Calls in October 2023 for Israel to spare innocent Palestinian lives by ceasing its attacks on Gaza were rejected by Prime Minister Netanyahu. He pointed out that other countries, including the United States after 9/11, didn’t cease attacks until the enemy (Al Qaeda in the US case) was vanquished. Israel has the same right and obligation to defend itself. Critics of Israel, its defenders claim, are holding Israel to a higher moral standard, and this is unjust.
That’s a good point. On the other hand, few independent observers think that Hamas’ ideology and its murderous implications can be defeated militarily. Many American foreign-policy experts have pointed out that the US response to 9/11 increased the dangers we face from the Middle East by empowering Iran. Israel should consider that trying to vanquish Hamas may have unwanted consequences.
What is lost in this conversation is that Israel continues to benefit from a double standard that holds it to a lower moral standard. Israel continues to violate international law. It’s a long story. The international community decided through the UN that the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea should be divided between a Jewish and a Palestinian state. The UN mandate that authorizes the existence of Israel in the first place requires a two-state solution to current conflicts, which successive Israeli governments have hindered.
Neighboring Arab countries initially rejected a two-state solution and illegally attacked Israel in 1948, trying to deprive it of existence. Israel properly fought back and won its War of Independence. In doing so, it occupied more land than the UN had allocated to it. This didn’t reduce the size of the UN mandated Palestinian state, because Arab countries Jordan and Egypt took that land for themselves. Jordan took the West Bank and Egypt the Gaza Strip. Given this, I don’t see how Israel could be faulted for claiming all the territory it won and ruled prior to 1967.
In spite of attempts on Israel’s part during its War of Independence to get Palestinians to leave Israel, which constitutes internationally illegal ethnic cleansing, nearly 20 percent of the Israelis are Palestinians to this day, living under Israeli law and enjoying almost all of the rights of other Israelis. Expecting Israelis to be free of all discrimination against a minority group would surely be holding them to a higher standard than is expected of other countries.
But there’s another side. Israel’s occupation of the West Bank following the Six-Day War of 1967 is illegal by international standards. It is internationally forbidden for a country to gain territory through military conquest, regardless of who started the war. This is why it’s illegal for Russia to hold parts of Ukraine, and illegal for Serbia to try to incorporate Kosovo. The absence of Western international condemnation of Israel is an example of holding Israel to a lower standard than others.
Jewish Israelis building and occupying their own communities in the West Bank is also illegal, but Western countries seldom complain meaningfully. Apartheid prevails on the West Bank. (If you don’t think so, just visit.) In the past, South Africans were banned from the Olympics due to apartheid, but I’m unaware of any suggestion that Israel be held to the same standard. Israeli settlers on the West Bank commit violence with impunity against Palestinians, reminiscent of Jim Crow America. These are three more examples of double standards beneficial to Israel, but Westerners seldom raise a fuss.
Successfully attacking the ideas which motivate Hamas requires that Israel stand up as quickly as possible a fully sovereign Palestinian state on the entire West Bank with pre-1967 borders. Palestine should have its own security and border control. Israel should help Palestine succeed politically and economically so it becomes an attractive model that will give people in Gaza something to work toward other than martyrdom. It's in the security interest of the US to support such efforts financially and politically.
The Palestinian state may allow Israeli settlers to live as citizens of Palestine under Palestinian rule, just as Palestinians live as citizens under Israeli rule. Turnabout is fair play unless you have a double moral standard in Israel’s favor. West Bank Palestinians gave Israel about 15 years of peace while illegal incursions on their land increased. The settlers have been the security risk, not the Palestinians.
To further erode the popularity of the Hamas death cult, some Palestinians displaced in 1948 and their descendants could be given property in Israel near their former homes. How many? Perhaps the same number as Israelis who choose to live in Palestine. This path, resulting in the eventual inclusion of the Gaza Strip in the Palestinian state, is the only feasible path to a peace that is long enough for Israel reliably to celebrate its 200th anniversary.
I will be happy to reply to civil comments addressed to wenz.peter@uis.edu.
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