69 million page views

Seeds of hope?

Reader comment on item: Arafat's Failure May Offer Seeds of Hope

Submitted by Yehudit Hirsch (United States), May 6, 2002 at 17:43

For a number of years, your profound understanding of the Middle East has amazed me. In 1983 you wrote: "…support for the PLO comes much more from the Arab states than from the Palestinians themselves". You know that the Arab-Israeli conflict is fueled not by "irreconcilable interests, megalomaniac ambitions, still less soaring ideals, but a cultural chasm." This cultural chasm is not going to disappear in our lifetime. I pray you are right about the "seeds of hope".

It appears to me that two nationalisms are holding on to each other in a deadly grip, as strong as ever. There are three apparent alternative ways out it:

1. TWO STATES FOR TWO PEOPLE
2. GREATER ISRAEL
3. ONE STATE FOR TWO PEOPLE

The "two-state" solution does not appear to be a viable option: For a while Israel will have for a neighbor a free Palestine plagued by weak leadership and terrorized by multiple security services. A few remaining "steadfast" Palestinian intellectuals will give up and flee to London. In a few years, half-educated militants will be fighting with each other over various versions of Islam. They will also be fighting with the State of Israel, the remaining outpost of colonialism in the Islamic paradise. Corrupt Arab regimes everywhere will welcome this situation, and will make sure that the Palestinians are well supplied with light arms. If Palestinians can’t compromise for the sake of peace while Israel controls their land, why would they abandon their war against the last outpost of colonialism after Israel gives away the last card? It looks like the Israeli-Palestinian territory has no capacity to accommodate two nationalisms?

The "Greater Israel" idea could be saved only by a very fundamentalist Messiah, considering that the moment of Jewish-Arabic demographic parity in the Greater Israel is coming within 10 to 20 years.

What about the "one-state for two people" solution?

An Israeli-Palestinian symbiotic relationship will have to be acknowledged by both sides. Israeli future success is bound to Palestinian. We are the "intimate enemies" (Meron Benvenisti). We will learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools. We will give up the nationalist interpretation of Zion and Jerusalem, and return to the traditional Jewish interpretation. We will agree not do unto the other what we do not want done to us. We will replace the sprawling urban congestion of today’s Jerusalem with a symbolic shining City on the Hill. We will give up the stifling Zion controlled by the religious and national Orthodoxy with a Zion which could become a spiritual home to anybody "who is mad enough to call himself a Jew" (Amos Oz) or a Palestinian.

"… For from Zion will come the Wisdom, and from Jerusalem – the word of God…"

A shining City on the Hill… Is it just a dream?
Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Submit a comment on this item

<< Previous Comment      Next Comment >>

Reader comments (26) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
What is the world thinking????? [43 words]MassimoNov 14, 2005 14:0928366
To commenter Mirko Badul [49 words]LeslieDec 9, 2002 20:104500
Time will tell [43 words]A. NimmerSep 26, 2002 07:512654
After Likud vote, lets take another look at it. [571 words]Jay BeaMay 14, 2002 20:50361
The Shadow of the Palestinian National Charter [133 words]Eva GoldmanMay 9, 2002 18:09326
Time for Arafat to Go [39 words]Robert SpitalnickMay 9, 2002 16:44324
No reason to give Palestinians a state [105 words]Jay BeaMay 9, 2002 10:26317
Understand Arafat's Goal [18 words]Greg OfieshMay 9, 2002 00:07309
Compromising on Terror will bring annihilation of the West [157 words]R. CrockettMay 8, 2002 16:55307
The UN and Israel [60 words]William J. SturmMay 8, 2002 08:47305
Misunderstood Nature of Palestinian War [176 words]Donald VogelMay 8, 2002 01:06303
Credible Punditry, capitalist style [300 words]Barry GottesmanMay 7, 2002 13:28254
No Historical Reconcilliation Until Arafat is Out [465 words]Natalie HassmanMay 7, 2002 05:39244
Seeds of hope [19 words]Muhammad SiddiquiMay 7, 2002 03:11242
So what's the next move? [251 words]Sally VeeMay 7, 2002 02:30241
Relinquish the Right of Return [216 words]Ron FinkelMay 7, 2002 02:28240
Pertinent analysis, wishful conclusion [285 words]Victor TordjmanMay 7, 2002 01:27239
Action Pays Off! [236 words]William J. SturmMay 7, 2002 00:26238
The Peace Process Fantasy [154 words]Lawrence KammMay 6, 2002 20:35236
Liars Never Win! [588 words]Les LiebermanMay 6, 2002 20:20235
Counterproductive Arafat [53 words]Aram PaquinMay 6, 2002 17:55233
Seeds of hope? [457 words]Yehudit HirschMay 6, 2002 17:43232
Seeds of Hope Will Turn Out to be Pits [165 words]Steven HessMay 6, 2002 17:35231
Call it the 'Oslo War' [106 words]Elisa SilvermanMay 6, 2002 17:08230
Suicide bombings will lead to total defeat [126 words]Mirko BodulMay 6, 2002 16:56229
Americans & Brits aren't jailers any more [170 words]Don MintzMay 6, 2002 16:55228

Follow Daniel Pipes

Facebook   Twitter   RSS   Join Mailing List

All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes

Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes

(The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998.

For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.)