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When Magical Th inking On Israel Meets Reality

Is the Zionist goal to crush the Palestinians or accommodate them?

8

January 18 • 2018

jn

being responsible for
advocating an autonomy
as many as 3 million
plan, told the New York
Palestinians.
Times. Views like his are
The end of the
being driven in part by the
Palestinian Authority
fact that Prime Minister
would mean no more
Benjamin Netanyahu, who
cooperation between
has long kept his most
its security forces and
fervent pro-settlement
the Israel Defense
coalition partners in
Forces, an arrange-
check, is feeling politi-
ment which has been
cally restrained to do so
effective in keeping
now as he may soon face
a lid on violence in
indictment on corruption
the territories. And
charges.
Jerusalem is not call-
Mainstream Jewish
ing on the U.S. to cut
organizations here have
off all aid to UNRWA
always supported a two-
President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence deliver a statement on
(the U.N. Relief and
state solution and continue Jerusalem | Dec. 6, 2017.
Works Agency), as
to do so. They point out
emotionally satisfy-
that the alternatives are
Palestinian leaders, despite their very
ing as that would be in putting an end
either a Jewish state that is not demo-
public anger with the White House,
to an organization that, in supporting
cratic (even considered apartheid) or a
know there can be no peace process
more than 5 million Palestinian refu-
democratic state doomed to no longer
without the U.S. and that “once the plan
gees, is hostile to Israel and perpetuates
be a Jewish state once it becomes a
is revealed, it will speak for itself.”
Palestinian dependency — and the con-
Palestinian majority.
Klein said that when he had lunch
flict itself. But Israeli leaders realize the
Perhaps surprisingly, among the
with Greenblatt at the White House a
critics of a one-state solution is
few weeks ago, “he wasn’t sure what the immediate result would be chaos.
President Trump may be comfort-
Morton Klein, president of the Zionist
plan is.”
able with an approach of “Ready. Fire.
Organization of America, the group
In recent days the talk has been less
Aim,” but the Mideast conflict is far too
perceived as among the most fervently
about a two-state peace plan and more
complex for simple solutions that lack
pro-Netanyahu, and chiefly funded by
about a one-state solution, a shocking
nuance and thorough planning.
hawkish businessman and philanthro-
reversal in Mideast discussions. And on
Yossi Klein Halevi, the Israeli jour-
pist Sheldon Adelson.
the Palestinian side, a one-state solution
nalist and author of Like Dreamers:
“I am totally, unequivocally opposed
has a very different meaning, namely
to annexing lands where Palestinians
dropping the drive for Palestinian state- The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers
Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a
live in the West Bank without offering
hood and calling for equal voting rights
Nation, pointed out the “dubious prem-
them the right to vote,” Klein told me
in one democratic state for both Arabs
this week.
and Jews. It sounds appealing, so simple ise of one-state right-wingers that Israel
can unilaterally determine its fate, with
He favors a plan that would cede
and presumably appealing to liberal
a right of return only for Jews.
Palestinian areas in the West Bank to
democrats everywhere. Which is why
“Both the left and the right think they
Jordan and Gaza to Egypt. But neither
it poses a real threat to Israel, since the
Jordan nor Egypt seems at all interested demographic reality in time would be an can impose reality,” he told me, “but the
Mideast has a will of its own and a one-
in such an arrangement.
Israel that is not a Jewish state.
state solution will be a no-state solu-
“It’s impossible to make a deal with the
Adding to the zeal of Greater Israel
tion.” Hard-liners have “failed to inter-
Palestinians because their goal is Israel’s
advocates these days is the fact that,
nalize that a key goal of Zionism was
destruction and they’ve refused to nego-
given complex Mideast realities, includ-
to teach the Jewish people a politics of
tiate, time and again,” Klein said. He has
ing deep concern about a nuclear Iran
realism, to deal with real dilemmas and
had discussions with Jason Greenblatt,
and diminishing support for Abbas
unpalatable choices. Zionism was to
Trump’s chief Mideast negotiator, he
and the Palestinians, key Arab states
cure us of the politics of fantasy,” Klein
added, and told him that the only chance are less confrontational about Israel.
Halevi concluded.
to resolve the standoff is for Trump to
Saudi Arabia has not pushed back sig-
Indeed, Israelis reflecting on Theodor
tell the Palestinians “the jig is up — no
nificantly against the U.S. recognition of
more U.S. money for you, and we’ll sup-
Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Neither has Herzl’s famous statement, “If you will it,
it is no dream,” must determine whether
port Israel publicly and privately in any
Egypt, which, behind the scenes, was
the ultimate Zionist goal is to crush
and every way unless you change your
informing popular media personalities
one’s Arab neighbors or accommodate
mind and come to the table.”
last week to downplay the importance
them. One Israeli’s fantasy is another’s
And Greenblatt’s response? “He
of Jerusalem to the Palestinian cause.
nightmare.
acknowledges that the Palestinians are
But at some point, even ideologues
Which Zionist dream is in jeopardy
not acting in an appropriate manner.
must deal with practical realities. Those
and which is being realized? •
He understands they have acted atro-
on the left who advocate two states for
ciously. And he says he will bring this
two peoples must explain how Israelis
Gary Rosenblatt is the editor and publisher of the
viewpoint to the president.”
would be secure with a Palestinian
NY Jewish Week where this essay was first pub-
The Jerusalem Post last week cited a
state next door. Those on the right who
lished.
senior White House official saying that
call for annexation must account for

OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PHOTO BY D. MYLES CULLEN

I

t’s not hard to see why Israel’s trans-
portation minister, Yisrael Katz,
has proposed naming a train sta-
tion in Jerusalem’s Old City in honor
of President Trump. For Katz and
his Likud party, and for many other
Israelis who felt insecure, at best, under
President Obama for eight years, Trump
has been a breath of fresh air. (Not hot
air as he has been for many American
Jews.)
Given Israelis’ per-
spective, they might
want to rename the
Western Wall “Trump
Tower East.” That’s
because many Israelis
are thrilled to see our
president as willing to
buck long-held beliefs
Gary Rosenblatt
about Mideast peace
efforts that have shown
few results since the
Oslo Accords more
than 24 years ago. Chief among those
beliefs was the U.S.’ role as trusted
mediator, coaxing and prodding both
the Palestinians and Israelis to the
negotiating table and trying valiantly
to make each side feel valued in equal
measure — regardless of the fact that it
is Israel that has made every overture
for peace and the Palestinians who
have turned them down; and that it
is Israeli civilians who have been the
target of countless terror attacks from
Palestinians honored by the leaders of
the Palestinian Authority as “martyrs”
for their murderous acts.
Then along comes Donald Trump
and announces that Jerusalem is indeed
the capital of the state of Israel, that he
plans to move the U.S. embassy from Tel
Aviv to Jerusalem and, further, seems
prepared to cut off significant funding
for the Palestinian Authority.
Bolstered by such bold public indi-
cations of White House support for
Israel, members of the right-leaning
Netanyahu coalition have been trying
to take advantage of the new reality in
Washington, like calling for annexation
of the West Bank and making increas-
ingly vocal their preference for a one-
state solution that would deny voting
rights to Palestinians.
Such magical thinking reflects a
return to the dream of a Greater Israel
— without dealing with the reality of
overseeing the lives of 2 to 3 million
Palestinians. “I would never give citizen-
ship to the masses of the Arab popula-
tion in Judea and Samaria,” Yoav Kisch,
a Likud member of the Knesset who is