The Protests Continue

Since there has been no resolution of the fighting between Israel and Hamas, the war goes on and the hostages have not been returned.  College campuses have been the scene of many pro-Palestinian protests.  Many students have been arrested.  Penn has set up an contained area for the protests, so they do not disrupt the campus.  I understand the passions that these students are displaying.  We had it in the 60's.  

I have a question I would like to ask the protesters, especially those proclaiming "from the river to the sea".  My question is--what solution to the war and the day after do you think would be acceptable to both the Israelis and the Palestinians.  The generation of Israeli soldiers, for the most part, that they are fighting are second or third generation Israeli.  They are not colonizers, they its citizens.

Wistfully wishing to the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state is not going to solve anything.  Israel, unless there is a massive invasion that the Israelis could not hold back, is going to remain.  It was not established by a European country as a colony.  It was accepted by the United Nations.  It is a legitimate state, not a colony.  

The Palestinians, given an area of land to create their own state as well by the League of Nations, did not build one.  As a result, in 1948, many were forced to leave areas that became part of Israel.  The other Arab countries, in particular Egypt and Jordan, did not work with the Palestinians to create their own state, but took over their territory.  The West Bank became part of the Kingdom of Jordan, and Egypt controlled the Gaza Strip.  When the PLO was formed in 1964, its goal was to create a Palestinian state.  Rather than confronting Jordan and Egypt, the PLO chose to destroy Israel.  They could not tolerate the existence of a Jewish state.

After the Oslo Accords, Israel made offers that were turned down by the PLO.  David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, was encouraged not to accept the plan that would turn "from the river to the sea" into two states.  The area given the Jews was too small and difficult to defend.  Ben-Gurion said a truncated state is better than no state at all.  Hamas does not believe that.  It must be all or nothing to them.  It doesn't matter how many martyrs will have a trip to paradise.  The ends justify the means.  

I can think of at least seven different scenarios that could end the state of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.  Some are totally in favor of the Israelis, some, the Palestinians.  What the end result will be, both sides must make concessions.  As president of the union in my school, I had to negotiate a new contract every three years.  Winning a negotiation is not the ultimate goal, because there is no winning.  It is getting the most that is important, to me, health care insurance and retirement plans.  At the same time I knew we had to be willing to take on more responsibility without pay.  I always felt satisfied that we signed a good contract, and mostly relieved that the process was over.  

So, what would my protest leader answer?  That the Israeli troops must withdraw from Gaza.  They destroyed more of Gaza than Hamas.  The really sad thing is that if Israel does withdraw, it would not have achieved its goal, the end of Hamas.  How many more lives would it take to succeed?  How can anyone justify that much death and destruction?  I must say that even though I would like to have seen Hamas annihilated and no longer a threat, it is not going to happen.  So yes, I agree that the fighting must stop and Israel should withdraw.

What next?  Should the United Nations just declare a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip?  Would that mean that Israeli troops must withdraw from the West Bank as well?  What guarantees can  the United Nations give that would make Israelis feel safe?  I would like to see the occupation of the West Bank come to an end.  I would also like to see Palestinians denounce violence.  Would the protesters support that?

As I stated previously in some of my blogs, I do not deny the right to protest.  I think we were a little more sure of the legitimacy of our protest against Viet Nam, than the anti-Israel protesters are now.  We had Walter Cronkite to tell us, Walter, who was the most trusted man in America when he was with CBS News.