High Time for Israel to Stop the Bombing: Hamas Has Already Lost Militarily and Politically, Now Delegitimized. Crucial Next Steps.
It’s high time for Israel to propose a ceasefire with Hamas, in exchange for 1) releasing all the hostages; 2) new free elections in Gaza, run and strictly supervised by the United Nations; 3) three televised debates between Hamas and Israeli leaders on how to resolve the long conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis; 4) parallel referendums in Gaza and Israel on whether the majority on each side wants peace or continued conflict (v. my LinkedIn posts of October-December 2023). A new election in Israel should also be part of the agreement.
If Israel does not stop the bombing, which has already been grossly excessive, it will lose more standing in the world, it will be compared to barbaric Russia in Ukraine even though Israel has the excuse of having been viciously and barbarically attacked by Hamas while Russia was not attacked by Ukraine. Israel has not handled the Palestinian problem intelligently for decades. It should have found ways and made creative efforts to turn Palestinians into friends, no matter how difficult the task. It should have never allowed settlements in the West Bank, effectively endorsing the religious discrimination of the Old Testament, which undermines the prospects of one day implementing the United Nations’ 1948 “Partition Plan”, a key element for peace and prosperity between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Being militarily and economically stronger by far as well as the more educated side, Israel had to take the initiative, but it chose to do nothing to turn their enemies into friends. Israel should have promoted multiple televised debates with the Palestinians on the roots of their long conflict and on practical solutions. Extensive, constructive public dialogue was possible, but not proposed, even though that is the only way to reduce or eliminate hostility.
It’s also high time for the United States to organize multiple televised discussions on the roots of religious discrimination and of anti-Semitism in particular, including an objective examination of the three holy books of monotheism, the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Koran. Participants should be from all backgrounds, not just religious authorities. Discussing the Bible and the Koran should not be off limits or taboo in any way.
Of crucial importance, since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is essentially about religious discrimination, not about land as the conventional wisdom has it (in fact, if they were all of the same religion or atheists there would obviously be no conflict), the United States and the United Nations should require the Israelis and the Palestinians to carefully study the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with particular focus on the prohibition of religious discrimination. The Universal Declaration should be read on live television by the political leaders of both sides, to make sure they and their citizens are well-informed about the Declaration, which all members of the United Nations have undersigned, pledging to uphold and inform all their citizens. Furthermore, the world needs a compilation of the major violations of human rights throughout world history, from antiquity to the present, along with a serious analysis and discussion of them on live television and in all high schools in every nation.
There is no excuse for religious discrimination, hatred, and violence in the 21st Century. It is the product of ignorance, primitivism, tribalism, and of the willful, blind following of holy book incitements to religious discrimination, hatred, and violence. It’s high time to be civilized.
© Edward Sonnino 2023
December 28, 2023
