All hail September

Here’s the thing about September. It’s awful. Maybe for the Palestinians it won’t be so bad – maybe they’ll get a state out of it. And maybe we’ll get another intifada. Or a war. Or, just maybe, it will be good for us. Maybe if the whole world votes in favor of a Palestinian state at the UN later this month then this baboon Israeli government that’s leading us into oblivion will wake up. Maybe it will force Netanyahu to become the prime minister we all wanted him to be – the one who had the most potential to change things here, to bring us closer to peace, or at least, to break the status quo. Instead, it seems, he’s registering the worst record in the history of Israeli prime ministers. What’s a little success Netanyahu has had in maintaining settlement building in the West Bank if the whole world continues to push against it? It’s not as if Netanyahu was able to secure something permanent – the (sane) world will always demand a halt to settlement construction. So what has he really been able to accomplish during his most recent term as prime minister?

Let the Palestinians have their state. For even Netanyahu knew it would come and has been wasting everyone’s time. Because instead of preparing us for how we will deal with (even a symbolic) Palestinian state, he is still focusing on stopping it. A moot point. So his right-wing constituents can’t say he didn’t do anything. But he is doing nothing. Sitting this one out until his term ends. Because if the Palestinians don’t secure international recognition of statehood now, everyone knows it’s only a matter of time before it happens. And unilaterally or bilaterally or whatever – it doesn’t matter. Because the reality is, plain and simple, that there will be a Palestinian state. The question that Middle East scholars have been toiling with is how? Will it come through bloodshed or peace? Will it come at Israel’s expense, embarrassing it in the international arena, isolating it even more? Or will it come in cooperation with Israel.

The fact is that the Palestinians won’t sit around forever waiting for Netanyahu to decide that he’s ready to negotiate without foolish preconditions. The world is itching to close this seemingly-never ending chapter in Middle East history, and it will jump on the opportunity to recognize a Palestinian state, even if this is only symbolic.

Right-wingers love to say that the Left in Israel is delusional, among other pleasant words. They say that the Left is too idealistic, fails to grasp the reality on the ground, that ending the occupation is suicidal.

Delusion, however, is trying to stand in front of a moving train. It’s ignoring the fact that, what do you know, there are Palestinians around us. Palestinians who will always want their own state, and rightly so. And if they won’t get their own state in the West Bank and Gaza now, as the years pass by they will become the majority here, they will outnumber us, and slowly, the Israeli state will fade away.

The Right believes that maintaining this status quo is the right path for Israel. Talk about suicidal. Talk about failing to grasp the reality around us. Delusional.