Russia's current attempt to incorporate Ukraine, because Russian civilization began in what is now Ukraine. Similar logic applies to Serbian attempts to conquer and re-incorporate Kosovo, as that land was stolen from Serbs by Ottoman Turks and the current majority in Kosovo descended from those who were aggressors centuries ago. If you now favor independence for Ukraine and Kosovo, you should understand that the ancient Jewish roots in Judea and Samaria have no relevance today.
Second, if peace is our goal, it's necessary to acknowledge the longstanding suffering of the Palestinian people and activate empathy. Look at history. The Palestinians have suffered discrimination against them from fellow Arabs in the Middle East largely similar to the discrimination that Jews have historically suffered from fellow Europeans in Europe. Some defenders of Israel note that there has never been an independent Palestinian state, as if this supports denying them a state now. But Jews were equally denied a state of their own in areas of their greatest concentration in Europe, a place where Jews could have gone to avoid pogroms. Do Jews want to adopt traditional Arabic indifference to Palestinian welfare and self-determination in immitation of the traditional European indifference to Jewish welfare and self-determination?
Third, Jews should acknowledge that some of the suffering of Palestinians results from ill-treatment by both Israel and Arab countries. Thanks to Israeli historians, and much to their credit, we now know that the vast majority of Palestinians who fled in 1948 did so to save their own lives. We know also that much subsequent Palestinian suffering is due to the failure of other Arabs to fully integrate then into their societies. Again, a parallel of Jews in Europe justifies Israelis empathizing with Palestinian frustrations and disappointments.
Fourth, some Palestinian disappointments since 1967 are due to Israel's internationally illegal occupation of the West Bank. Calling the West Bank "disputed territory" is no more respectful of international law than saying the same of Ukraine. The Israeli settler movement and the largely tacit acceptance of the Israeli military of illegal (by Israeli law) harrassment, property distruction, and killing of Palestinians in that area justifies claims of illegal ethinic cleansing. (It doesn't justify claims of genicide, however, because the goal is just to remove Palestinians from the area, not to kill all Palestinians everywhere and destroy their culture. Consult a dictionary.)
Fifth, the stated goal of the Israeli military to kill every Palestinian militant, which they use to justify the killing of so many civilians in Gaza, makes no sense for Israel's long endurance. Even by Israel's own count, 95% of Palestinians were not militants or fighter. That 95% had no opportunity to vote against Hamas since 2006, and are themselves captives of Hamas. More important, the Allies didn't try to kill every last Nazi soldier at the end of World War II. Instead, we trusted that ordinary Germans (even former soldiers) could be partners for peace if given the opportunity to develop economically and culturally. Had we hunted down every last German soldier by bombing civilian areas where they were hiding, we would have created the conditions for another war.
Israel has the opportunity to show all Palestinians that acknowledging the permanent existence of Israel is beneficial to them by making the West Bank a model of self-determination and economic development. Israel enjoyed relative peace on the West Bank (apart from settler violence) for about 15 years (2005-2020) without any benefit to Palestinians as a free people. Instead, more Israeli settlements were imposed on them. This needs to be acknowledged by everyone who cares about Israel. We must apply what we all know from history that a punitive peace doesn't last (the Treaty of Versailles after World War I), whereas a generous peace (after World War II) can endure.
In sum, if Israelis want their country to long endure, they'll have to cultivate Palestinians as partners in peace. Show them respect; accord them dignity; express appropriate empathy; and support their political self-determination and economic development.
For more of my thoughts go to Critical Divides at peterswenz.com.
SeSimilar logic applies to Serbian attempts to conquer and reincorporate Kosovo, as that land was stolen from Serbs by the Ottoman Turks, and the current Muslim majority in Kosovo descend from those who were aggressors centuries ago. If you now favor independence for Ukraine and Kosovo, you should understand that the ancient Jewish roots in Judea and Samaria have no relevance today.Similar logic applies to Serbian attempts to conquer and reincorporate Kosovo, as that land was stolen from Serbs by the Ottoman Turks, and the current Muslim majority in Kosovo descend from those who were aggressors centuries ago. If you now favor independence for Ukraine and Kosovo, you should understand that the ancient Jewish roots in Judea and Samaria have no relevance today.
notjust for 100 years, but for 200 and beyond. Unfortunately, most discussions among Jews on how Israel should respond to Palestinian aggression are likely to increase the jeopardy to Israel in the long run. Such dysfunctional responses incorporate inconsistencies, ignore the lessons of history, and reject appropriate empathy
First, defenders of Israel often mention the ancient roots of Jewish presence on the land in question. To be consistent, anyone who thinks this is a serious consideration would have to accept Russia’s current attempt to incorporate Ukraine because Russian civilization originated in what is now Ukraine. Similar logic applies to Serbian attempts to conquer and reincorporate Kosovo, as that land was stolen from Serbs by the Ottoman Turks, and the current Muslim majority in Kosovo descend from those who were aggressors centuries ago. If you now favor independence for Ukraine and Kosovo, you should understand that the ancient Jewish roots in Judea and Samaria have no relevance today.
Second, if peace is our ultimate goal, it’s necessary to acknowledge the longstanding suffering of Palestinians and activate empathy. Look at their history. The Palestinians have suffered from discrimination against them from fellow Arabs in the Middle East in important ways similar to the historic suffering of Jews by fellow Europeans in Europe. Some defenders of Israel note that there has never been an independent Palestinian state, as if this supports denying them a state now. But Jews were equally denied a state in the areas of their greatest concentration in Europe, a place where Jews could have gone to avoid pogroms. Do Jews really want to adopt traditional Arabic indifference to Palestinian welfare and self-determination in imitation of the historic indifference of most Europeans to Jewish welfare?
Third, Jews should acknowledged that some of the suffering of Palestinians results from ill-treatment by both Israel and Arab countries. Thanks to Israeli historians, and much to their credit, we know that almost all of the Palestinians who fled in 1948 did so to save their own lives. We know also that much of subsequent Palestinian suffering is due to the failure of other Arabs to fully integrate them into their societies. Again, a parallel of Jews in Europe justifies Israelis empathizing with Palestinian frustrations and disappointments.
Fourth, some Palestinian disappointments since the war in 1967 are due to Israel's internationally illegal occupation of the West Bank. Calling the West Bank "disputed territory" is no more respectful of international law than saying the same of Ukraine. The Israeli settler movement and the largely tacit acceptance by the Israeli military of illegal (by Israeli law) harassment, property destruction, and killing of Palestinians in that area seems to justify claims that Israel’s goal is illegal ethnic cleansing. (It doesn’t amount to genocide, however, because Israel’s goal is to remove Palestinians from the area, not to kill all Palestinians everywhere or to destroy Palestinian culture. Check a dictionary.)
Fifth, the stated goal of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) to kill every last Palestinian militant, which they cite to justify killing so many innocent civilians in Gaza, makes no sense for Israel's long endurance. Even by Israel’s count, 95% of Gazans were not Hamas militants or fighters. That 95% has had no opportunity to vote against Hamas since 2006, and are therefore themselves captives of Hamas. More important, the Allies didn't try to kill every last Nazi soldier at the end of World War II. Instead, we trusted that ordinary Germans (even former soldiers) could become partners for peace if given the opportunity to develop economically and culturally. Had we hunted down every last German soldier by bombing civilian areas where they were hiding, we would have created the conditions for another war.
Israel has the opportunity to show all Palestinians that acknowledging the permanent existence of Israel is beneficial to them by making the West Bank a model of self-determination and economic development. Israel enjoyed relative peace on the West Bank (apart from settler violence) for about 15 years (2005-2020) without any benefit to Palestinian development as a free people. Instead, more Israeli settlements were imposed upon them. This needs to be acknowledged by everyone who cares about Israel. We must apply what we all know from the history that a punitive peace doesn’t last (the Treaty of Versailles after World War I) whereas a generous peace (after World War II) can endure.
In sum, if Israelis want their country to long endure, they’ll have to cultivate Palestinians as partners in peace. Show them respect; accord them dignity; express appropriate empathy; and support their political self-determination and economic development.
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