Israel and Palestine: Separating Myth from Reality

June 28, 2004

by Philip C. Wilcox, Jr., Chautauqua Daily

" Peace between Israelis and Arabs is an oxymoron. Those crazy people will keep fighting until hell freezes over! "

"It's too late for a two state solution, because of massive settlement growth"

"Yasser Arafat is nothing but a terrorist. Palestinians have never lost an opportunity to lose an opportunity. And the root cause is Arab hatred of Israel.

"The Jews control American policy in the Middle East, as well as our media."

"Activist U.S. policies toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, especially in an election year, means political suicide."

How often have you heard these well-worn cliches about the hundred-year-old struggle between Israelis and Palestinians? Pretty often, I'll bet.

None of them is true, yet they persist. They are nurtured by extremists and partisans on both sides who see this conflict and a zero sum struggle in which there can be no compromise, only victory for their side and defeat for the other.

The reality is different.

Israelis and Palestinians are not crazy, vicious people, for the most part. They are two societies who have suffered historic tragedies, two victims of history.

The Jewish people created Israel in their ancient homeland as a refuge from a history of anti-Semitism that culminated in the horrors of the holocaust. In doing so, they created a second victim, the Palestinians who lost their homes and land to the Jews.

Today, 54 years, five wars and two Palestinian uprisings later, the majority of Israelis and Palestinians understand that if both are to survive and prosper, they must make peace by dividing the land into two states.

Although hopes grew during the Oslo peace process that peace was possible, the current intifada, with its terrible mutual violence, has dashed these hopes. Extremists on both sides have seized the initiative.

On the Palestinian side, Islamists who still dream of destroying Israel have resorted to suicide terrorism. On the Israeli side, a fanatic, messianic settler movement, still dreams of controlling all of the West Bank and Gaza and defeating a Palestinian state.

Yasser Arafat, though unjustly demonized by the Israeli leadership, is a consensus politician who leads by following. He has not grasped the terrible damage caused by terrorism and has shown little vision. Ariel Sharon, the architect of the Israeli settler movement, still dreams of dominating the Palestinians, and is excessive use of force has provoked further Palestinian violence. Both societies are suffering, and many people are dying.

Nevertheless, it is not too late for Israelis and Palestinians to escape this dismal impasse and to create peace, based on two sovereign states. It is not too late for Israel to withdraw from the settlements that prevent the emergence of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state. It is not to late to marginalize the fanatics and extremists on both sides, and to replace violence with diplomacy and law and order. It is not to late to devise a solution for the Palestinian refugee problem that will preserve the Jewish character of Israel.