Delivering the knockout punch
Two things are true right now. The war is horrible. And, the biggest obstacles to a two-state solution have never been more wobbly. The right kind of knockout punch could sweep those obstacles aside.
After a week of quiet, the war between Israel and Hamas is back on, and it is horrible, especially for Gazans and for the Israeli hostages and their families. At the same time, the biggest obstacles to ending this conflict with an agreement based on the principle of two states for two peoples are Hamas and the rejectionist right in Israel. “From the river to the sea” is the motto of both of these movements, and both consider compromise an abomination.
In the midst of the bombs Israel is dropping on Gaza and the oaths Hamas keeps repeating to fight until there is no more Israel, we might think that the potential to begin a new era of peace based on compromise and co-existence is nil. The propaganda battles being waged online and the friendships and family relationships that are being torn apart by adamant rhetoric and political wagon circling also might lead us to conclude that there is no chance for diplomacy, statecraft, and new political agreements to prevail after the war is over.
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