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Traumatized Israelis Are in No Mood to Compromise Their Security

(Tablet) Gadi Taub - In Israel, the obstacle to the "two-state solution" is Israel's electorate. Traumatized Israelis are in no mood to compromise their security. Israel's coalition government is united in the belief that promising the Palestinians a state in the middle of a war for national survival would be a declaration by Israel's government that murdering, raping, and kidnapping Israelis is the way for Palestinians to achieve their national ambitions. Even the prime minister's rivals in the coalition, Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, publicly support this consensus. American recognition of a Palestinian state would be seen by Israelis as categorically anti-Israel, a reward to Iran for its aggression, and a prize to the Palestinians for having massacred Jews. No previous U.S. administration has contemplated recognition unless the Palestinians commit to end the conflict, partition the land, recognize the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in their own nation-state, and sign a final accord of peace and normalization. After Oct. 7, most Israelis would not accept partition even if the Palestinians made the commitments they have disdained to date. We learned this lesson the hard way: We can't afford to exchange land for promises which can easily be broken. We can't allow for even a remote possibility of a future terror state perched above our coastal plain, 9 miles from the center of Tel Aviv. The writer is a senior lecturer in communications and public policy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
2024-02-23 00:00:00
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