Shaul Rosenfeld
Living by the sword
Like incurable disease, Arab-Israeli conflict cannot be resolved
The political worldview of many is premised on the certainty that the Arab-Israeli conflict can be resolved. There are almost no politicians in Israel, either on the Right or the Left, who are willing - even implicitly – to raise the possibility that the conflict cannot be resolved.
Assertions such as “every problem has a solution, we just need to want it enough,” or “it’s unthinkable that we’ll live by the sword forever” share a wide common denominator: Those who hold such views place, absentmindedly, their wishes where a mechanism that examines reality should be found.
There is nothing wrong with one’s wishes and desires, as long as those do not become an alternate means for understanding reality. The “free flow” between wishes and reality, and more so forcing the one on the other, are characteristic symptoms of the difficulty of reconciling oneself to a problematic reality and digesting its implications.
Sigmund Freud said the intention to make mankind happy was not part of God’s plan of creation, and to that we can add: Bringing you into the world was not accompanied by a binding agreement with your parents and leaders to provide solutions to any problems that may follow.
Among its many sins, the world has presented us with various incurable diseases, as well as unresolved problems (for the time being) in the fields of physics, mathematics, philosophy, and biology. And what is true for science, is also true for political conflicts.
Some lasted for hundreds of years, and others ended with one of the sides, or both, disappearing. Some empires collapsed and no longer exist, and some countries disappeared. Some nations left nothing behind them aside from a footnote on the pages of history.
It is likely that a large part of those involved in such conflicts fully believed their problems have a solution, right before their hopes evaporated.
Israel still viewed as foreign element in region
Is the Arab-Israeli conflict of the type that cannot be resolved? It appears that way. This conflict features almost all the characteristics that make this so, unfortunately, for the foreseeable future.
Israel is still perceived in the Arab world as a foreign element, a thorn in the region’s side, which the Arabs view as essentially Arabic-Islamic. The relative de facto acceptance of Israel’s existence stems from the slim chance the Arabs see of removing Israel, the Jewish State’s close ties with Washington, and for some Arab countries, the financial rewards granted by the United States.
Should our power or the interests of the various parties be weakened, disappear, or change, Israel will again be forced to fight for its existence.
And it’s not only the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where we can say that the maximum concessions we could bear with are much less than the minimum the other side would be willing to accept – even as an intermediate step. Indeed, the plethora of historical, religious, cultural, and ethnic raw materials that serve to feed the dominant Arab ethos towards Israel do not contribute to a genuine acceptance of a political Jewish entity in the region. The opposite is true.
‘First, do no harm’
Israel’s common image among the “locals” as an expelling, oppressing, expropriating, and humiliating entity on the one hand, and a democratic, victorious (when it comes to wars against the Arabs,) prosperous, successful, and advanced (compared to the Arabs) entity on the other hand, certainly does not serve as a reason for optimism for those who realistically hope for reconciliation.
Meanwhile, the unrealistic ones prefer, for example, to adopt the folly of the Oslo route, en route to implementing their alchemical scheme.
So what should we do? Refrain from naively falling into a trap, cautiously attempt to resolve that which can be resolved, act to lower the intensity of the conflict, and live with what’s left.
Just like chronic diseases that can be contained, we can continue living with this conflict. We lived with it for 120 years and we can do it for another 120 years, and even longer, as long as we plan our moves widely, for example when it comes to demographics, and refrain from various hubris projects, like the ones prepared for us by the Meretz (left-wing party) chef, Yossi Beilin, once every few years.
Medical students are taught the rule " primum non nocere," that is, “first, do no harm,” or in its wider implication, consider the possible harm that can be caused by intervening. It is worthwhile to add here: Consider the harm caused by your attempt to fundamentally fix something that cannot be fixed. This rule should also be studied in schools for politics.
