Options for Peace….Are There Any?

Options for Peace….Are There Any?

By Sherwin Pomerantz

Those of us living in Israel will be going to the polls in 24 days to elect new members of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.  Well, not exactly, of course.  We will vote for the party of our choice and, based on how many votes each party gets, that will determine what percentage of the seats in the Knesset each will have.  As for the Prime Minister, the President of the country usually then invites the party with the most votes to form a government which, as in the past, will be a coalition of parties who’s “horse-trading” is successful.  What a way to run a country eh?

But the polls here show that a record number of eligible voters will stay away from the polls this election because (a) the options are pretty depressing, (b) it’s not clear which party has the real solutions to our political and economic issues and/or (c) we just don’t trust any of them to do what they say they will do given past history.

For this writer, I am convinced that if we were to be able to achieve peace in our small portion of the world somehow or other we would be able to address the social and economic problems that face us as well.  But what is the face of the peace we should pursue?  Does anyone know?  I certainly don’t. 

But here are the options that seem be on people’s minds:

Two States for Two Peoples Side by Side in Peace and Security

Many people here on what remains of the political left as well as a broad spectrum of people overseas believe that the solution is two states for two people living side by side in peace and security.  I used to believe that as well and still want to think that this is a realistic goal.  But history has proven that this is not a goal that can actually be achieved.  Consider Gaza where Israel unilaterally withdrew in 2005.  We here thought that would be a test case where the Palestinians would then take that land and become a peaceful neighbor.  But, instead, what happened was the emergence of Hamas, the most radical element of the Palestinian leadership and seven years of rockets fired into Israel. 

In the West Bank area, what we call Judea and Samaria, recent polls show that if elections were held today Hamas would take over there as well.  What scares us, of course, is that the Hamas charter continues to call for the destruction of Israel and making this area Judenrein, a position underscored strongly by the Hamas leadership just days after the recent cease fire was declared.   So no one can blame us for being wary of this two state solution which puts a force sworn to our destruction within a five minute walk of downtown Jerusalem.

Annex Judea and Samaria (i.e. the West Bank) and create one State for all people

Then there are those who say that peace really means our annexing Judea and Samaria and controlling all of that area as part of Israel.  An event supporting that situation scheduled for later this week here in Jerusalem was recently moved to a larger venue given the sizable outpouring of people who subscribe to that approach.  But we also know that is not a realistic alternative.  In addition to causing the world’s anger to be unleashed against Israel as a result and having us become even more isolated that we seem to be today, it would also put us in the position of trying to govern a resident population of over 4 million Arabs with our 5 million plus Jews and a demographic that could quickly swing the other way.  As such, even if such a framework was acceptable to all parties, and I doubt if it would be, it would definitely mark the end of Israel as a Jewish state and shatter the entire Zionist enterprise.

Annex Area “C” of Judea and Samaria with the Balance being Palestine

One of the new “comers’ on the political scene here is Naftali Bennett, Israeli-born son of American immigrants who seems to be rising every day in the polls.  His vision of peace is to annex all of what is called Area C of the West Bank, which is the area in which the fewest number of Palestinians reside and in which most of the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria are to be found.  He would then give the Palestinians living in Area C full citizen’s’ rights, even though we know that after 64 years what are called full citizens’ rights even in Israel proper is hardly what one would consider equality of opportunity and lifestyle.

While that appears to be a demographically sensible answer to the population distribution issue, the fact is that we know neither the Palestinian leadership nor the word in general would accept this as it would reduce the new State of Palestine to a series of disconnected cantons which, for all practical purposes, would be totally ungovernable.  In effect, it would setup a tribal system which some believe is what exists anyway but would be politically unacceptable.

Confederation with Jordan

Finally, there are others who contend that the real answer is a West Bank confederation with Jordan which would then put Jordan on our border rather than Palestine.  Of course, given the uprisings throughout the Arab world, there is no guarantee that the present leadership in Jordan will sustain itself over the long haul and we could then end up with Hamastan on our eastern border in any event.

Finally, of course, none of these options talks about the issue of refugees although if the Palestinians would accept the logic that the only refugees are those who were actually living here in 1948, Israel could probably agree to the right of return without altering the nature of the country.  Bet we know that the refugee issue has become the raison-d’étre of the Palestinian cause so that too seems like a dead end.

At the end of the day nothing works

So nothing seems to work.  As depressing as it may be to admit the only option available to us right now is to continue as we have been for the last 64 years, living in this state of suspended animation, dealing with a new intifada every so many years, engaging in a military action on a regular basis and always worried about how the world will try to punish us the next time for the simple act of trying to live as Jews in the land bequeathed to us by God according to biblical tradition.   That last line may make some of my friends living abroad uncomfortable, but it is what observant Jews believe and why many of us have chosen to live here.

Thus, in the face of seeing no viable solution on the horizon the election becomes quite a boring exercise and one in which large elements of the population will choose not to participate taking the national holiday that occurs that day as, weather permitting, a good day to go to the beach. 

What the country needs is a visionary leader who, like former US Admiral David Farragut, is willing to say “Damn the Torpedoes….Full Speed Ahead” without worrying about his/her coalition partners or world opinion, but only the future successful existence of this country as the manifestation of 2000 years of prayer, sacrifice and waiting.   Sadly, none of the present part heads fit that description.  Would that it were otherwise.