The recent war in Gaza has stirred up the minds and souls of many people. What is happening there, why is it happening, and why isn’t there a solution yet? I wonder: have we despaired of reaching in Palestine - Israel a just and lasting peace?
As a person living in the Near East, I am aware of the many and varied misfortunes (seen and unseen) that have occurred in this part of the world as a direct or indirect consequence of this unresolved conflict. But now it is having effects well beyond the Middle-East: think of what happened in the USA on September 11, 2001, and the declaration, shortly thereafter, of Oussama Ben-Laden justifying these attacks by two reasons, the first being the situation in Palestine.
In my candid view, to understand the truth of the situation there, one needs to go back to the earlier stages of this problem, mainly the following:
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The ‘Balfour declaration’ in 1917 which promised on behalf of the British government to support the creation of a ‘Jewish homeland’ in Palestine, at a time when the Jewish population there represented a maximum of 12 % (a large number of them having arrived only during the previous twenty years).
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After the UN decision, in late 1947, to divide Palestine in two separate states (Israel 54%, Palestine 45%, UN control 1%), a war took place in 1948 between the neighbouring Arab states and the Israelis, resulting in the latter occupying extensive territory (+ 23%) giving Israel 77% of the whole of Palestine . This occupation was never questioned again by Israel.
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During the 1947 and 1948, over 700.000 Palestinians fled from their homes (an exodus due partly to what one may call the ‘terrorism’ of Ben Gurion’s Dalet Plan) with the hope of returning when the fighting ceased. None were ever authorized to return.
Now, with the settlements established by Israel in the West Bank since 1967 (‘the six-day war’), and the 700 km - long dividing wall being erected there since 2002, the whole area left to the Palestinians (including Gaza) has fallen down to approximately 10 % of the initial pre-partition Palestine!
Couldn’t one perceive that there is something morally wrong, unjust and unreasonable occurring at each of these stages? This is not to speak of the various successive violations of UN resolutions and international law.
There was serious hope after the Madrid Convention (1991) and the accords reached thanks to the Oslo negotiations (1993). But after the assassination of Rabin, and the continuous extension of the ‘fait accompli’ policy by Israel, a sense of despair within the Palestinian population has led to the 2nd Intifada (in Arabic: ‘uprising’) and the emergence of Hamas as a powerful and popular Islamist resistance movement. We are now, so it seems, in a total stalemate.
I don’t think that we are meant to impose solutions from outside. But we are called to acknowledge the truth - the reality of a historical evolution and the moral judgment on each of its stages. Again, the old question is posed: does force make right?
Each of the successive stages of the drama in Palestine has rendered the solution, at each time, more difficult. The last Gaza war has again further deepened this difficulty. Yet there is room - though limited - for hope. But it seems to me that only courageous, generous, fair and truth - abiding minds can conceive of a viable solution that will prove to be most rewarding. Could statesmen in the West rise up and work at forging and implementing such a solution? But there is also the need of healing suspicion, prejudice and hatred, and fostering mutual understanding. For the war in my country, Lebanon, has shown that deep hurts can also pave the way for true respect.
We have seen former militia leaders from our 15-year civil war, Muslim and Christian, working together for reconciliation. And last year, in response to a reconciliatory message from the PLO , 44 Lebanese Christians published an apology for ‘unjustified acts’ which resulted in the death of innocent Palestinians during the Lebanese civil war.
Whoever wishes to see Israel living in peace and contributing mightily to the human development of this region, must persuade its leaders to reconsider and yield (to a certain extent) what it has acquired by force over the years and decades, thus allowing the Palestinians to regain an acceptable measure of their rights and dignity . Lasting peace in the Middle - East is possible, and its formidable benefits, both for the region and the world, deserve this courageous and fair action.
NOTE: Individuals of many cultures, nationalities, religions, and beliefs are actively involved with Initiatives of Change. These commentaries represent the views of the writer and not necessarily those of Initiatives of Change as a whole.
Ramez Salamé is a Lebanese Christian lawyer, living with his family in Beirut.
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