In many respects I still do believe this to be the preferred solution, an independent Palestinian nation state, not a homeland, living peacefully alongside a reformed Israel.
Perhaps such a solution would only be possible under a much wider concept to the global problems and, in particular, those of the working-class, that solution being socialism. As we are not even considering an ideological change, a solution within the narrow parameters of capitalism will be difficult enough, we must look at what is attainable.
Being my preferred solution, which it is, the question now which must be asked with so much very dirty water having gone under the bridge, with gallons more flowing every day, is such a two-state solution possible? There was a point where a sizeable majority of Israelis and perhaps most Palestinians would have gone for the two-state solution. However, since 7th October 2023 this situation appears to have fluctuated and now a sizable minority of Israelis would oppose such a once highly preferred remedy, previously it was a tiny minority opposing a two-state solution. Opinions seem to be swinging towards the right-wing aim of a ‘greater Israel’ and many who once supported the two-state idea no longer do so. Of course, Hamas and their allies who carried out the attacks on Israel on 7th October are opposed to such a remedy as they favour a single state of Palestine and do not want Jews to live in such a state if they are honest which would be a first. Just as the Jewish far-right, even neo-Nazi right, in the Knesset, some in the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, want a greater Israel to house only Jews, the Hamas gang want something similar welcoming only Palestinians. I believe a small majority of Israeli citizens would still favour a two-state solution but that majority is much smaller than it once was. The same applies to the Palestinians with, I believe, a small majority on their side still supporting such a remedy to the present hell!
I always supported a two-state solution on the grounds that if the state of Israel were ever to be forcibly ‘wiped off the map’ as is the aim of Hamas it would make the Jewish people the nomads of the world once again. For centuries this was the case and during those hundreds of years, beginning as far as I could find, in ‘Clifford’s Tower’ York during the 12th century Jews were persecuted to death then, centuries later, resulting in the Holocaust of the Nazi regime in Germany’s Third Reich years. If the state of Israel were to be dissolved a return to this nomadic existence remains a distinct possibility in my view and history repeating itself an ever-present danger. But by the state of Israel it is envisaged not to include the West Bank and Gaza perhaps somewhere between the 1967 borders and the present-day Israel excluding the West Bank, larger than before 1967 but smaller than including the occupied territories.
I always supported a two-state solution on the grounds that if the state of Israel were ever to be forcibly ‘wiped off the map’ as is the aim of Hamas it would make the Jewish people the nomads of the world once again. For centuries this was the case and during those hundreds of years, beginning as far as I could find, in ‘Clifford’s Tower’ York during the 12th century Jews were persecuted to death then, centuries later, resulting in the Holocaust of the Nazi regime in Germany’s Third Reich years. If the state of Israel were to be dissolved a return to this nomadic existence remains a distinct possibility in my view and history repeating itself an ever-present danger. But by the state of Israel it is envisaged not to include the West Bank and Gaza perhaps somewhere between the 1967 borders and the present-day Israel excluding the West Bank, larger than before 1967 but smaller than including the occupied territories.
With the neo-Nazi right-wing policies voiced in the Knesset which are, unfortunately, filtering down to the population who as a whole appear to be changing attitudes, the former tormentors of the Jewish people taught the forebearers of the modern Israeli state well. Today we hear neo-Nazi language spoken by ordinary Jewish people in the streets of Israeli cities against the Palestinians, language like “I don’t care where they go just get them out of Israel” referring to the Palestinian people and Israel to include the West Bank and Gaza. Any similar language against the Jews is spoken only, to my knowledge, in most cases by the likes of Hamas and those who support this terror gang, but with the daily bombing and genocide these attitudes and opinions may well be expanding among Palestinians. Many who consider themselves socialists in the West voice support for Hamas, and for the life of me I cannot understand why? As a socialist republican myself I’m under no illusions that me and my ideas would have any chance of survival under a Hamas Government any more than under a Nazi Government. Between them Hamas and the right-wing swing in Israel are making the once idealised two-state solution look less and less likely by the day. In a Palestine governed by Hamas, socialists and socialism based on the writings of Karl Marx would not last five minutes. To me, Hamas and the Netanyahu gang are two sides of a dirty Verdi Greased coin.
At risk of being accused of anti-Semitism, a term which has lost its true meaning in recent years as it is misused by the likes of Keir Starmer, British Prime Minister, and Rishi Sunak before him along with many Western leaders, I’ll chance it. On Monday 12th June I watched a programme on RTE One titled Louis Theroux: The Settlers which the intrepid reporter visited the ‘occupied west bank’ and Gaza in Palestine. Since the ‘Six Day War’ of 1967 Israel have occupied the West Bank claiming it to be now part of a ‘Greater Israel’. According to one Israeli soldier; “if you are in the West Bank, you are in Israel”. In 1967 Israel were attacked by several Arab countries in an attempt to wipe the Jewish state off the map. The Arab countries failed as Israel walked all over them in just six days. The Israelis were right to defend themselves and they proved beyond doubt who are the military power in the area, they are. In 1973 the Arab countries had another go and once again lost, this time Israel’s victory was a little less convincing – no six-day hammering but still a military victory – and Egypt decided to begin talks with the Israelis. This culminated in the Camp David Accords signed in 1978 between Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat, and Israeli Prime Minister, Menachem Begin, witnessed by US President Jimmy Carter. These accords led to the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty. However, despite this agreement between Israel and Egypt, the latter finally agreeing to recognise the Israeli state, the Israelis continued to occupy the West Bank in clear breach of so-called international law. The Palestinians in the West Bank supposedly have limited, very, very limited autonomy. This limited autonomy is regularly ignored by the Israeli Army.
In the RTE programme Louis Theroux asked the Israeli occupiers, the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces), and settlers – Israeli Jews and from elsewhere in the world who set up settlements on Palestinian land – about rights for the Palestinian people? A settler born and bred in Texas, USA, claims the occupied territories “are not occupied but our lands” meaning Jewish, not Arab land. One Rabbi said we want all of the land, “Israel, Gaza, Lebanon and beyond as a greater Israel and rid these lands of camel riders” meaning Arabs. It should be noticed this rabbi introduced “Lebanon” into the list of lands the Israelis claim. “Lebanon” is an independent nation state so could invasion be what this religious man is advocating? Echoes of the Nazi claims on Czechoslovakia and Poland perhaps? Another right-wing Israeli woman spoke words which would not have been out of place in the mouth of Magda Goebbels, the wife of Nazi Propaganda Minister, Joeseph Goebbels, who hated the Jews and worshiped Adolf Hitler. The difference of course was the Israeli woman, Danniella Weis, preached exactly the same Nazi hate towards the Palestinian people as did Magda Goebbels rant about Jews. She even refused, when asked, to recognise the “Palestinians as a distinct people with distinct cultures and traditions”. She even refused to recognise them, reading between the lines, as people in much the same way as the Third Reich refused to recognise Jews as human beings. Daniella Weis argued for the Gaza Strip to be incorporated, settled, into the state of Israel; “using the same methods which founded the state of Israel in the first place, build homes for Jews in Gaza”. When asked; “what about the Palestinian people?” she responded, “they can go anywhere they like but not here” effectively making the Palestinians the ‘nomads of the world’ my one-time argument and fear for the Jewish people should Israel cease to exist! The question I would ask Daniella Weis and maybe Louis Theroux was not allowed to would be; ‘do you not think the way treatment is handed out to the Palestinian people by the Israeli Government is any different to that which the Nazis in Germany handed down to your forebearers?’ ‘Are you any different to the Nazis, would you like death camps for the Palestinians as the Nazis built for Jewish people?’ Emphasising the criminality and evil policies of the Nazis which must never be repeated against any people I would be interested to hear Daniella Weis’s response to such a question which purposely borders on being anti-Semitic.
My detractors may claim Jews cannot be Nazis, after all they had ‘six million’ of their number murdered in cold blood by the Third Reich, which is true and lessons should be learnt, but have they? To this erroneous assertion I would point out that Nazism is an ideology which was born in Germany but there is no reason other countries, including those who were the victims of this evil regime in Germany, cannot follow such ideology. It could be argued Juan Peron, President of Argentina, welcomed Nazi war criminals on the run to form the ‘Fourth Reich’ in the South American country, thus allowing the ideology to continue. Just as the German NSDAP, Nazi Party, had one ethnic enemy, the Jews, so the Israelis who practice similar ideological practices have the Palestinians in their crosshairs. Same ideology, different ethnic enemy.
At risk of being accused of anti-Semitism, a term which has lost its true meaning in recent years as it is misused by the likes of Keir Starmer, British Prime Minister, and Rishi Sunak before him along with many Western leaders, I’ll chance it. On Monday 12th June I watched a programme on RTE One titled Louis Theroux: The Settlers which the intrepid reporter visited the ‘occupied west bank’ and Gaza in Palestine. Since the ‘Six Day War’ of 1967 Israel have occupied the West Bank claiming it to be now part of a ‘Greater Israel’. According to one Israeli soldier; “if you are in the West Bank, you are in Israel”. In 1967 Israel were attacked by several Arab countries in an attempt to wipe the Jewish state off the map. The Arab countries failed as Israel walked all over them in just six days. The Israelis were right to defend themselves and they proved beyond doubt who are the military power in the area, they are. In 1973 the Arab countries had another go and once again lost, this time Israel’s victory was a little less convincing – no six-day hammering but still a military victory – and Egypt decided to begin talks with the Israelis. This culminated in the Camp David Accords signed in 1978 between Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat, and Israeli Prime Minister, Menachem Begin, witnessed by US President Jimmy Carter. These accords led to the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty. However, despite this agreement between Israel and Egypt, the latter finally agreeing to recognise the Israeli state, the Israelis continued to occupy the West Bank in clear breach of so-called international law. The Palestinians in the West Bank supposedly have limited, very, very limited autonomy. This limited autonomy is regularly ignored by the Israeli Army.
In the RTE programme Louis Theroux asked the Israeli occupiers, the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces), and settlers – Israeli Jews and from elsewhere in the world who set up settlements on Palestinian land – about rights for the Palestinian people? A settler born and bred in Texas, USA, claims the occupied territories “are not occupied but our lands” meaning Jewish, not Arab land. One Rabbi said we want all of the land, “Israel, Gaza, Lebanon and beyond as a greater Israel and rid these lands of camel riders” meaning Arabs. It should be noticed this rabbi introduced “Lebanon” into the list of lands the Israelis claim. “Lebanon” is an independent nation state so could invasion be what this religious man is advocating? Echoes of the Nazi claims on Czechoslovakia and Poland perhaps? Another right-wing Israeli woman spoke words which would not have been out of place in the mouth of Magda Goebbels, the wife of Nazi Propaganda Minister, Joeseph Goebbels, who hated the Jews and worshiped Adolf Hitler. The difference of course was the Israeli woman, Danniella Weis, preached exactly the same Nazi hate towards the Palestinian people as did Magda Goebbels rant about Jews. She even refused, when asked, to recognise the “Palestinians as a distinct people with distinct cultures and traditions”. She even refused to recognise them, reading between the lines, as people in much the same way as the Third Reich refused to recognise Jews as human beings. Daniella Weis argued for the Gaza Strip to be incorporated, settled, into the state of Israel; “using the same methods which founded the state of Israel in the first place, build homes for Jews in Gaza”. When asked; “what about the Palestinian people?” she responded, “they can go anywhere they like but not here” effectively making the Palestinians the ‘nomads of the world’ my one-time argument and fear for the Jewish people should Israel cease to exist! The question I would ask Daniella Weis and maybe Louis Theroux was not allowed to would be; ‘do you not think the way treatment is handed out to the Palestinian people by the Israeli Government is any different to that which the Nazis in Germany handed down to your forebearers?’ ‘Are you any different to the Nazis, would you like death camps for the Palestinians as the Nazis built for Jewish people?’ Emphasising the criminality and evil policies of the Nazis which must never be repeated against any people I would be interested to hear Daniella Weis’s response to such a question which purposely borders on being anti-Semitic.
My detractors may claim Jews cannot be Nazis, after all they had ‘six million’ of their number murdered in cold blood by the Third Reich, which is true and lessons should be learnt, but have they? To this erroneous assertion I would point out that Nazism is an ideology which was born in Germany but there is no reason other countries, including those who were the victims of this evil regime in Germany, cannot follow such ideology. It could be argued Juan Peron, President of Argentina, welcomed Nazi war criminals on the run to form the ‘Fourth Reich’ in the South American country, thus allowing the ideology to continue. Just as the German NSDAP, Nazi Party, had one ethnic enemy, the Jews, so the Israelis who practice similar ideological practices have the Palestinians in their crosshairs. Same ideology, different ethnic enemy.
The Nazis in Germany had many cultural and political opponents most of whom were murdered, Gypsies, trade unionists, communists, socialist etc but only one ethnic enemy, the Jews. So much so were their hatred of Jewish people they recruited Arabs into the Waffen SS, granted to be used as cannon fodder, but nevertheless playing on the Arab hatred of Jews some Arab groups donned the SS uniform. At that time there was no reason why the Arabs should hate the Jews they were and are both, after all, Semite peoples. Today, with people like Daniella Weis spreading hatred of the Palestinians in true Nazi style, they have good reason to dislike Jews yet, generally, no anti-Jewish – as opposed to anti-Israeli – sentiment outside groups like Hamas appears to have really taken hold. Most appear able to see the difference between the far-right political thugs in the Knesset and the general Israeli population. Unfortunately the general Israeli population appear to slowly swinging behind the likes of Daniella Weis and the far-right religious men! Hopefully those groups inside Israel who are anti-everything these far-right political representatives and religious nutters stand for can stop this move to such ideas and plug the leak stopping it becoming a flood.
The situation in Palestine now makes me wonder if the two-state solution is any longer viable, let alone doable? When I heard these what can only be described as ‘Jewish Nazis’ including so-called religious men I felt, much to my shame, a feeling of hatred towards Daniella Weis and the Jewish Rabbis matched only by my feelings of hatred for the German Nazis and neo-Nazis on today’s streets. The Israeli soldiers bullying Palestinian people even in the so-called ‘autonomous areas’ looked very similar to those German murderers of the Einsatzgruppen (task forces) in Nazi occupied Europe rounding up Jewish People. To anybody who has watched documentaries on Nazi Germany and listened to some of the women, like Magda Goebbels, it becomes clear people like Daniella Weis is an Israeli Jewish equivalent. Very little if anything can be found between their hate filled discourse in the Third Reich and the crap coming out of Daniella Weis’s mouth. Israel is in grave danger of becoming a Nazi style state and should that happen, accusations of anti-Semitism or not, all bets are off.
The situation in Palestine now makes me wonder if the two-state solution is any longer viable, let alone doable? When I heard these what can only be described as ‘Jewish Nazis’ including so-called religious men I felt, much to my shame, a feeling of hatred towards Daniella Weis and the Jewish Rabbis matched only by my feelings of hatred for the German Nazis and neo-Nazis on today’s streets. The Israeli soldiers bullying Palestinian people even in the so-called ‘autonomous areas’ looked very similar to those German murderers of the Einsatzgruppen (task forces) in Nazi occupied Europe rounding up Jewish People. To anybody who has watched documentaries on Nazi Germany and listened to some of the women, like Magda Goebbels, it becomes clear people like Daniella Weis is an Israeli Jewish equivalent. Very little if anything can be found between their hate filled discourse in the Third Reich and the crap coming out of Daniella Weis’s mouth. Israel is in grave danger of becoming a Nazi style state and should that happen, accusations of anti-Semitism or not, all bets are off.
Let us all hope those opposed to the Israeli fascists inside Israel prevail over the ideas of Netanyahu and his far-right colleagues. The building of a Palestinian nation state is imperative and must begin now whether the Knesset like it or not. I must stress the description of this Palestinian state advocated by French President, Emmanuel Macron; of a “demilitarised Palestinian state that recognises Israel” is not good enough. Such a state would not qualify as a ‘nation state’ because one such criteria, under present conditions, is for any nation state to have the ability to defend its national territory. A “demilitarised Palestinian state” would be unable to fill such criteria, though recognition of Israel, not to include the West Bank and Gaza, is important if both peoples are to have any future. In my view Hamas should not be included in this new Palestinian nation state or any other equally deranged religious groups like them. The same applies to Netanyahu in a new peace-seeking Israel, him and his cronies must not be involved. Moreover they should be facing trials for war crimes. Failure to deliver this soon will mean the end of the ‘two state solution’ and any hope for both peoples in the region I fear permanently!
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| Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist. |
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