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| The Israeli-Palestinian conflict: a wide gap between hope and peace that no one has the plan to bridge |
Tensions between Israel and Palestine are on the rise once again and hopes for peace and a two-state solution is as distant as ever.
Jerusalem is a holy city for followers of all divine religions. The atmosphere here is most vibrant and vibrant when followers of all religions celebrate their religious holidays. Especially in the old inner city where Christian, Jewish, and Islamic holy sites are within minutes of each other.
Religion has power and importance here that is less talked about because it is more important than faith.
In Jerusalem, it is associated with Palestinian and Israeli nationalism. Religion, politics, and identity are closely related. Both rival nationalities revere the sanctity of Jerusalem and claim it as their capital.
This year Ramadan, Easter and Passover (Jewish Eid) have come in the same month. The sacred festivals of these three religions were celebrated together despite the desperation and increasing danger.
Two years ago, Israeli police crackdowns and violence against Palestinians during Ramadan served as a small spark for tensions and deadly war between Israelis and Hamas in Gaza and surrounding areas. Hamas is the name of the organization of the Palestinian resistance movement.
It looked like it might happen again this month when Israeli security forces entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which Muslims believe is where the Prophet Muhammad made his ascension. The police used brutal tactics to evict the Palestinians who had barricaded themselves in the hall of the synagogue.
Videos of armed Israeli police beating Palestinians have sparked outrage in Arab states normalizing relations with Israel in the Middle East and beyond.
Several rockets were fired at Israel from Lebanon, possibly by Palestinian groups. It was the deadliest moment on the heavily armed border since the Lebanese militia Hezbollah's war against Israel in 2006.
Although all sides have stepped back from the brink of another deadly conflict since the attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque, the reasons that led them to this point remain.
It has been more than 10 years since Palestinians and Israelis made a meaningful effort to talk about a future of living together or living apart.
The long-simmering peace has convinced Israeli leaders, particularly longtime Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that the conflict can be contained but not resolved.
Two years of heightened tension and violence since the last Gaza war has shown that this solution is a mirage.
Like other parties, the UN Security Council and the European Union still reiterate their belief that the only chance for peace is a 'two-state solution'. A generation ago it seemed a realistic way to end more than a century of conflict between Jews and Arabs for control of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
The idea of a two-state solution was that the creation of an independent Palestine alongside Israel would pave the way for both peoples to coexist peacefully.
But 'two states' has now become a hollow slogan, the proponents of this ideology extend their hands to this solution but have given up trying to turn it into reality.
I drove from Jerusalem to Hebron to remind myself of some of the reasons why.
Sitting in the car and driving down this road, as I have done many times since the 1990s, I felt once again the international aspirations for the future of this land and the reality of its people. How big is the volume of the gulf between
This unseasonal storm, which is hitting occupied West Jordan like a sheet of torrential rain, was not a planned trip for me. Dappled layers of roadside fog failed to hide the latest steps in Israel's massive and one-pointed plan to settle Jews on land the Palestinians want as their own state. If I had traveled north or east of Jerusalem instead of south, the same kind of evidence would have appeared.
In the years since I traveled between Jerusalem and Hebron, the land on both sides of the region has changed.
In the early 1990s it was a national highway, with some Jewish settlements prominently located below the hills, especially south of Bethlehem, the first Palestinian town on the road as it exits Jerusalem.
But much of the land along the road consisted of fields and open fields where Palestinian farmers had camped and farmed for generations. Some of them used to ride donkeys walking along the roadsides to work.
Palestinian farmers still grow crops on this land, but their fields have been cut short by the massive expansion of Jewish settlements.
Palestinian land has been confiscated to widen and straighten the road and connect it to a growing network of bypasses connecting other Jewish settlements and Jerusalem.
New roads have been cut through the hills. The road between Bethlehem and Hebron was jammed with traffic this week. Israeli n on many cars there were Mubar plates, reflecting the large increase in the Jewish population in the area.
During the rain, about a dozen Israeli soldiers were riding in their jeeps in full combat gear, preparing for another military operation to seize the West Bank. This military operation has been going on for the past 56 years and shows no signs of ending.
The soldiers were near an Israeli army watchtower at the entrance to Beit Ammar, a small Palestinian town. Beit Ammar is a small Palestinian town whose inhabitants depend mostly on agriculture for employment.
Beit Ammar, like many other towns and villages in the West Bank, has lost much of its land to ghettos and roads. Here the occupation, and the desire to resist it, has repeatedly sparked violence over the years.
Most countries of the world consider illegal Jewish settlement on the occupied land by Israel. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are among those who say that Israel's activities in the occupied territories amount to apartheid.
Israel denies the accusation. It insists that international laws that prevent a country from settling its own people in the territory it occupies do not apply to those territories.
Israel's investment of billions of dollars in the security needed to protect the roads, homes, and Jewish settlers in the area for decades has created a new reality. The aim is to ensure that Israel retains as much of the land it captured during the 1967 Middle East War as possible.
Some Israeli governments, while talking about a two-state solution, on the other hand, have expanded these Jewish settlements. The principles of the current government coalition are more clear about this.
They reflect the fact that the Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu is once again the most nationalist right-wing government in the country's history.
The current Israeli government says it will promote and develop settlements on lands to which the "Jewish people have a special and indisputable right."
Proponents of a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict continue to warn that the construction of Jewish settlements on the occupied territory is turning it into a situation that is geographically and politically impossible. This year, the United Nations has given the latest statement in this regard on February 20.
The UN Security Council reiterated its 'unwavering commitment' to a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and said that 'Israeli settlement activities are dangerously affecting the viability of the two-state solution based on the 1967 lines. are.'
The expansion of Jewish settlements is not the only reason for the impossibility of dialogue between Palestine and Israel. The United States, which has sponsored talks between the two in the past, is currently busy with other issues. He is very concerned about the rivalry with China and the war in Ukraine.
The Palestinian political leadership is divided between Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. In the present circumstances, they are not able to enter into any contract or deliver. Because the Palestinian Authority is barely able to exercise its limited powers.
On the other hand, Israel is suffering from a crisis related to its internal political differences and the nature of democracy in the country.
Peace between Palestinians and Israelis is as far away as ever. Both parties do not trust each other.
The increase in violence and deaths this year is a warning that things will get worse and worse in the future. Everyone here knows what kind of dangers he is exposed to. No one has a realistic plan to address the deadly crisis ahead.