Nearly every academic who studies the history of the
State of Israel eventually takes a crack at trying to present a solution to Palestinian-Israeli
conflict. This is what Gershom Gorenberg
lays out for us in his The Unmaking of
Israel.
In both theme and content, this much smaller book is
an extension of his larger The Accidental
Empire, which chronicles how Israel fell into the occupation of the West Bank and
Gaza, and through missteps and bad decisions, never had a clear and consistent
policy on what to do with the occupied territories.
In this book, Gorenberg lays out the case that the settlement
activity is undermining the democratic nature of Israel. It is bringing Israel back to its pre-state
condition, when ethnic and ideological groups did not need to follow any rule
of law, but only their best interests.
Gorenberg is probably correct in many of his conclusions,
but his solutions, so boldly stated at the end of the book, would take a
groundswell of popular support in Israel that would move out and beyond the power every
religious and political special interest to prevent them.
It simply seems impossible that Israel could, at this point, commit to
the kind of program Gorenberg lays out.
It would take generations of change to make this
come about.
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