This news came a surprise and something finally constructive in building a common future for the Palestinians. A report said that “The Palestinian Authority is working with the United States on a plan for the “day after the war” in the Gaza Strip that would include PA control with Hamas participation, according to the Palestinian prime minister. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh told Bloomberg that dismantling Hamas is unrealistic. He also said he believes that Hamas should take part after the war in building a new independent Palestinian state that includes the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.”
Having such political conversations with the US may just be futile. It sounds irrational to trust the US, UJK, or the entire European Union to be just when it comes to freedom and liberation for Palestine. The insistence on the two-state solution is dubious because the West Bank is already ‘Bantustanized’. The solution does not lie in a one-state or two-state solution. It lies in a just mutual co-existence between the Arabs and the Jews. Strictly speaking, the land Israel occupies was wrongly divided even in at the time of partition and things worsened for the Palestinians with each war. It is quite a misnomer to actually argue that Palestinians hold 22% of the land especially when considers the way Israel has divided Palestine access to its own lands – its towns and villages. The illegal settlements and access ways that have been blocked by Israeli roads, check points and every blockade measure will make any solution complicated unless, in the meantime, Israel self-destructs. Israel, after all, has the habit of bringing ruin on itself every 100 years or so.
With more and more settlements emptying out, it is clear to see that the settler known she/he are on stolen land and , for as long as you are a robber, the real owner will reclaim what belongs to them. Moreover, Palestinians have not come even close to surrendering the ‘Right to return’. They hold the keys to the homes they were forced to vacate and that they aspire to return to.
Talking to a friend, he told me, ‘we are afraid of the irrational violence’ that the settlers can inflict on us. The soldiers too! Palestinians also live in fear unable to guess when the illogical Zionist will turn up and shoot mercilessly and destroy. My friend did assert this: They are more scared than we are. At least we know this is our land. They know that the land they claim is not theirs and even if we may seem weaker in militaristic terms, our steadfastness is far in excess of their cowardice and wickedness. Once a thief; always a target of the other side!
To presume, Israel is on the verge of collapse is somewhat flawed thinking. But that it will cave in sooner or later is without doubt. Each report we share in this issue of Palestine Updates, testifies to a desperate and frantic Israeli regime. Netanyahu should be in jail if only the judicial system was at work as it ought to be. Nor is democracy at work in Israel. 5 elections to arrive at an extreme right wing government.
For now, the Palestinians seem like victims and are indeed more vulnerable. But Israel, as a nation, is on the edge of self-destruction.
My column may sound like that of an over-optimistic activist. Hope springs from never surrendering one’s legitimate rights and aspirations.
Ranjan Solomon is a political commentator
