HappySqurriel said:
... and how does this help Israel meet their needs to have a peaceful neighbour? There could have been a path towards this presented where Palistine achieved status by being able to demonstrate that they were able to provide the most basic of government and stop the launching of rockets into Israel, but (for some reason) asking the Palistinians to act like a state of laws is unimportant. I could be wrong but I suspect that in Israel people are now far more likely to believe that there is no peaceful process that will end with acceptable terms, and Palistinian terrorists are emboldened because their violence is winning over the world, and we're one step closer to a bad end to this. |
You probably have good intentions, but you sound naive...
The basic problem in this conflict is: The vast majority of Israelis do not want a two-state solution, they are absolutely against a palestinian state. Even if an israeli politician was in favor of a two-state solution, actually going that path would be political suicide. Yitzhak Rabin learned this the hard way... Jews that emigrate to Israel are often the more religious hardcore type of jews, who consider "Eretz Israel"/"greater Israel" some kind of divine mission/doctrine. They seriously believe that god has given them the land and wants them (and preferably: only them) to be there. This rejection of a palestinian state is so widespread that you will not find a single political party in Israel advocating a two-state solution. In Israel, there is virtually no talk about a two-state solution. The ruling Likud party for example even explicitely states in their party platform the aim of preventing the establishment of a palestinian state by all means. (Considering that, it's almost cynical when people parrot the claim that "the only path for the palestinians to get their own state is via direct negotiations with the israeli government". Because that's the only path that will definitely never lead to a palestinian state.)
And this is not just a recent reaction to earlier "palestinian terror". It's been like this for many decades. They are even completely avoiding the word "palestine", the palestinian territories are always referred to as "judea and samaria", illustrating the perception that they are kind of occupied territries belonging to Israel.
Israel's actual strategy is simple: Delay the establishment of a palestinian state as long as necessary/possible, while meanwhile creating facts using their settlement policy that will ultimatively make any palestinian state unrealistic. Torpedo any real solution, but always place the blame on the palestinians. Whenever people like Netanyahu are talking about a two-state solution on the international stage, they are really just bluffing so the public is happy to hear what they want to hear - and just a few hours later, they'll announce expanding the settlements with thousands of new homes. There's a good reason for nicknames like "armour-plated bullshitter".
But, by the way, it's not like the Israelis are the evil guys here and the palestinians are the good guys. Neither side is morally better than the other - the palestinian tragedy is just that they happen to have much less power and weaponry.
