Nov 21, 2023·edited Nov 21, 2023Liked by Micah L. Sifry
I mean, the short answer to the question of how Palestinians and Israelis can be free is voting. In areas the Israeli police and army can enter, Palestinians should be able to vote in Israel federal elections, and vice versa. It will be a long journey and will someday look like what post-slavery countries like the US or Brazil look like, with police violence and high crime, but the right to vote is not 'magical gnomes'.
The notion of a single democratic and pluralistic Israeli/Palestine is a wonderful idea...much like Western Civilization. It is something I subscribed to as a very young man. Problem is, it's impossible. The only way Jews and Palestinians, at this juncture, would be able to peaceable live side by side would be the establishment of an authentic Palestinian state with a corridor between the West Bank and what if anything is left of Gaza. But even that two state solution seems extremely remote at least in the medium to short one. Apart from the virulent anti-Arab racists sitting in Bibi's cabinet who would never agree, there's also this problem: Israel's abandoning of Gaza over the last 20 years had led to the construction of a semi-Islamic state there. Or at least, it has created a political bade for Hamas that has been enlarged. Meaning that a whole lot of Gazans themselves may no longer be so excited over a two state solution, especially if the PA has hand in governance. In the end, there is NO short term solution on the horizon. Only palliative steps to reduce the massive bloodletting and destruction.
I mean, the short answer to the question of how Palestinians and Israelis can be free is voting. In areas the Israeli police and army can enter, Palestinians should be able to vote in Israel federal elections, and vice versa. It will be a long journey and will someday look like what post-slavery countries like the US or Brazil look like, with police violence and high crime, but the right to vote is not 'magical gnomes'.
The notion of a single democratic and pluralistic Israeli/Palestine is a wonderful idea...much like Western Civilization. It is something I subscribed to as a very young man. Problem is, it's impossible. The only way Jews and Palestinians, at this juncture, would be able to peaceable live side by side would be the establishment of an authentic Palestinian state with a corridor between the West Bank and what if anything is left of Gaza. But even that two state solution seems extremely remote at least in the medium to short one. Apart from the virulent anti-Arab racists sitting in Bibi's cabinet who would never agree, there's also this problem: Israel's abandoning of Gaza over the last 20 years had led to the construction of a semi-Islamic state there. Or at least, it has created a political bade for Hamas that has been enlarged. Meaning that a whole lot of Gazans themselves may no longer be so excited over a two state solution, especially if the PA has hand in governance. In the end, there is NO short term solution on the horizon. Only palliative steps to reduce the massive bloodletting and destruction.