In the 39 years since Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza, history has delivered a few fundamental lessons, which neither side at the moment is in any mood to absorb.
The most important lesson for Israel is that force does not work.
It can deliver some tactical advantages. The assassination of many of the leaders of Hamas, for example, was a severe blow to the movement. But did it kill it? Not even slightly. Hamas can still kill Israelis, and it has expanded its operations to winning elections.
The most important lesson for the Palestinians is that force does not work. 
It can deliver some tactical advantages. Resistance to occupation, at the moment, is popular. But has it ever threatened the existence of the Jewish state? Not for a second. And is it bringing the creation of an independent Palestinian state any closer? Not by an inch.
I can already hear supporters of the Palestinians and the Israelis protesting that they have tried making political concessions and have had them hurled back on a tide of blood. But the alternative to not trying again could be another generation of bloodshed, and who wants that?
If this crisis escalates further, Israel may well be tempted to topple the Hamas government. But what will happen after that? Would there be more or less chaos in the territories?
And Hamas may be tempted, if this crisis escalates, to kill Israeli civilians. But would that make the Israelis get out of Gaza? No: It would encourage them to stay longer, and to use more force.
Even if the leaders of Israel and the Palestinians agreed with this interpretation of the use of force over 40 years, it will not help this time round. The Gaza crisis is doomed to run its course, in the same way that Palestinians and Israelis are doomed to live alongside each other.
But eventually, their only chance of creating a decent future for their children is to make a political agreement about sharing the land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean that is acceptable to both sides.
To do that they will both have to recognise that peace has a price. Up to now, in all the years of negotiations, neither side has been prepared to pay what is needed in lost dreams and hard choices.
You cannot do peace on the cheap. But the alternative is much more costly, for everyone.
-BBC, Middle East
9 Responses to “The Price of Peace”
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Twitter: EstherCrawford
- @jeffreine that bridge gives me chills
- @jeffreine yep! and watched tv ... I'm pretty sure every night should end like that
- @soccerhaus it was pretty hilarious... then another couple came in and started making out too.. it never ended
July 11th, 2006 at 2:29 pm
Luann was a RN and her husband also works at the Hospital…..So many people have died that either work there or there close family members have suddenly dies in the last few years. It’s just really weird!
July 10th, 2006 at 7:37 pm
very well said~!
July 7th, 2006 at 2:46 pm
Yes–it seems that the forced displacement of so many Palestinian Arabs more or less created a nation. A common enemy will do that.
And I doubt that “the conversion of the Jews” will solve the problem. Christian nations don’t have a great history of tolerance, which is why Jews actually fared much better in Muslim nations than in Christian Europe until around 1949.
And every generation since the first of the Christian era has thought that it was the last because it saw the signs coming to pass. What are the odds that we’re the only ones who’re right? The beauty of Revelation is that it’s vague enough to be applied to almost any era.
July 7th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
I love your posts. Thanks for sharing. It’s interesting. Isn’t it ALSO interesting how everything that Revelations has said seems to just be falling into place? Not saying that Jesus will be coming tomorrow. No one knows the time or day, but He is DEF. coming soon!
July 7th, 2006 at 12:59 am
pb49r
I think I was the one that made the point that there was no “nation” of Palestine. Palestine was the name of a general area between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean Sea that has been controlled by various nations and empires, but from what I’ve been able to find out there was never a nation of Palestine.
Anyone living in this area is technically a Palestinian, so we have Jewish Palestinians and Arab Palestinians, since they both live in the area that used to be referred to as Palestine.
July 6th, 2006 at 6:28 pm
I think “jamminjim” has made a very interesting observation and the logical conclusion: it is time for the conflict to end. I read someone last week, who contended there was no such country as Palestine. There was a reference to Palestine for years, and it was occupied by both Jew and Arab, so that is not true. The Israelis have a right to the land; the arabs do not. BUT, they can justifiably claim a right, for in Ismael, they are Abraham’s children. The Jews and the Palestinian Arabs need to come to peace with each other, and they can at the foot of the Cross.
July 6th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
Interesting thought…if this conflict goes on much longer, a majority of the people fighting on both sides will have been born after it started.
Raised in hate…
July 6th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
I read this editorial earlier today on the BBC. I think it is rather balanced and accurate. Only when both sides, Israelis and Palestinians, decide that their ONLY goal in the conflict is peaceful co-existence will they believe unequivocally that aggression solves nothing.
July 6th, 2006 at 12:56 pm
To what degree to the political bases on both sides genuinely feel that they have a God-given right to occupy the whole territory, and to what degree is that notion co-opted by political opportunists? Put differently: how natural, and how artificial, is the religious component of the conflict?