by Vernon Huffman

Created on: June 23, 2008   Last Updated: June 25, 2008

What hope can we hold for peace in the Middle East? Assuming the US withdraws from Iraq and Afghanistan, is there any reason to believe the 60 year old struggle between Israel & Palestine can be resolved? I believe there is hope, but if we keep trying what we've always tried, we'll keep getting what we've always gotten.

The repeating scenario has the US playing neutral mediator between two equally bellicose parties. If we can only agree upon the borders between the two states and stop the radicals from staging terrorist attacks, perhaps we'll broker a lasting peace. Certainly most of the citizens on both sides want peace.

Except for the last point, virtually all of the underlying assumptions are false, no matter how often they are repeated by the mainstream media. Let's examine the truth, to find a reasonable hope for peace.

* The USA is not a neutral party. Since 1949, the US government has funded the state of Israel and supported every Zionist move, no matter how many UN resolutions Israel ignored nor how many human rights Israel abused. When Israel attacked the USS Liberty at the beginning of the Six Day War, the US government hid the secret for twenty years. Israel is the largest recipient of US military aid, receiving about 25% of the total. AIPAC is one of the most effective lobbies in the US Congress.

* The struggle is anything but balanced. Israel kills approximately forty times as many Palestinians as the latter kill Israelis. When they have them at all, the weapons of Palestinians are hand held or homemade, contrasted against the high tech Israeli military. The doors of Palestinian citizens are routinely kicked in at 3 am by soldiers who haul them off to jail, often without charges. There is no equivalent threat to Israelis.

* There are not two states. Israel and Palestine are the same place. Even if we returned to the 1967 borders, Gaza, seized from Egypt, is on the opposite side of Israel from the West Bank, seized from Jordan. Without a safe passage between them, the two do not combine to be a viable state. To aggravate matters, the apartheid wall is well inside the 1967 borders, weaving circuitously and dividing Palestinians from their crops, their workplaces and each other.

The precedent for hope is South Africa. Remember how apartheid crumbled there when the world's people demanded justice? Apartheid South Africa was a close ally of Israel. They developed their nuclear weapons together. The new majority government of South Africa has given up their nukes, the only nation on earth to do so. The government of the USA propped up both, until one became too hot to handle.

When the people of the world demand justice in Israel/Palestine loudly enough, we will see it. We must accept no substitute for majority rule with human rights for all. Please raise your voice to demand:
* Tear down the wall, eliminate the checkpoints, and allow all residents of Israel and the occupied territories to travel freely;
* Establish the right of return for all people born in Israel/Palestine and their children;
* Allow all residents to vote in free and fair, internationally monitored elections.
Peace will prevail when we demand justice for all.

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