{"id":86606,"date":"2024-04-23T11:42:37","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T01:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=86606"},"modified":"2024-04-24T12:34:31","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T02:34:31","slug":"from-the-bookshelf-israelis-and-palestinians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/from-the-bookshelf-israelis-and-palestinians\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Bookshelf: \u2018Israelis and Palestinians\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Eventually, beyond the Gaza agony, Israelis and Palestinians must talk.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To move beyond war, they must embrace \u2018the conversation of mankind\u2019, a phrase that\u2019s the pivot of a new book by one of Britain\u2019s leading moral philosophers, <\/span>Jonathan Glover<\/span><\/a>, emeritus professor of ethics at King\u2019s College, London.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>book<\/span><\/a> was on the verge of printing when Hamas attacked on 7 October. Now published, the ethicist\u2019s work is given a daily, horrific relevance by Gaza.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Glover writes of psychological fault lines that trap people, shape conflict and drive cycles of violence.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The setup in the book\u2019s title is \u2018Israelis and Palestinians\u2019: the argument is aimed at peoples, not their governments.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Leaders playing their competitive games can be unmoved by horrendous human costs,\u2019 Glover writes. \u2018Some leaders may care less about <\/span>ending<\/span><\/i> the Israel-Palestine conflict than about <\/span>winning <\/span><\/i>a current round. This shallowness can seem eternal \u2026. Crisis leaves little time for the deep tides of history. It is harsh to blame leaders for their one-dimensional world. But the rest of us can ask the ignored questions.\u2019<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Glover is scathing about the leaders of Hamas and Israel.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The October terror attacks, he writes, \u2018were extreme by any measure. And they had an extra horror. The ideology behind it was a Nazi one\u2019. Glover points to the Nazi influence on the Hamas constitution, which \u2018explicitly endorsed the fraudulent antisemitic document <\/span>Protocols of the Elders of Zion\u2019. <\/span><\/i>At least since 1989, Glover says, Hamas knew it was relying on a document used by Hitler and Goebbels, \u2018but did not delete their constitution\u2019s endorsement of the <\/span>Protocols<\/span><\/i>\u2019.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Turning to Israel\u2019s government, Glover observes that \u2018indiscriminate retaliation cannot be justified\u2019, although psychologically it is understandable. \u2018There are many awful actions that can be understood. But that does not stop them from being indefensible,\u2019 Glover writes. \u2018Bombing is only part of the indiscriminate punishment. The Israeli government cut off Gaza\u2019s water, food, fuel and power. Did they think that only Hamas supporters would die of thirst, starvation or cold? When the power to hospitals gives out, do only Hamas patients die?\u2019<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Damming the leaders, Glover turns to peoples\u2014to conversations between Israelis and Palestinians on three core elements that structure his book:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014The cycle of violence;<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014The psychology of backlash built on collective guilt and stereotypes; and<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Rigid beliefs and identity.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Glover draws on other long-running cycles: a century of war between France and Germany; Northern Ireland; Muslim memories of the Crusades across a thousand years. He seeks to show how \u2018the conversation of mankind\u2019 must replace the cycle of violence.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A very different way of thinking about strategy is offered. A philosopher asks warring peoples to understand their psychological triggers. See how war produces more war. Find a common humanity. Vengeance and retribution just feed the cycle, Glover writes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When each side uses violent backlash to teach the other a lesson, nobody learns anything. The backlash is central to keeping the cycle of violence going. One factor is moving from thinking of others as people to thinking in abstractions. \u2018They\u2019 are terrorists or cruel occupiers; communists or fascists; unbelievers or religious fanatics. Seeing others in these ways makes people harder and more cruel. Everybody loses.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ambitious for new understanding between peoples, Glover is cautious about the chance for big political solutions or diplomatic agreements. He argues that two-state or one-state resolutions are not within reach because of psychological fault lines.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Both Palestinians and Israelis when \u2018thinking about a shared single state are likely to fear and reject minority status. At any given time, one people will be outnumbered.\u2019\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Single-state proposals advocate constitutional guarantees of the rights of both peoples, Glover notes, but \u2018entrenched\u2019 guarantees can be overturned by the majority.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A two-state solution seems to give each people a better chance of self-determination and safety from each other, Glover writes. In the abstract, he thinks, it’s possible to design a version that’s roughly fair to both sides, but ‘for each people, the gap between that and what they care about is so huge’.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Israel would resist losing the settlements and part of what some see as Greater Israel, Glover argues, while Palestinians would lose much of what was once theirs: \u2018Goodbye Haifa, goodbye Jaffa, goodbye Beer Sheva \u2026.\u2019<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Glover\u2019s dismissal of the two-state solution chimes with the view of the former Australian diplomat, Bob Bowker, who calls it a \u2018<\/span>zombie solution<\/span><\/a>\u2019 that has no prospect of success. In words that Glover would embrace, Bowker argues that \u2018peace will not be found between Arabs and Jews, in victories or treaties. If it can be found at all, it will be found when Palestinians and Israelis can look into each other\u2019s eyes\u2019.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rather than strain for the unreachable two-state answer, try for \u2018federal and semi-federal solutions\u2019, Glover writes: \u2018A newly-created Palestine state would join Israel in a federation.\u2019<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Federation need not be all-or-none,\u2019 Glover says. \u2018The best solution may contain a variety of different overlapping sovereignties.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A semi-federal deal could work on practical issues such as water and shared ecology. Douse hostile passions with \u2018limited and local cooperation over specific shared problems\u2019.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The conversation between Palestinians and Israelis, Glover concludes, should turn away \u2018from ever-receding \u201csolutions\u201d, and try by a thousand small steps slowly to shuffle away from war\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eventually, beyond the Gaza agony, Israelis and Palestinians must talk.\u00a0 To move beyond war, they must embrace \u2018the conversation of mankind\u2019, a phrase that\u2019s the pivot of a new book by one of Britain\u2019s leading …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":86607,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1155,240,926],"class_list":["post-86606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-gaza-strip","tag-israel","tag-palestine","dinkus-israel-hamas-war"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFrom the Bookshelf: \u2018Israelis and Palestinians\u2019 | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/from-the-bookshelf-israelis-and-palestinians\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From the Bookshelf: \u2018Israelis and Palestinians\u2019 | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Eventually, beyond the Gaza agony, Israelis and Palestinians must talk.\u00a0 To move beyond war, they must embrace \u2018the conversation of mankind\u2019, a phrase that\u2019s the pivot of a new book by one of Britain\u2019s leading ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/from-the-bookshelf-israelis-and-palestinians\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-23T01:42:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-24T02:34:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-2147980917.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Graeme Dobell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Graeme Dobell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/from-the-bookshelf-israelis-and-palestinians\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-2147980917.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-2147980917.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":670,\"caption\":\"GAZA CITY, GAZA - APRIL 21: A view of buildings rendered unusable near the Netzarim Corridor area of the Gaza-Israel border in Gaza City, Gaza on April 21, 2024. 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