It’s rare to see these well-documented facts so plainly stated on mainstream TV.
Worth your 3 minutes:
Piece below by Yoram Raved Adv.
Yoram is a former Adviser of P.M. Ariel Sharon and was an active member in the Israeli – Palestinian Track II diplomacy between 2006 and 2009
Israeli – Palestinian Agreement – Before it is too late
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a national conflict between the Zionist movement and the Palestinian national movement. To understand the roots of the conflict, an historical perspective is necessary.
During the 19th century, the idea of nationalism spread across Europe and as a result, the continent’s citizens demanded the establishment of different nation states. The most significant expression of nationalism was the Spring of Nations in 1848. The 1848 revolutions along with the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I are in many ways responsible to the evolvement of the European statehood.
The idea of nationalism left its mark on the secular Jewish community in Europe, and as a result (although the rising violence and antisemitism across Europe also played a role), the Bilu Movement (a movement whose goal was the agricultural settlement of the Land of Israel) was created, and led the first secular Aliyah (an Hebrew word for immigration of Jews from the diaspora to the Land of Israel) (the “First Aliyah”). The First Aliyah was the first time non-religious Jews were seeking to build a national home for the Jewish people in Israel (1882).
So these are the roots of the conflict. Once the Jewish people developed the aspirations to build a Jewish country between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and when some make historical claims (based on the Bible) even in regards to the other side of the Jordan River or believe the Jewish country’s borders should be drawn between the Nile and Euphrates and Tigris, it is a zero-sum game – as each side claims the entire country.
A joint poll conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) in Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) in Ramallah and released on August 22, 2016 shed some interesting insights on the state of public opinion on both sides. The findings include:
A slight majority of Israelis and Palestinians support the two-state solution. However, they do not trust each other, have disparate views on the terms of a permanent settlement, underestimate the level of compromise on the other side, and view its intentions as threatening. Nonetheless, at least a quarter of the opposition to a permanent settlement on both sides is flexible and it is likely that its opinion might be changed with the right incentives.
STATISTICAL HIGHLIGHTS BELOW
Yedioth Ahronoth – May 27, 2016
I met four concerned Israelis this week in a Tel Aviv café: Maj. Gen. (res.) Amnon Reshef was commander of the armored divisions and commander of the 14th Brigade in the Yom Kippur War; Maj. Gen. (res.) Danny Rothschild was director of the IDF Intelligence Research Department and coordinator of government activities in the territories; Aryeh Felman was the deputy director of the GSS; and Roland Giron was a senior Mossad official (Giron let his friends speak on his behalf). The four of them are members of an NGO called Commanders for Israel’s Security, which is due to issue a new political-security plan to the public on Monday. The plan is entitled “Security First.”
They are not alone. While we are preoccupied with the Netanyahu family’s airline tickets, many parties, both around the world and in Israel, are searching for a plan to break the stalemate. “Winter is coming,” the protagonists of the series Game of Thrones warn repeatedly. The diplomatic winter is expected to begin in November, on the day after the US presidential elections, with a last initiative of the Obama administration; the next stage will come with a Security Council resolution, perhaps also a regional initiative. The world will discover with astonishment that it is the 50th anniversary of the occupation. People are concerned, both in Jerusalem and in Ramallah.
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