18 mei 2021
Israël was born with a sin.
In 1948, as a result of a war between Israel and its Arab neighbours, some 750.000 Palestinans fled the war zone and left their homes and grounds behind. The Israeli authorities never allowed them to return. Since then they and their descendants (6 million people by now) live in refugee camps.
In a fair world these refugees would be allowed to return to their own territories. However this is not a fair world and such a return would destroy the Jewish character of the Israeli state. Plan A is not realistic in our world.
Hence, we need a Plan B. Plan B entails the creation of two states: a Palestinian state next to a Jewish state. And awaiting the realisation of Plan B Israel continues its efforts to occupy additional territories on the Westbank, which should be the core of the Palestinian state.
It should be clear from these facts that Israel is not really worth to be called a “Rechtsstaat” and is also not a full democracy. However, Israel positions itself as the only democracy which respects the rule of law in the Middle East and claims therefore the support from the West against other, destructieve, forces in the Middle East. And many in the West follow this representation and forget Israel’s sins.
Some in the West refuse to support the Palestinian case because terrorist groups like Hamas en Hezbollah and a rogue state called Iran, support the Palestinian case. But who can blame the Palestinians for supporting Hamas or Hezbollah ? Is there an organization in the West who fully supports their case ? The Palestinians do not have a choice: it is not that they can choose between support from Hamas or from the West. Today, their only option is to search support from Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran.
Israel has a right to defend itself against attacks by Hamas. But Palestinians also have rights and currently only Hamas is standing up for these rights.
Some refer to the European Union and state that they should use their “soft-power”. Unfortunately the word is terribly accurate. This power is so soft that it is irrelevant.
The West should create credible pressure on Israel to (1) stop the occupation of Palestinian territories and (2) to make the two state solution a hard realiteit.
And in the absence of sufficient pressure to realise plan B, plan C should be implemented: The full development of a Palestinian nation and state independent of a territory.