Is there any hope for the Palestinian situation? Everyone realizes what the ultimate solution should look like: complete independence for Palestine; so what makes execution of the solution so difficult?
Well, everyone also realizes that only Israel’s facts on the ground (illegal settlements and the security wall) need to be recognized. Palestine’s facts on the ground have been long obliterated.
Everyone realizes that though democracy in Middle East is a must, democratically elected governments in Palestine are untouchables. And when Hamas and Fatah agree to form a united government, everyone realizes that one of them has still not recognized Israel and so should remain untouchable. Everyone also realizes that it’s perfectly OK to have normal relations with other parties which don’t recognize Israel (ones in Malaysia, Indonesia, etc.)
Since September 2000, over 4000 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis; during the same time over 1000 Israelis have been killed by Palestinians. But then everyone realizes that one Israeli is worth four Palestinian lives. Also everyone realizes that when it comes to killing innocents, it is only for one side to forget and only for the other side to forgive.
The Israeli per capita income adjusted for purchasing power stands at $26,000 while that for Gaza strip and West Bank stands at $1,500 (a third of India’s). But everyone realizes that Israel has the right to block Palestinian trade and set up tedious check-points to let most of Palestinian products rot before they can reach even their own markets.
Everyone realizes that Israel has the right to have an arsenal of over 200 nuclear bombs while no one else in the region has any. Its military non-secular state is regarded as a symbol of progress in the region.
So while the rest of the world gets in peace with Israel, what’s the attitude of Israelis themselves? Israel has always had a vocal Left that has insisted on peace and compromise. But after failure of the initiatives by Ehud Barak, even the left has felt a need to appear hardliners to win votes. After all the current government is a coalition with Labor which went for adventures in Lebanon. And popular opinion in Israel is turning strongly in favor of the right wing Likud party. Looks like peace has a long way to travel in a country which yesterday voted this song as the Israeli entry for the Eurovision contest: (Song urges to “Push the button” to blast all around).
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