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The EditorsSeptember 17, 2014
A Palestinian boy runs next to destroyed buildings in Gaza City Aug. 28. (CNS photo/Mohammed Saber, EPA)

For the moment, the rockets fired into Israel by Hamas have stopped and the American-made F-16 fighter jets zeroing in on the neighborhoods of Gaza are still. Survivors ask: Was it worth it? Some Hamas leaders rejoice that to withstand an Israeli bombardment means to have “won.” Israel takes satisfaction in having punished “terrorists” and closed tunnels. But count the casualties: 2,131 Palestinians killed in Gaza, including 1,473 civilians, of whom 501 were children and 257 women, plus 66 soldiers and five civilians dead on the Israeli side. Move through the blocks of flattened villages and inhale the smell of death and sewage in the gutters. Count the factories and hospitals destroyed, the 34 crumbled schools. Imagine the faces of 1,400 orphans, of the 110,000 Gazans who lost their homes, huddled in shelters or lined up for drinking water.

This could all happen again in two years if the region returns to the status quo. Or, with determination and stronger, wiser leadership, Israel and Palestine may move toward a two-state solution, each secure enough to live, if not in friendship, at least as neighbors.

Obstacles remain. Both sides are divided internally: the Palestinian Authority recognizes Israel, but Hamas does not; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces criticism from the left and right. Both sides see themselves as victims and neither trusts the other.

But the basic formula for peace and security is clear. Israel must end the occupation of Arab territory seized following the conflict in 1967. But as recently as this September it seized over 1,000 acres of West Bank land near Bethlehem. There Israel controls the water supply and highways on which only their cars may drive, and has pushed Arabs out of East Jerusalem, where the Palestinians wish to have their future capital.

Time and demography increase the urgency for reaching a deal. There are more than 6.1 million Jews between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea; in the same space there are 5.5 million Arab Palestinians now living in Israel proper, the West Bank and Gaza, and their higher birthrate will soon make Palestinians the majority. If by that time the Palestinians do not have their own state, Israel will have to give up its identity as both a Jewish state and a democracy, slip deeper into apartheid or drive the Arabs out once more. Meanwhile Palestinian anger will surely boil up again, next time with more international opinion in its corner.

Though numerous U.S. attempts to broker an agreement have failed, there are steps the United States can take to create the conditions for peace. First, the United States should, for a change, use its influence in the United Nations to support, not veto, the Palestinian people’s demands for justice. This could mean allowing an investigation by the Human Rights Council of the United Nations into possible war crimes committed by both sides: Hamas firing rockets indiscriminately into Israel and Israel bombing near U.N. schools and family homes. Both sides, including some people in the United States, may resist this investigation. But the only way to curtail war crimes is to hold responsible those who commit them.

Second, though rebuilding may take 20 years, initial steps can improve living conditions now. The United States should drastically cut, by as much as two-thirds, the $3 billion in mostly military aid it gives to Israel each year and direct those resources to the reconstruction of Gaza. With international oversight, the money should help build schools, hospitals and factories to jumpstart its economy. (Gaza has an unemployment rate of 40 percent, and 80 percent of its population depends on international aid.) A functioning economy also requires that citizens have freedom of movement. With no seaport, airfield or highways that offer a way out, Gaza has become a prison. Israel should lift the blockade on goods and people flowing in and out of Gaza. But lest Hamas and other militant groups exploit looser borders to bring in weapons and sneak out terrorists, Israel should accept the European Union’s offer to provide security at border crossings.

In the end, however, there is only so much outsiders can do. To achieve a lasting peace, Israelis and Palestinians need to talk to each other—not just at negotiation tables but in shops, restaurants and on beaches. In a recent symposium with Israelis and Palestinians in Harper’s (September), contributors stressed, “We don’t know each other. This is the heart of the issue.” They recalled the times when a Palestinian would wake up on a sunny day and say to his children, “Let’s go to the beach in Tel Aviv.”

Recently, in testimony before the U.N. Human Rights Council, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi told his audience, referring to the Israeli-Palestinian tragedy, “The way to the future lies in recognizing our common humanity.” Ten years from now, if Palestine is not yet a state, Gaza might at least be a prospering enclave at peace.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
Eugene Fitzpatrick
9 years 6 months ago
With its pushing towards social justice this "America" editorial seems quite commendable. Nevertheless to some degree the Editors still view the Is-Pal issue through an American, and therefore faulty, prism. Look at the last sentence of the third paragraph from the end of the editorial and appreciate how the Palestinian might be perceived by the readership. To me its not far-fetched to conclude that you're suggesting that the Palestinian, released from Israel's shackles, needs to be closely monitored lest he become a recidivist into his prior bad behavior. Also, you manage to introduce the pejorative word "sneak" when suggesting a very possible activity the liberated Palestinian might employ. Your words raise the perception of "the sneaky Palestinian". I'll wager that nowhere in the archives of "America" is the image of "the sneaky Israeli" projected. You have his potential sneakiness involved with "terrorists", the thought being projected that when one is considering activity performed by the Gazan leadership, automatically assume it might have the trappings of terrorism. Despite Israel well deserving the appellation of a "Terror State" has "America" ever linked together that noun and adjective in reference to Israel? In the same sentence you seem to be interdicting weapons for Palestine. Weapons for Israel fine. Weapons for Palestine no way. IMO the Editors still have a way to go before arriving at the mental state that considers the Palestinian utterly equal to the Jew in his personhood and in his hereditary rights as an occupant of the Planet.
Robert O'Connell
9 years 6 months ago
I wonder if we overlook an Israeli "prism"? Either the Jewish people have a right to live as Jews in Israel or they do not. The United Nations decided they have that right but their Arab neighbors, perhaps understandably, disagreed; to some exent, Palestinian Arabs are paying the price for what the rest of the world allowed during the Nazi era. If the world recognizes the fact that the people of Israel deserve acceptance as a people entitled to statehood, peace will prevail. Absent such a starting point, I can only pray.
Christopher Rushlau
9 years 5 months ago
People have a right to live, period. Then, to make that basic promise effective, they have a right to due process, along with a bit of social services, so they can participate in politics. Their cultural identities, such as "Jewish" or "really Jewish" or "not at all Jewish, though my parents are Jewish", are beyond the competency of a state to provide.

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