The Two-State Imperative
By ROGER COHEN, NYT
LONDON — Peace talks, it seems, are set to resume between Israelis and Palestinians after six visits to the region by Secretary of State John Kerry.
The heart sinks.
Israel and Palestine need a two-state peace. It would involve bitter compromises on both sides, but no more bitter than those accepted by Nelson Mandela in putting the future before the past, hope before grievance.
Without a two-state peace, Israel cannot remain a Jewish and democratic state because over time there will be more Arabs than Jews between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged this in stating that avoidance of a “bi-national state” was one of his objectives.
Without it, Palestinians will face enduring humiliation, the pride of statehood sacrificed to the false consolations of victimhood. They will live under Israeli dominion, marginalized economically and condemned to the steady erosion of dignity and territory that has been their lot since 1948. A new spasm of fruitless violence, perhaps even a third intifada, is possible.
(More here.)
LONDON — Peace talks, it seems, are set to resume between Israelis and Palestinians after six visits to the region by Secretary of State John Kerry.
The heart sinks.
Israel and Palestine need a two-state peace. It would involve bitter compromises on both sides, but no more bitter than those accepted by Nelson Mandela in putting the future before the past, hope before grievance.
Without a two-state peace, Israel cannot remain a Jewish and democratic state because over time there will be more Arabs than Jews between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged this in stating that avoidance of a “bi-national state” was one of his objectives.
Without it, Palestinians will face enduring humiliation, the pride of statehood sacrificed to the false consolations of victimhood. They will live under Israeli dominion, marginalized economically and condemned to the steady erosion of dignity and territory that has been their lot since 1948. A new spasm of fruitless violence, perhaps even a third intifada, is possible.
(More here.)
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