Quote:
Originally Posted by Pointman
7. New free Palestine elects Hamas 2.0 on their very first elections. We have seen this movie before. That being said, I appreciate trying to provide some way forward instead of just arguing with the other side.
|
The idea behind an equal Palestinian state, with a constitutional congress overseen by a third party, is that it should be independent and have its own army, courts, and other paraphernalia of centralized, strong governance that makes irregulars like Hezbollah and Hamas untenable within its borders. The idea that you can keep the Palestinians weak and divided enough to "destroy terrorism" fails precisely because the weak and divided are susceptible to violent extremists who promise strength and unity.
Lebanon has never been the same since the Israelis invaded it in the 1980s, the south is an ungovernable chaos that they periodically raid or invade with no long-term plan other than hoping it will magically stop breeding the disaffected. Instead of learning from this, they've doubled down on it by making Gaza a ghetto and the West Bank a defacto occupation zone. While it doesn't excuse the actions of Hamas, who are a death cult of vile, reprehensible fanatics, Israel has chosen violence in preference to peace and is no longer fighting against terrorism but instead promulgating its own, less virulent but still abhorrent terror brand.
There are no easy solutions - building a prosperous, independent Palestine would likely take decades and would require outside capital (hence the reparations, which would not only be symbolic of Israel acknowledging that they owe a debt for taking Palestinian land, especially Gaza, but necessary to build a strong state that isn't beholden to Iranian or Saudi money) and vast, painful effort. However, the best time to start a long-term project is always now.
The fascist Netanyahu will never do this, certainly. The Israelis look to keep going down this self-destructive path, eventually ending up in the same place as their enemies, just with a different flag. Peace is "impossible", so instead it'll be permanent war.