There are still many questions mankind just can’t comprehend. For instance: When exactly did the universe begin? When will it end? What’s the last digit in pi? Why can’t there be peace between Israel and the Palestinians? All mysteries, and all irreconcilable at this juncture – the last one seemingly as difficult as the first three.
What separates the Middle East conflict from the three other topics is that the option to acquiesce to the demands of the Palestinian terrorists is always available to Israel. To some, bowing to the pressures of the Islamic world, the international community, and extreme leftists is the way to go. Considering that generations of Jews have grown up in the Jewish state not knowing a moment’s peace, such thinking is understandable.
But to the majority of Israelis, relinquishing the Jewish character of Israel, abandoning sovereignty after 2,000 years, and living in a Palestinian state is unthinkable. They argue that decades-long peace talks have led to nothing more than Israeli concessions, more terrorist attacks, and a recalcitrant enemy that continues to name locations and institutions after murderers of innocent children.
The Madrid Conference, Oslo I, Oslo II, Annapolis, The Road Map, the Arab Initiative, the Saudi Peace Plan, and countless others were all recipes containing the same ingredients: Israel should relinquish territory and, in return, receive peace and recognition. Hasn’t happened yet. Each conference is an abysmal failure since this age-old conflict is less about land and more about Islam.
By Koranic decree, Islam cannot surrender land it considers dar al-Islam. It can be argued, therefore, that even if Israel were to offer the Palestinians all of its present land less three blocks of Tel Aviv, the deal would be turned down.
Add in the nuclear-bound puppeteers of terrorism, the Ayatollah’s of Iran; Hezbollah waiting to be turned loose in the North; an emboldened Assad in Syria; and Hamas straining at the bit for war with Israel, and any scenario of a binding peace with the Palestinians is a pipe dream going forward.
For the questions would always remain: A binding peace with whom? Could Israel ever relinquish a military presence in Judea and Samaria? Would the Palestinians ever accept less? Could any Israeli government survive ceding part of Jerusalem?
How about the thorniest question of all, the right of return? Abbas not only insists that all Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war return; he wants their prodigy back in “Palestine” too – even though they number in the millions. Could Israel afford to do that and continue to be the homeland of the Jewish people? Not a chance.
Yet despite all this history and cold hard facts, Trump, the most pro Israel president since Israel’s founding will soon – in an apparent right of passage for an American president –unveil his “peace plan.”
But not to worry, even before its disclosure, the Palestinians have already rejected any and all proposals of peace from Washington.
Leaders such as Jordan’s King Abdullah of Jordan have urged President Trump “not to reveal the details of his much-touted peace plan so as not to destabilize the entire Middle East.” One can only surmise the king hasn’t noticed how unstable the region is already.
In the meantime, in every aspect of Palestinian culture, hatred of Jews and Israel is inseminated into the youth. Until that stops, outside attempts at peace talks are futile – and this conflict will remain irreconcilable.