Dead End
Israel has started a new offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. First, 3 Israeli teenagers were kidnapped in Hebron. Israel accused Hamas of the incident, yet offered no evidence to back up its assertion. Israel had also been accusing Hamas of rearming itself and firing rockets into southern Israeli territory for some time now. Hamas was the one to instigate the initial conflict when it fired its own rockets into Israel after the accusation were made. Israel then used this as a pretext to launch an offensive against Gaza. Netanyahu’s administration stated that its goals were to degrade Hamas’ infrastructure and weapons stockpiles so it would not be able to threaten Israeli civilians or property. As the death toll in Gaza reached a few hundred, Israeli forces revealed to the public what it had known from the beginning of the crisis: the 3 kidnapped teenagers were killed, most likely by some splinter of Hamas gone rouge. Israeli intelligence placed a gag order on this information to have a convenient excuse to enter Gaza. As Israeli forces showed intentions of leaving, however, events quickly took a life of their own. Many Israelis were outraged at this incident; they had just found out about the deaths, unlike those in the intelligence community. In response, Israeli settlers caught and burned alive a Palestinian youth.
Not only did this inflame the Palestinians, but it indicates a slow takeover of mainstream Israeli society by extremist elements that previously operated on its fringe, all perpetrated by the very people driving this change. Of course, Palestinians are guilty of the same thing, as the existence of Hamas is a testament to that. But Israel, the self-professed island of stability in the Middle East, does not face nearly the same destitution that such extremism thrives on. Rather, recent Israeli governments have allowed certain groups to build settlements over land that is not legally theirs. This Zionist movement, which has historically simply meant the creation of a Jewish state over modern Israel, has come to encompass all the land over which Palestinians now call home. Because of this, it has led to an ever increasing desire to claim more land with settlements, land that the global community considers Palestinian, not Israeli. And while Netanyahu has in fact blocked many settlement plans, he has permitted the construction of far more along the West Bank. He has also refused to lift the naval blockade of Gaza, sealed off the territory’s borders, and retained control over much of its power and water supplies. In the West Bank, Palestinians are subjected to 
border patrols, segregated roads, and towns of settlements that are taking over their lands. The results are the slow colonization of the West Bank by settlements and the Gaza Strip effectively made into a maximum security prison where its residents need express permission to do much of anything. Israel cannot honestly say that it seeks a two state solution, or even a legitimate peace, so long as it maintains this status quo. Any statements made otherwise are simply lies.
It’s clear to any rational minded observer that a two state solution is in the best interest of all involved parties, including the United States. While some have explored the possibility of a one state solution, it can never be. If Israel were to annex the land and people of the West Bank and Gaza, notwithstanding the international reaction, it would be faced with a choice: fully integrate the Palestinians into Israeli society with full rights, or systematically deny them rights and relegate them to a legally entrenched second class status. The Arab citizens already inside Israel and the Palestinians outside it have a higher population growth rate than Jewish Israelis. If the first choice were made, Israel would lose its Jewish identity in a few decades by simply being outnumbered in their own democratic state. After all the horror of the Holocaust, Jewish people all over Europe wanted a state where such a thing could never happen again. Israel was the fulfillment of that wish; its identity should not be compromised. The second choice, however, will lead Israel to become a full fledged apartheid state, reminiscent of South Africa. This would put Israel and, by extension, the US in an untenable position with the rest of the world. That outcome is unacceptable for moral and geopolitical reasons and must be avoided at all costs. The only conceivable scenario that does not lead to a dead end is a two state solution, with agreed upon borders and a dismantling of most settlements.
Netanyahu, despite all his statements to the contrary, clearly favors preserving the status quo and postponing making any meaningful decisions to resolve this situation indefinitely. Whether he’s incapable or simply unwilling to retain his right-wing colleagues who would continue to build settlements and oppress Gaza, Netanyahu is acting in the way of a real peace process. And so long as Israel refuses to improve conditions in Gaza and stop its illegal constructions in the West Bank, it will continue to face Palestinian resistance, as is the Palestinians’ right. The UN has enshrined the right of a people to resist occupation by an occupying force into international law. The Palestinians’ most recent initiative to resist their occupation was a unity government between both Hamas in Gaza and the comparatively peaceful Fatah in the West Bank to seek negotiations with Israel and legitimacy from the international community. Netanyahu, fearing the upset this would cause to the status quo and corner him into negotiations, is seeking to nip this Palestinian “peace offensive” in its bud. That’s why this new assault on Gaza began. Netanyahu is evidently more interested in the illusion of security for the Israeli state by undermining the Palestinians at any and every turn and Israelis will continue to support him as long as he can provide that illusion. Yet this is just another dead end: Israel will continue to be ostracized by the international community and the US will continue to shield its actions regarding the Palestinians. And if Israel really does slide toward apartheid statehood, then it will be cornered into a back wall that it can’t just airstrike its way out of.
