“The problem with the Middle East is that you can try to turn your back on it, but it won’t turn its back on you,” says Martin S. Indyk, former US ambassador to Israel. And it hasn’t: once again, Israelis and Palestinians are at war. With no cease-fire, let alone peace talks, in sight, and with Israel shelling and bombing Gaza while Hamas sends rockets into Israel, the death toll is bound to be very high. Yet both the caretaker Benjamin Netanyahu government in Tel Aviv and the Hamas leaders in Gaza may see benefit in keeping this war going. Wouldn’t be the first time political leaders preferred war to peace. (Some Israeli commentators only blame Hamas for the current fighting, seeing it in the context of Hamas’ longstanding rivalry with Fateh in the West Bank. Netanyahu thus gets a pass. See, for example, https://www.avimelamed.com/2021/05/12/the-israel-gaza-war-of-2021-what-really-lead-to-the-war/.)
The latest violence comes on the heels of two auspicious events: Netanyahu’s inability to form a new government, and a Human Rights Watch report that calls Israeli treatment of Palestinians “crimes against humanity” (https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution ). Netanyahu may only be a caretaker, but he is promising an intense military campaign while a raging extremist nationalist mob is attacking Palestinians in city streets. To some observers, the unfolding tragedy is a terrible twist on the story of Germany before the Holocaust.
We can argue all day, as children do, about who started this latest round of Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But assigning responsibility is futile: the root causes are what deserve attention, not the proximate causes. And those root causes are well known: the conflict between two nationalisms, the equally legitimate claims of Israeli Jews and Palestinians to territory; the violence of Israel’s superior military might that has led to an oppressive occupation; and the one-sided policies of US presidents in favor of legitimating the occupation with military aid and political support that every Israeli government has manipulated to keep the Palestinians down. Yes, both sides have resorted to terrorism over the years, but the overall contest for control has never been in doubt—not with Israel having received about $4 billion annually in US military aid since 2016, far more than any other US security partner. Those “bunker busters” you see being dropped by the Israeli air force on Hamas apartment buildings tell the story of disproportionate violence.
Donald Trump clearly shares a good deal of the blame for the current violence. (See my critiques: https://melgurtov.com/2018/02/01/post-195-the-middle-east-peace-process-a-cruel-joke/ and https://melgurtov.com/2020/08/26/post-271-the-israel-uae-agreement-good-for-a-few-bad-for-most/). His diplomacy, which he said “marked the dawn of a new Middle East” when four Arab countries initiated relations with Israel, was a transparent attempt to justify ignoring Palestinian concerns and winning votes at home. Trump supported Netanyahu’s pro-settlement policies, moved the US embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, and intervened in Israeli elections on behalf of the Israeli right wing—in sum, did everything he could to support a one-state “solution” (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/11/us/politics/biden-israel-palestinians.html). For peace with justice to happen in Israel, Biden needs to make a clean break, not just from the Israeli right wing and its hard-line, trigger-happy leader but also from traditional Democratic Party patrons of Israel.
The US has never been an honest broker in this conflict. Will the Biden administration be any different? Biden seems reluctant to say or do anything at this juncture, especially if it implies criticism of Israel. An experienced State Department deputy assistant secretary, Hadi Amr, has been dispatched to Israel, but at the UN the US representative refused to consider a Security Council resolution of concern. Meantime, there is no US ambassador in Jerusalem right now and no US consulate in East Jerusalem—in short, no US high-profile diplomatic presence to make contact with Israelis or Palestinians.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is often called intractable, when in fact there are plenty of ideas for achieving peace with justice. I cited one such idea in my book, Engaging Adversaries:
In 2011 a virtual who’s-who of the US foreign policy establishment endorsed . . . [the following] proposal that would be the basis for a Israel-Palestine settlement that the US could support. The essence of each point is: first, creation of a viable Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, subject only to minor land swaps; second, resolution of the Palestinian refugee problem on the basis of two states, two peoples, with assistance for their resettlement; third, support for a nonmilitarized, sovereign, and secure Palestine and a secure Israel, with a US-led multinational presence to oversee mutual security; fourth, division of Jerusalem into two sovereign neighborhoods, each controlling holy places that are accessible to both . . .
If political will were in good supply, we would witness two states living in peace and security. But equally necessary is revisiting, and dealing with, the root causes of this unending conflict.
In the Human Interest - Mel Gurtov 
Thanks for this one, My Esteemed Brother… I have posted it
I received a long heartfelt/tortured text from my Orthodox nephew first thing this morning, whose son is studying Torah from a bomb shelter in TelAviv. He and I never discuss Israeli politics. I can only offer my love, and concern for him and his boy. I express to him, my sadness for all of Creator’s beloveds in harms way, and for the madness that denies us ALL of our humanity.
Maximum respect for your assessment, for providing context, and for your willingness to weigh in… m
And then there are more layers… In about 1890s a contingent of respected rabbis was sent to what is now Israel to see if it was suitable for us to go there…The reply was simple but succinct: “The bride is beautiful but she is taken”.. Unlike many passages etc. that we argue ad nauseum that is a pretty clear sentence.. Also-one that you don’t hear outside Jewish households is that many Jews believe the verse that says we won’t return until the Messiah comes… Still waiting.. That IS still an issue. Also, modern politicians ignore the sons of Shem aspect to the battle… It is also a tribal rift of over 5,00 years old.. So- while agreeing with most of your assessment, the ancient nature of parts of the battle is entrenched in many Israeli souls… Not in mine. Just so you know, I have a lot of issues with the oppressed becoming the oppressors.. I even threw a racist,sexist kibbutziem man off my ranch once… My mother told me we are Jews who turn the other cheek……Don’t always follow my upbringing. Always up for in person conversation here…..Eric