Progress in Palestine

While Democrats and Republicans have kept themselves busy with their signature brand of self-important political bickering, during the past year Israel and Palestine have been making great strides towards a tenable coexistence with the eventual goal of a lasting peace.

Following the death of the militant Palestinian leader Yaser Arafat, the previously inflexible and uncompromising Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has unexpectedly reversed course, peacefully ceding large swaths of West Bank and Gaza territory to the Palestinians in a (mostly) peaceful manner. Like all processes involving high-intensity ethnic and religious tensions, the transfer of these territories back into Palestinian hands has not been completely smooth. Despite some setbacks, Sharon's turnaround and movements towards Palestinian sovereignty have changed the dynamic of the region such that the prospects for peace are better than ever before.

The history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is long and complicated, and attempts to deduce who may have "first claim" to the current territory of Israel can only result in unworkable and mutually exclusive absolutist claims which can only be resolved with violence. In fact, many of the extremist and terrorist Palestinian groups base their politics on ancient historical claims to the land, as do many hardline Zionist elements within Israel. Despite multilateral talks and attempts at peace, the politics of the region had until very recently been dominated by violence between these kinds of uncompromising absolute claims. What Sharon and other moderates are doing, however, is casting aside these irresolvable hardline stances, and basing an outline for peace on practical, current considerations.

The 1948 war, initiated by Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq against Israel, ended with Israel victorious and over three-fourths of the sovereign Palestinian state (which had not attacked Israel) under Israeli control. The remaining 22 percent of Palestine's previous territory -- the West Bank and Gaza Strip -- were put under Egyptian and Transjordanian sovereignty. Though Palestine had not been an aggressor in the war, much of the fighting took place on Palestinian territory and it was seen as necessary for Israel to occupy these territories so as to preclude control by any of the aggressing nations.

As recognized by the United Nations and evident from a basic understanding of the historical basis of Israel's occupation of Palestine, it has been and remains the responsibility of Israel to withdraw forces from the sovereign Palestinian territories that were gained through war in violation of international law. One can sympathize with the need felt by Israel to control these bordering territories in the hostile environment of the Arab middle east after the war, however it is long past due for sovereignty to be returned to the people of Palestine.

Even with the eventual return of the West Bank and Gaza territories to the Palestinians, any Arab state that is developed there would only hold roughly a fourth of the previously drawn territory of Palestine. The difficulty with any attempt to restore the pre-war boundaries, however, is that since 1948 Israelis have become firmly settled in much of the previously-Palestinian lands, making full restoration of the original state of Palestine unworkable. As Sharon takes a more moderate view and learns to respect the right of the Palestinians to self-govern, so too the Palestinians will have to make concessions to the changes that have occurred in the more than 50 years since their territories were taken over by Israel.

While there is still much work to be done to resolve the conflict between these two peoples, and even more work to be done in bringing prosperity to the devastated land of Palestine, these recent changes in policy by Israel and the increasing openness of Palestine are encouraging. If more moderate voices come to prevail among both Israelis and Palestinians, extremist groups like Hamas will lose power and influence. Only then can the people of Israel begin to feel secure and Palestinians begin to build a future for themselves.

More information on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
Progress in the Mideast by Charles Krauthammer (yes, he finally wrote a good article)
Wikipedia entry on Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
UN page on the history of Palestine
True Colors by Michael B. Oren (about Sharon and his move towards more moderate policies)