About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (July 18, 2020)
WORLD The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Weekend Edition - July 18-19, 2020 5B Israel supporter’s dramatic shift shocks establishment ODED BALILTY I Associated Press The Shuafat refugee camp is seen behind a section of Israel’s separation barrier in Jerusalem on June 19. BY JOSEF FEDERMAN Associated Press JERUSALEM - An influential American commentator has sent shock waves through the Jewish establishment and Washington policy-making circles by break ing a long-standing taboo: He has endorsed the idea of a democratic entity of Jews and Palestinians liv ing with equal rights between the Jordan River and the Mediterra nean, arguing that a two-state solu tion — Israel and Palestine — is no longer possible. In making his case, Peter Bein- art challenged a core tenet of Western foreign policy and of dis course among many Jews around the world of needing to ensure the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. Beinart took aim at decades of failed efforts by U.S. and European dip lomats, as well as Israeli leaders who he believes have undermined the idea that establishing an inde pendent Palestinian state alongside Israel is the best way to peace. “There’s a category of people in the U.S., Jewish and non-Jewish, who had been like me committed to the two-state solution for a long time and have been quietly losing faith in it but didn’t necessarily see an alternative,” Beinart said in an interview, after publishing a July 8 op-ed in The New York Times and a longer piece in the magazine Jewish Currents, where he is an editor at large. The logic behind the two-state solution is straightforward. If Israel continues to control millions of Palestinians who do not have the right to vote, Israel will have to make a difficult choice: main tain the status quo and stop being a democracy, or grant the Palestin ians the right to vote and lose its Jewish majority. An independent Palestinian state is widely seen as meeting both sides’ aspirations. Beinart said that after decades of Israeli settle ment expansion on occu pied lands claimed by the Palestinians and proposals such as U.S. President Don ald Trump’s Mideast peace plan that steadily offered the Palestinians less and less territory, setting up a viable Palestinian state is impossible. The result, he said, is a de facto binational state where Israelis have basic rights while millions of Palestinians do not. “The painful truth is that the project to which liberal Zionists like myself have devoted ourselves for decades — a state for Palestin ians separated from a state for Jews — has failed,” he wrote. “It is time for liberal Zionists to aban don the goal of Jewish-Palestinian separation and embrace the goal of Jewish-Palestinian equality.” Coming just four months before the U.S. presidential election, Bein- art’s comments could re-frame the debate in progressive circles that may soon be wielding some influ ence in the White House. That debate has gained strength as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talks about annexing large parts of the West Bank. Beinart is seen as a prominent voice among progressives and is popular among younger American Jews, who tend to be more critical of Israeli policies than their par ents or grandparents. His shift has triggered an earth quake in the Jewish-American world, where support for Israel is a consensus issue, even among the staunchest critics of Netanyahu’s hard-line government. For many Jews, Israel is an integral part of their identity, on religious grounds or as an insurance policy in the wake of the Holocaust and an age of modern anti-Semitism. Critics across the political spec trum have accused Beinart of being naive, unrealistic and even anti-Semitic. Some have argued that he has ignored what they contend is Palestinian intransi gence or willingness to resort to violence. Even some Palestinian activists have given him a lukewarm reac tion, saying he was merely endors ing their long-standing positions. While the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank continues to call for an independent state, the idea of a single bi-national state is popular with young Palestinian intellectu als. 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