>I basically line-up behind the same position expressed by Brian Atinsky in
>his post this morning regarding the one-two state question.The daily
>struggle to assert basic values and equal rights is a way of establishing
>certain facts which over time will hopefully become reality.
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I also think this is true - "over time". I don't think Zionism can survive
an extended period of peace, except as nostalgia and certainly not in its
present virulent form. It's an ideology appropriate to armed settlers who
feel themselves besieged. It wasn't coincidental that you had already begun
to see the development of "revisionist" anti-Zionist thought among Isreali
intellectuals during the brief Oslo honeymoon, accompanied by a greater
reaching out to their counterparts on the Palestinian side. Lacking the
perception of a common enemy, it's to be expected that the fault lines
within the two societies would begin to run on horizontal rather than
vertical lines, with the left reviving on both sides as the economic and
religious conflicts within Israeli society move to the forefront, and the
Palestinians struggle to improve their living standards in the face of
continuing Israeli economic hegemony over an enfeebled Palestinian state, if
one eventually results.
However, it will probably take a generation or more. There is a century-long legacy of bitterness on both sides which needs to be overcome. Polls are now showing, for example, that for the first time a majority of the Jewish population wants to ethnically cleanse Israel of its Palestinian Arab citizens, and, if Israeli attitudes to the current infighting between Palestinians in Gaza is any indication, most would choose to ignore whatever happens beyond their sealed borders. A US defeat in Iraq and defiance by Iran would likely stimulate Palestinian nationalism and further harden attitudes on both sides. But things often change more quickly than we expect, so perhaps it's not unrealistic to hope that we will get to see greater unity between the two communities in "the daily struggle to assert basic values and human rights" during our lifetimes.