On January 28th, US president Trump presented a plan which he claimed could solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ( Ha'Sikhsukh Ha'Yisraeli-Falestini ).
We can say that at the origin of the conflict may lay the Aliyah or "ascent", the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to the Land of Israel (Eretz Israel in Hebrew). What we could see is that certain fundamentalist Jews did not mind taking land from Muslims to make it their own. Several Jews were convinced they had the right to proceed with "the act of going up" — that is, towards Jerusalem — "making aliyah" by moving to the Land of Israel as one of the most basic tenets of Zionism.
Great problem is that both Palestinians and Jews claim the same historical places, because they both have their faith based on the same Biblical places and Biblical people.
By the years, the struggle to have the right to come to or to live around those "set apart" places, created lots of division by Jews as well as by Palestinians.
The Israeli government, currently led by Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), currently headed by Mahmoud Abbas want both stand firm and are stubborn telling the world they are the just owners.
Following several years of unsuccessful negotiations, the conflict re-erupted as the Second Intifada on September 2000. With escalating violence until late 2008, Israel launched operation Cast Lead upon Gaza, resulting in thousands of civilian casualties and billions of dollars in damage. By February 2009, a ceasefire was signed with international mediation between the parties, though the occupation and small and sporadic eruptions of violence continued.
The PLO have campaigned for full member status for the State of Palestine at the UN and for recognition on the 1967 borders. But in 2011 the Palestinian Authority attempt to gain UN membership as a fully sovereign state failed. In November 2012, the representation of Palestine in UN was upgraded to a non-member observer State, and its mission title was changed from "Palestine (represented by PLO)" to "State of Palestine".
The expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank has led the majority of Palestinians to believe that Israel is not committed to reaching an agreement, but rather to a pursuit of establishing permanent control over this territory in order to provide that security.
Since taking office, the Donald J. Trump administration made achieving an Israeli-Palestinian deal a priority and the American 45th president was and is convinced he is the only one in the world who can solve this problem. To do so he started by relocating the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, reversing long-standing U.S. policy, and was met with applause among the Israeli leadership but condemned by Palestinian leaders and others in the Middle East and Europe. Israel considers the “complete and united Jerusalem” its capital, but Palestinians claim East Jerusalem for the capital of their future state.
The world looks at two possible solutions, first the “two-state solution” where an independent Israel and Palestine, would be created; and the “one-state solution” which would merge Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip into one big country, which also comes in two versions. One, favoured by some leftists and Palestinians, would create a single democratic country. Arab Muslims would outnumber Jews, thus ending Israel as a Jewish state. The other version, favoured by some rightists and Israelis, would involve Israel annexing the West Bank and either forcing out Palestinians or denying them the right to vote. Virtually the entire world, including most Zionists, rejects this option as an unacceptable human rights violation.
Most polling suggests that both Israelis and Palestinians prefer a two-state solution. However, the inability of Israelis and Palestinians to come to two-state terms has led to a recent surge in interest in a one-state solution, partly out of a sense of hopelessness and partly out of fear that if the sides cannot negotiate a two-state solution, a de facto one-state outcome will be inevitable.
Trump worked out a plan to bring peace but thought it not necessary to involve Palestine in it. Only Israeli prime minister Netanyahu was present. Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian National Authority, refused to accept the plan, which did not take into account any of the Palestinian concerns or interests.
Israeli politicians were quick to announce that the plan supports their long-awaited aspirations to officially annex parts of the West Bank to Israel, intentions that are partially supported also by Benny Gantz, Netanyahu’s main challenger in the coming Israeli elections on March 2nd. Belgian and European leaders have kept an ambivalent position towards the plan, refusing to pose a significant challenge to American hegemony or to the continuous violation of Palestinian human rights by Israel.
On Friday, 14 February 2020, 20:00 at the Elcker Ik Centrum, Breughelstraat 31, 2018 Antwerpen, Inès Abdel Razek and Mahmoud AbuRahma will be joined by Dr. Itamar Shachar, a member of Een Andere Joodse Stem to discuss the matter publicly and to ask a reaction from the European leaders and people.
