3 minute read
Opinion
What is the answer?
OPINION PIECE BY ROBERT FESTENSTEIN
For many years now there has been a call for there to be a two state solution – Israel and Palestine living side by side. At the moment that is clearly not going to happen. The reasons for this depend on your attitude. If you are more inclined to the left, you will point to the right-wing Government in Israel, the settlements and the continued occupation of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Those of you on the right will refer to the declaration from Hamas that they want to kill all the Jews and the payto-slay policy of the Palestinian Authority.
The arguments have run for decades and we are still no nearer a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Consequently we are stuck. The left yells occupation and the right yells rockets from Gaza; over and over again. The voices get louder with each additional murder of an Israeli. So what is the answer? I don’t know, but what I do know is that us yelling at each other is achieving nothing. Well, certainly not for us, though our enemies must be chuckling as they see these squabbles.
Perhaps the starting point is to look at other confrontations and how it was they came to an end. Generally it is because either one side has no choice by way of absolute defeat or it is in their interests to come to the table. Germany in 1945 was comprehensively vanquished whereas Egypt saw a way to recovering the Sinai Desert and restoring some of their pride following their losses in 1967 and 1973. More recently the Abraham Accords have seen Arab countries reaching peace with Israel, in part I suspect because they are concerned about the intentions of Iran and need a reliable military partner in the region.
In other words there needs to be an incentive for each side to agree terms. The incentive for Israel is palpable. The prospects of not having to run for the shelters when the rockets start falling, or being cautious of someone wearing a coat on a hot day are obvious. For the Palestinians not so much. Their leadership is corrupt and for as long as the war (since that is what it is) continues they will be able to avoid elections, steal as much money as they can and blame the Jews for everything. Until that changes there is no incentive for either Hamas or the P-A to feel the need to negotiate.
There is though one other factor to take into account, and this is where I declare my interest as being on the right on this issue. This additional factor is the blinkered approach by so many in the West in relation to what they see as the Palestinian cause. All those causes promoted by the liberal left, such as women’s rights and freedom of religion are all sacrificed, wholesale, in favour of supporting the murderous regimes of Hamas and the P-A. It is difficult to know whether this is some nonsense guilt over colonialism, a misplaced romantic (and racist) view of the Palestinians knowing no better or just plain Jew-hate. It is probably a combination of all three, and who knows what else.
The result though is that there is always an excuse for the murder of another Jew in Israel, or another rocket attack in a way which would never the be the case here in the UK. The double standard is as obvious as it is odious and that is where our efforts should be concentrated. It is simple. Staunch the flow of this stupid support – since that is what it is – and the knock on effect 2,000 miles away might make a difference. If it doesn’t, we haven’t lost anything and we can always go back to shouting at each other.
Robert Festenstein is a practising solicitor and has been the principal of his Salford based firm for over 20 years. He has fought BDS motions to the Court of Appeal and is President of the Zionist Central Council in Manchester which serves to protect and defend the democratic State of Israel.
