Time for a Courageous, Last Ditch, Groundbreaking Peace Negotiation Between the Israelis and the Palestinians (Including Hamas), Based on Publicly Discussing the Religious Source of Their Three Thousand Year Conflict on Live TV.
Before Israel starts a full-blown ground invasion of Gaza, Israeli and Palestinian leaders, including Hamas, should make a last ditch effort at actually resolving the interminable Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which started in biblical times exclusively due to differing religions (at the time, Palestinians were pagans, not yet Muslims, but the Israelites were already Jews).
The breakthrough will only come when the warring sides admit that the real root of their conflict is not about land, but about conflicting religions from antiquity. In fact, the reason all “land for peace” negotiations have failed is precisely that the conflict is about their conflicting, discriminatory religions, not about land. If the Israelis were Muslim, or the Palestinians were Jewish, or they were all atheists, would they have a violent conflict today, would there be an unresolvable “land” dispute? Of course not.
The reason peace talks between them have never delved into their conflicting religions is that neither side wants to broach the topic of religious discrimination (a violation of modern morality, as stated in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which all U.N. member nations have undersigned and pledged to uphold). Religious discrimination today is intellectually discredited, being a violation of human rights, whereas in antiquity it was not, being a valued instrument of tribal unity. Since the three monotheistic religions have religious discrimination at their core, in the 21st Century their leaderships want to avoid discussing the topic for fear of losing intellectual legitimacy, if not total legitimacy.
There is an escape hatch, however, which the monotheistic religions can avail themselves of in order to preserve their legitimacy while at the same time removing their historically virulent discriminatory traits. The escape hatch consists of admitting no one knows who transcribed the Bible (on which the Koran is openly based), no one knows who directly witnessed the events of the Bible, including what happened to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, which is nothing less than the wellspring of the monotheistic religions. At the very least, one can question the veracity of the monotheistic writers of the Old Testament who introduced the concept of religious discrimination. Could they have distorted the word of God to suit their tribalistic feelings?
What the Israeli and Palestinian leaders should be forced to publicly discuss is whether it is illogical to believe that God would have a favorite religion or a favorite nation? Is it logical to believe that God would want humans to viciously discriminate on the basis of religion? Are athletes who pray to God to win, or thank God for having scored, being logical? Is it logical for fans to pray for their club’s victory, believing God has favorite sports clubs? Is it not much more logical to believe God loves all humans equally, regardless of their nationality or religion? And that the holy books of monotheism have some biased passages, misrepresenting God’s words?
Human beings are emotional, but clear logic can overwhelm emotions. A live televised debate between Israeli and Palestinian leaders on the validity of their religions’ discriminations could not but end up with the intellectual discrediting of religious discrimination and the validation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
During the live, televised debate they should recall what happened to Samson and Delilah, who both lived in Ashkelon (a town currently near the Israeli-Gaza border) around 1500 BC. Samson, a Jew, saw Delilah, a Palestinian, walking around Ashkelon and fell in love with her beauty. He announced to his parents that he was in love with Delilah and wanted to marry her. His mother objected, “Can’t you marry a nice Jewish girl?”…. the same story as Romeo and Juliet, and West Side Story. Why did Delilah, who happily married Samson, end up being persuaded to betray him and having him killed by her Palestinian countrymen? Simply because he was a Jew, and Palestinians were not Jewish. Who can be proud of continuing that deadly biblical discrimination?
Why did Hamas target young Israeli boys and girls dancing and having fun at an outdoor music festival, and target nearby kibbutzes with attractive homes with gardens? Because young Palestinian boys and girls in Gaza can’t go dancing in discos or at outdoor festivals, because of their religion. No dancing, no dating, then jihad? Because Israeli girls aren’t covered and can publicly flirt, while Palestinian girls are covered and are not allowed to publicly flirt, because of their religion. Because Israelis enjoy having homes with gardens, while the great majority of Gaza’s Palestinians do not, as a consequence of losing their religious wars with the Israelis.
Historically, the Palestinians never had their own nation, and lived peacefully governed by the Turks during the centuries of the Ottoman Empire. Why peacefully? Because the Turks were Muslim. Under the British Mandate, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, the League of Nations devised a plan to divide the Ottoman province of Palestine (Judaea and Samaria were renamed Palestine by the Romans after driving out the Jews in 80 AD) into one third for a Jewish state, and two thirds for a Palestinian state. There was to be no law preventing Jews from living and owning land in the Palestinian state, and no law preventing Palestinians from living and owning land in the Jewish state. Why were the Palestinians against that plan, which did not allow expropriation of property in either state? Why did they object to living together with Jews? Only because the Koran incites hatred and violence against Jews, purely as religious discrimination.
Why are extremist religious Jews intent on claiming all of the West Bank, adding settlements on land intended to be part of a Palestinian state? Because of the Old Testament, where it is written that God promised the biblical land of Israel to all the Jewish descendants of Abraham, so long as the males showed their love for God by being circumcised. Is it logical in the 21st Century to be guided by that passage in the Old Testament, which takes place around 2000 BC? Where is the proof of that promise to Abraham? A biblical text signed by no direct witnesses is to be believed as God’s will, rather than simply a transparently biased transcription by an unknown writer?
It takes courage to objectively analyze the monotheistic religions, to point out what does not make sense, and what is clearly religious bias and discrimination. The Israelis and Palestinians must decide whether they want their murderous religious conflict to continue for eternity, or whether they finally want to be logical, whether they want to embrace modern morality and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ditching the belief that God has a favorite religion, and whether they want to fully reconcile and enjoy prosperity together in a lasting peace.
What about all the victims and suffering across centuries due to religious discrimination, was that all a tragic mistake? Can the Israelis and Palestinians admit it was indeed all a tragic mistake? That’s what would probably come out in a long, live televised discussion between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, and lead to a lasting peace, prosperity, and real friendship. Who will have the courage to suggest and promote such a debate? If not some leaders of the warring parties, then why not the United Nations, or some political leaders of the Western democracies? Or is the 21st Century to remain dominated by the illogical, discriminatory monotheistic holy books of antiquity, even as we plan to go to Mars, using logic?
(C) Edward Sonnino 2023
October 24, 2023
