Allison Kaplan Sommer reports from Israel that the “man in the street” has given up worrying about Palestinian reaction to self-defense measures: “They see that when we try to make nice and compromise we get terror attacks. And when we’re tough and aggressive we get terror attacks. Nothing we do seems to lower the motivation to slaughter Israeli civilians — men, women, or children — and in the case of Hamas, to see the state of Israel destroyed.” And further:
Clearly, the Israeli public seems to have all but given up on figuring out how to make the right moves in order to nudge the Palestinians towards wanting a peaceful two-state solution. They’ve given up. That’s why there’s generally support for Sharon’s unilateral disengagement plan — otherwise known as the “We’re So Disgusted with the Palestinians, We’re Getting the Hell Away From Them and Building a Big Wall” plan. And if they try to wage war from the other side of the wall, they’ll get the same treatment as Yassin.This, from a center-left perspective. Even before reading this piece, it occurred to me that whatever solution, if any, is ever found to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it will not look as one expected ten years ago, with an integrated joint economy, and relatively free and open movement across borders. Rather, thanks to the venomous hatred and terror coming from the Palestinian side, it will be an armed peace, with the Palestinians closed off from Israel by a fence and border guards.
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