Thomas Friedman the famous NYT journalist has finally concluded that the idea of the two state solution in Israel is dead and it is time to accept the one state solution. This is a hopeful sign of progress as once the reality is accepted steps can be changed to tackle the changes necessary to reform the one state. Now it is time to launch the struggle for equal rights for Palestinians and Jews in the one state. Gideon Levy the author of the article below believes the BDS Movement is the way to non -violently goad Israel along this route. http://commondreams.org/views/2016/02/14/welcome-one-state-club-thomas-friedman Quotes from Friedman's NYT op ed which prompted Levy's article . http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/10/opinion/the-many-mideast-solutions.html?_r=0
Every US president has felt an obligation to go through the exercise of trying to mediate a peace solution in Israel since at least Nixon. Despite almost constant posturing to the contrary, this has never been a realistic goal. Both of these groups believe all of the land in that area rightfully belongs to them. For Israel to capitulate would be the end of their nation and their 1900+ year quest to return home as prophecied in the Old Testament scriptures. The more likely scenario - not very likely at all - is that the Palestinians get tired of pursuing this fight and move to Jordan or Syria or somewhere. Baring any sort of voluntary settlement, which clearly does not appear to be forthcoming, the answer here will someday be for one of the two sides to militarily wipe out the other and establish a permanent one state solution over the entire combined area. Until then, there is not likely to be any peace.
It's amazing to me that in the 21st century humanity is still fighting over lines drawn in the sand or land borders that have moved throughout Earths billions of years or at some point land that didn't even exist. Science has proven for all intents and purposes modern humans on Earth are due to a series of lucky accidents. Earth itself a huge list of happy accidents to take us to now. And this is what we argue about, land and rights. If the universe could talk it would ask us, what are rights and why do you have them? Now if you say, hang on a minute we're not Happy Accidents. It's all created by intelligent design by a creator!!! Well then I'm sure your creator is pissed off that he gave all of this to us and all we do is argue about rights and land. Why would the creator makes us fight and argue over land and rights if he created it and gave it to all of us? Or he only gave it to a few are created equal and god loves some of his children more than others. In that case humanity should unite and declare war on said god to end his unfair and unjust rule. Until we see ourselves as one race, the human race, who's the intelligent species right now (by accident or deign doesn't really matter) of this planet and act as loving custodians of it and each other we(humanity) gets what we deserve. A small asteroid threatening to wipe out humanity might not be a bad idea to unite the planet. Global warming hasn't done the trick.
[Premium Post] How intellectually depraved must one be to read a Thomas Friedman article for insight? Is there any living writer who is as banal and full of more platitudes than Tommy Boy? He is the master of pouncing on the obvious and acting as though he made a breakthrough discovery. Does anyone recall his landmark piece about how he realized technology was changing when he didn't check in online on Southwest Airlines and ended up in the C boarding group? He is an old fuddy duddy who realizes things years after the rest of us. He is the perfect prototype voter for FBI Suspect Hillary Clinton! Old, out of touch, romanticizes about the 90's, and fat.
All this astronomical stuff happens over billions of years, humans only get seventy-five and based on where they're dropped are either snap-chatting or throwing Molotovs at tanks by puberty. All other animals, even those in the same species and kin, kill each other based eye contact or scent. So fighting over the one resource, that, in the 80% of the world that doesn't have 200 years of stable infrastructure and continually evolving education and technology, actually allows people to grow food, cultivate mineral and energy resources and develop political and residential boundaries upon which property rights and individual freedoms are built isn't that irrational.
Thomas Friedman? LOL glynch? LOL It's amazing to think that in the 1930's and 1940's, tens of thousands of Jews fled Europe as refugees. They fled to avoid persecution at the hands of the Germans. Then, as they make it to Israel, they are attacked for being Jewish. What's even more amazing, is that there are people who hate the Israelis because they successfully defended themselves - multiple times.
In Israel, there is probably no one in the world more made fun of by all parties in the entire political spectrum for being clueless than Friedman.
Good luck. Tom Friedman may not be well thought of in Israel, but he is very influential wrt to American's opinion concerning Israel. When the Jewish Israelis start losing the Tom Friedmans it is the beginning of the end for their oppression of the Palestinians.
It's really astonishing how the reaction to these two things is strikingly different particularly (but not only) among Americans: - Israelis should go back to the countries they immigrated from, if they immigrated. - Palestinians should re-locate to countries they have never ever been to or have any roots in.
Two state solution is not dead, the truth is a viable two state solution is not on offer from Israel. What's on offer is a non-contiguous country, stripped of water resources, heavily policed by Israel, without return of land that settlers have illegally (according to Israeli law) occupied, without East Jerusalem, and under the condition that Palestinians recognize a COUNTRY as Jewish. It's bad enough we have Islamic countries, now they want Palestinains to legitimize a Jewish state in the region. This is offer gets them a non-sovereign state which is on the path to failure from day 1 which would serve as nothing but a cheap labor factory for Israel. It's ridiculous of course, but Israel has the support of the most powerful country on earth so it has the upper hand in negotiations. Hamas of course will eternally act like they will not settle for less than the whole thing, but by now there have been several leaks from high up officials and everyone in the world following this knows that they would accept a serious two state solution where they retain sovereignty over a contiguous West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem with UN troops supervising the border. Think seriously about this situation. Israel owns all of the 200+ nuclear weapons in this otherwise nuclear weapon free zone (other than the ones the US has placed around us of course). Israel is simply going to remain this way as long as it threatens the 350 million Arabs around it and befriends the country which colonizes most of them. We need to get to a point where Arab citizens and Israeli citizens realize that they are each others' best friends in the quest for a sovereign, stable, thriving region free of foreign bases. Doesn't look close judging by the behavior on both sides.
Good. Why do you hate the USA so much? You know what stands in the way of that? The death cult you keep defending.
Bingo!!!! If there is no two state solution it is because one side does not want to negotiate. They just want to kill the other side.
