Full disclosure, I am Jewish, and a Jew by choice. As a Jew, I want Israel to continue to exist as a homeland for Jews. Having said that, my position on Israel’s assault on Hamas in Gaza will offend people on both sides of the fence.
The attack by Hamas was horrible, and I accept that Israel had a right to respond to that attack. The question becomes one of how severely Israel should respond. Hamas killed some 1200 Israelis, most civilians, women, and children. Israel’s response has killed some 34,000 Palestinians, many of those civilians, women, and children.
There is the old Biblical injunction of an eye for an eye. That was not meant to condone violence, but to limit it. One should hurt the other no more than they were hurt. So far Israel has killed 28 Palestinians for each Israeli killed. That is grossly disproportionate, and quite contrary to the eye for an eye injunction.
Israel’s assault on Gaza needs to stop. Apart from the Palestinians killed, outside aid workers have been killed, when they were simply trying to help. Netanyahu’s rationale for all this is that Israel needs to destroy Hamas, to prevent a recurrence of the October attack. The problem is that as David Petraeus said, "Every civilian's death diminishes us, collectively." Not only that, but civilian deaths radicalize the survivors.
It has long been obvious that Netanyahu has no interest in a two state solution. In fact he has said so very explicitly. He allows continued expansion of illegal settlements on the west bank, on land already owned by Palestinians. He has made no attempt to negotiate a genuine end of the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
The conflict will only end, when there is an independent Palestine on the west bank and Gaza. Anything less than that will feed the radicalization of Palestinians. Members of Netanyahu’s government have said thay want the Palestinians pushed out and Israel to control all of Eretz Israel. That is no more realistic than calling for Palestine to control ‘from the river to the sea’.
Netanyahu was caught on camera bragging that he worked to undermine the Oslo accords, which laid out a path to a viable two state solution. So long as he is prime minister, Bibi will sabotage any attempt to build a lasting peace. Hamas’s charter calls for the destruction of Israel, yet some high level Hamas people have said they will lay down their weapons if there is a just peace.
Frankly, both sides have been guilty of undermining peace efforts. After Rabin was assassinated (by a Jew) and Peres became prime minister, he wanted to negotiate, but Palestinian factions began a series of terror attacks that forced Peres from office. Arafat walked away from negotiations at Camp David. Then again Sharon undermined Abbas as the PLO leader by unilaterally pulling Israeli troops and settlements from Gaza. That allowed Hamas to take control of Gaza. Olmert negotiated with Abbas for a two state solution and was close to agreement, but Olmert was forced from office by corruption allegations. Netanyahu became prime minister and walked away from what Olmert negotiated.
I want to see an end to the fighting in Gaza. I want to see Israel and Palestine as two independent countries, side by side based loosely on the 1967 borders. There may need to be some tweaks to the border, with exchanges of land equal in area and quality. The only way that will happen is if Netanyahu is no longer prime minister.
Stop the killing and start negotiating in good faith. Anything less will result in continued violence.
