 | By moshetzarfati2
January 22, 2010 | Share |
President Barack Obama has come to the realisation that he misjudged the will for peace among the Palestinians and the Israelis.
This should not come as a surprise, since neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis really want peace. So why would the US want it more than they?
Why don't the two sides want peace?
The Israelis don't want it because that would mean that the country would have to contend with mounting domestic issues, such as the relationship between religion and the state, the growing gap between rich and poor - one of the widest in the developed world -- and the absolutely atrocious level of education. Add to all that the social upheaval and probable violent unrest that the return of 350,000 colonists would cause.
The Palestinians don't want peace because that would mean having to deal with day-to-day issues such as education, transport, employment, welfare, health etc. They also know that if they hold tight, or sumoud as they call it, then Israel will have to give them equal rights to the Jews.
Butn there is one overriding motive that unites both sides: they'd have to give up playing the victim.
ibrows
22 January, 2010 - 22:56
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How can you say both sides dont want peace? I am sure there are many Israelis and Palestinians that want peace. Its the political failings that have led to this never ending status quo, the factionalism of the Palestinian leadership is a factor, but largely its due to the continuation of the Israeli occupation. I don't believe there will ever be a just two-state solution, Israel is not about to give up territory it has illegally seized nor will it remove the deeply entrenched settlements in the Occupied Territories. So i agree, a single state is more realistic. But Israel must then treat all citizens and residents (as Israel refuses to give many Palestinians actual citizenship even when many were born in what is now Israel before 1949) equally regardless of religion and ethnicity.
You suggest Palestinians should 'hold tight' but its been over 60 years and many are still living as refugees, how much longer is it acceptable to wait. Israel will only change tact i believe if America applies serious pressure to it, something which again, i cannot be happening in the near future.
evidence that not all Palestinians and Jewish settlers hate each other, which is certainly a positive, if small step -
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtVty.jhtml?sw=palestine+israel+he...