There is another, more visionary path whose time may have come at last: If the government permitted the construction of these apartments but discontinued discriminatory policies in deciding who would occupy them, we could indeed move forward toward a lasting peace...If an eventual Palestinian state and Israel are to coexist, they must do so as neighbors, and a mixed housing complex could be a model of how this could happen...
Leslie, please, did you forget that that's how the conflict actually started?
Jews tried to buy land, construct homes and live among the Arabs starting, in the modern era, from the mid-1800s. But the Arabs basically said "we'll kill you, rape you, burn you, if you try that".
And you know what? That's what they did. Ethnic cleansing, discriminatory residency, terror, forcing the British Mandate to close the gates to immigration on the eve of World War II, etc.
They didn't - and don't- want us among them. They deny it's our national home. They deny the Temple existed.
Nice try.
P.S.
Is this Leslie?
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One of the greatest problems in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the insistence, on both sides, that civilizations never change; that progress is an illusion; that the past inevitably and irrevocably dictates the future; and that any attempt to positively alter the status quo is doomed to failure.
A majority of Israelis are in favor of a two-state solution. It is time for Israelis to admit that their own policies and prejudices have played a role in the stalemate that has existed for too long. It is also time to acknowledge that this stalemate is a factor in many world conflicts that now exist.
I am not saying that Brisman's idea is without fault. I am saying that to close off such an innovative and progressive idea based upon the events of many, many years ago -- events that were the product of a different age, and therefore different consciousness -- is merely to foreclose the idea of reconciliation itself.
Whether or not a "majority" of Israelis support a two-state solution (I doubt that; if the poll doesn;t include expulsion, autonomy, condominium, etc. it isn;t worth anything) is one thing. Whether or not Brisman misrepresents recent history is another. The major thrust of less-than-pro-Israel sentiment is based on portraying Zionist history as it wasn't. And that's all I was attacking.
Thanks for your comments.
Thanks for your post, quite worthwhile material.
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