Peace And A Two States Agreement in Bad Times: Two Editorial Views
Ayala Emmett and Peter Eisenstadt

Ayala:
These are horrific times: the war so far has brought about deaths, sorrow, destruction and daily life of unimagined uncertainty and anxiety in Israel for both its peoples and for Palestinians in the West Bank and in Gaza.

Those who support peace and a two states agreement seem to have been silenced by the fire of the guns and the poison of the pen, by a demand for unity in the United States and an eruption of anti-Semitism in Europe.

It seemed difficult to make space for a two states voice in the face of so much death, grief and mourning. Though a peace position should have been at the center of such bi-national pain and disaster. It is still far from easy to speak of co-existence when in Israel, two cabinet members, Lieberman and Bennett publicly advocate evacuating 20% of its Arab Israeli citizens and promote annexing the West Bank; it seems difficult to advocate the so needed peace politics when the newly elected president Reuven Rivlin who is a known supporter of settlements and of Israel’s right to all of the West Bank, is replacing Shimon Peres who just a few months ago planted an olive tree for peace in the Vatican Gardens.

Yes, for a long time and with only intermittent brief moments of hope, Madrid, Oslo, a few days ago Cairo, it has been a struggle to advocate publicly and collectively a peace position that affirmed Israel’s right to exist in security and the Palestinians’ right to a state of their own. It has become harder to stand against an ever-growing Right claiming a Greater Israel while denying to Palestinians the very thing that Israelis desires: a state.

It is hard to see in the media once again, what I wrote in 2003, that “For most Americans, violence, anger and revenge have become the daily face of the Middle East on their television screens.” Now in 2014 this is no more acceptable than it was then, or in any other war since 1948.

This last horrific Gaza war should be a time to speak peace wherever we can. Supporter of peace and of two states can and should stay firm and affirm their position in these very bad times. Like many in Israel and in the United States I have been a peace activist and supporter of co-existence with Palestinians for most of my adult life. I used to hope that it would happen in my lifetime. I don’t know if that would happen. What I do know with utmost certainty is that both peoples deserve a life, a life of peace.

Peter:
Now that the war, Gaza War III, seems to be largely concluded, it is time for some stocktaking. Gaza; the fighting is apparently ebbing. The carnage has been horrific. In Gaza, over 1,800 killed, 80% of them civilians, with hundreds of dead children. Israel has lost 64 soldiers, with three civilians killed. About 10,000 homes in Gaza have been destroyed, and much of its infrastructure. Much of southern Israel has spent a month of sleepless nights. The death and destruction from this unnecessary, elective, meaningless war is heartbreaking, blundered into by both sides, is just heartbreaking.

But of course after every war comes the post-war. Analysis of what comes next is well underway. Some pundits are already preparing for “Gaza War IV.” Others are looking for constructive steps that might lead to a more lasting peace between Israel and Gaza. It is much easier to envisage scenarios that lead to another war than those leading to peace, or even an enduring truce.

I don’t know what will happen, but some predictions are safer than others. Hearts have been hardened on both sides; what God did to Pharoh, Israelis and Palestinians continue to do to each other. They will hold on their grievances, their martyrs, their anger and their hate, ever more tightly. They will refuse to accept any responsibility for this catastrophe, but only blame the other side, and see them as monsters, and compare them to Nazis. Elsewhere, the middle ground between the two national camps grows ever narrower and more tenuous. The BDS movement will certainly have new victories. And Anti-semitism, worldwide, will certainly grow from the fetid aftermath of the Gaza War. Israel hawks will use the war to justify annexation of the West Bank. And many, including many Jews, will simply want this conflict to go away, and will be indifferent to both sides. And a small group will still talk about peace, a two-state solution, and the desperate need for real and genuine dialogue, and they will be mocked as pie in the sky idealists, and people will point to the Gaza War as a demonstration of the futility of peace talk. And, in all likelihood, there will be another Gaza War.

If there is a way forward, it can only start with all sides taking responsibility for their actions, and not trying to blame someone else. Israel is the vastly stronger power, and as such has more responsibility for initiating serious conflict, continuing it, and ending it. With the asymmetry of power comes an asymmetry of responsibility. There is a right to self-defense and an obligation to use force wisely, and an obligation to remember that the conflict between Israel and Palestine did not begin a month ago, that Israel cannot escape some responsibility for the continued misery of the Palestinians. For the Palestinians, it is an acknowledgement that suffering is not an invitation to act recklessly or callously, and that revenge is not justice.

My only hope, and it is a very thin and dubious one, is that both sides will realize that after a war so horrible, something fundamental in the relation between Israel and Palestine will have to change. Either Israelis and Palestinians will learn to talk with one another as equals, recognize the legitimate national aspirations of both peoples, make some really difficult decisions—much more difficult than the decision to start shooting at someone—and find a way out of their impasse, or they will be condemned to endlessly repeat this war, the next war, and the one after that.