(Telegraph-UK) Jake Wallis Simons - Who still has the luxury of believing in the two-state solution? Not the people whose families were slaughtered on Oct. 7, nor parents with sons on the frontlines. To many of them, a Palestinian state must feel like a bizarre response to the worst atrocity in Israel's history. But in London and Washington, the concept is back in fashion. In an ideal world, a democratic Palestine living in peace alongside its Jewish neighbor would be wonderful. But wishful thinking won't get you very far. Believing in fairies doesn't make Tinkerbell real. In fact, blind belief sometimes makes things worse. You keep repeating the same mistakes. In truth, Israelis have been pursuing two-states for decades, with blood and tears the only result. It began with the Oslo Accords in the 1990s. But while Yasser Arafat was talking peace in English, his Arabic speeches were a stream of extremism and rejectionism. Western diplomats chose to put their fingers in their ears and in 2000, the Palestinians unleashed the Second Intifada. The peace efforts were rewarded with suicide bombings. The core of the problem has always been that Palestinians are taught to be allergic to a Jewish state. You can't make peace on a diplomatic level when from cradle to grave, Israelophobia is widespread in Palestinian society. The writer is editor of the Jewish Chronicle-UK.
2023-12-24 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive