Are 'we' defeated? The Israel-Palestinian Affair

21st century humanity has yet to see peace in this part of the world. Though we have seen Bosnia be ravaged in a way not seen since the Second World War; it is now at ‘peace’, though losing a generation in the process, whether it was with the cost of their lives or their sanity. There is an old Chinese adage, “may you live in interesting times”; it was meant as a curse.

We certainly continue to live in interesting times.

I have been considering the following:

- Decline in American hegemony
- Israel’s weakening economy
- Israel’s considerable lower birth rate especially in comparison to Palestinian Israelis
- Increase in specifically Jewish criticism of Israeli policies in and out of Palestine
- Growth of anti-Israel sentiment in the political scene among the civilian population
- Israel as only being a state for the Jewish peoples contradicting values of democracy

The last two points are crucial. Though a two-state solution is often put forward, it is a shame serious negotiations have not commenced for the sake of Israel itself. Israel is not a theocracy but it is a state which was engineered on Zionist principles. 

Though this may not be the first time a nation has risen to the detriment of another, it is still extremely unique. It is unique in the manner it was created by yesterday's empire for a people foreign to its lands with total disregard for the native Palestinian populous.

Palestinians have got nothing to lose; they have the last 100 years as stamina for what they are currently going through. However, the attitude among the Jewish peoples themselves is changing within Israel and outside of it.

Many Israelis themselves are becoming more and more sceptical of their Government's policies and should you couple this with decreasing migration rates into Israel the demography of Israel will change over the next 25 years. The possibility of a one-state solution with both Jewish and Palestinian candidates vying for election may be inevitable.

The road will not be easy, it is likely to come with many more lives lost, mainly Palestinian lives, considering the dramatic rise of the Israeli Right in recent years.

Though the Palestinians maybe suffering a slow death, with little or no food or medicine, the very nature of the human need to continue living, to be resilient, doesn’t make them defeated. It appears suffocating and pulverising the Palestinians has failed.

There exists the hope of millions around the world for peace, people who know that for the sake of a secure Israel and our moral imperatives towards the Palestinians, that their hope cannot be defeated, as well as their principles of justice which is supposed to be the cornerstone of our civilised democracies.

This hope has a strong foundation with a blatant truth, a truth which is the reality of the existence of each other. An other which is not going to be pushed into the Mediterranean. Yet, peace continues to elude a few powerful men.

One wonders short of a Palestinian genocide, if a two-state solution is not reached sooner rather than later does Israel risk becoming the 1st ‘developed’ failed state?