Discussion Third Rails Won’t Bring Peace to the Middle East
Contrary to the dominant political and media storylines, there are more than two sides to the conflict in the Middle East. The dominant narrative holds that the only alternatives to unacceptable Hamas-led Islamic persecution of Jews are permanent Israeli control “from the sea to the river” or two states–one for Jews and one for Palestinians. However, Israel's illegal land-grab settlements in the West Bank were, from the outset, designed to make any just two-state solution impossible.
These are not the only possible resolutions. Neither are paths to peace and justice. Consideration of one nation that ensures the rights of all should not be a discussion third rail, much less subject to censorship or punishment. Far too many insist that it must be. The decades-long pessimistic assertion of irreconcilable differences that undergirds calls for a two-state solution has failed to bear the fruit of a political solution. Continued claims that one nation for Jews and one for Palestinians is the only practical or realistic solution ring hollow, especially with Netanyahu and his right-wing allies' steadfast commitment to Eretz-Yisrael with permanent subjugation and occupation of Palestinians. Such narrow, confining thinking undermines peaceful resolution and justice for all.
Performative denunciations of Netanyahu and the brutal murder of innocent from the White House and halls of Congress are rendered impotent by their simultaneous vocal support for Israel’s right to defend itself with no recognition of Palestinians’ right to resist seventy-five years of brutal occupation, purposeful deprivation, and rights denial. That is not a defense of resistance "by any means necessary.” Rather, is it a description of the inevitability of conflict if the protection of Jews in Israel is contingent on the denial of the same for Palestinians. From the founding of Israel in war and land theft to the establishment of the West Bank settlements that has been the case.
The pro-Hamas descriptions of Israel’s critics dismissively mischaracterize most advocates for Palestinian rights. One-sided American defense of advocates for an Israeli nation that prioritizes only Jewish rights undermines any claims that the United States remains or ever was a truly democratic nation or an international defender of human rights. Along with many others, I stand for the human and democratic rights of everyone, including Palestinians and Jews, wherever they live. That doesn't make me antisemitic, Islamophobic, a Hamas supporter, or a defender of Zionism and Israel. It makes me a steadfast opponent of killing any innocent civilians. The same is true of the vast majority of people who demonstrate to demand a ceasefire in the Middle East, an end to U.S. military and diplomatic support for Israel’s war on Gaza, and disinvestment from Israel.
Most Republicans and Democrats in Congress and a substantial portion of the popular media appear unable or unwilling to accept that calls for a ceasefire and Palestinian rights are not antisemitic. Impugning malign intent to all critics of Israel through the constant elevation of real but relatively rare despicable instances of antisemitism purposefully distracts from the justice for all goals of the majority. The insistence that pro-Palestinian means anti-Jew is reprehensible and destroys the possibility of a peaceful resolution. Instead, it promotes dead-end, your-gain-is-my-loss thinking that inevitably insinuates into domestic policy. Worse, it supports the ascendant instrumentalist everyone-out-for-themselves thinking that drives and enables the GOP quest for power.
Similarly, too many politicians and mainstream media editorials denounce any discussion or suggestion that the existence of Israel as a nation that ensures the rights of Jews inescapably tramples those of Palestinians. Because resistance to oppression is inevitable, response to Israeli fears of terrorism through imprisonment, occupation, humiliating personal searches and checkpoints, and bulldozing homes and farms is a dead end that can't even protect Jews. The cruel irony is that the existence of Israel as a Jewish state has not stopped or curtailed antisemitism while inflaming Islamophobia around the world. If anything, the establishment of a homeland for Jews on contested territory has exacerbated hatred and persecution of Jews. The powerful influence of AIPAC only strengthens pernicious stereotypes about Jewish money. The concerted effort to make discussion of one state for all a third rail is indefensible in a democracy. At the very least, we should be able to discuss and debate this without condemnation. Ultimately, justice for all will only come at the insistence of Palestinians and Israelis. American politicians should not be shutting down discussions about how to make that a reality or heeding the influence of deep-pocketed donors with one biased solution in mind.
It is alarming that many Democrats–who claim that their election in November is the only bulwark against existential threats to democracy–are nonetheless prepared to punish, if not criminalize, such discussion. Only escalated pressure on President Biden and Congress offers any hope to push back against suppression of dissent and the unceasing U.S. support for Israel’s war on Palestinians.