there are a great many more secular jews who believe deeply that the central value of judaism that should also be the central value of israel is justice and who recognize that israel will not fulfill its stream of being a normal state at peace with the world until the palestinians right phil wilcox i'm the president of the foundation for middle east peace we are a nonprofit organization based in washington committed to finding a peace between israelis and palestinians some people have questioned the efficacy of a jewish state in the twenty first century saying that is an anomaly in the post nationalist era of modern history  i don't accept that i think that the jewish state while it is a very unusual phenomenon is a product of jewish history it's a product if just of two millennia of anti semitism against the jewish people which was in large part a product of a deviant interpretation of christianity and terrible things were done to the jewish people the culmination of that was the disaster of the holocaust in which ninety nine ninety percent of european jews were murdered that is what produced the the jewish state the  and forces of historic any semitism and the holocaust otherwise there would not be a state of israel but that brought it about and one has to understand israel in the context of that history there is another party to this history and that is the palestinian people who are also victims of history in seeking and creating a jewish state  palestine that was a great victory for the jews it was a kind of moment of historic reasons redemption after all that they had suffered yet in doing so another victim was created that was the palestinian people some seven hundred fifty thousand of whom were forced to leave their homes and lands either for fear of their lives or because they were forced out by  israeli troops so you're dealing here with to his victims of history and to solve this problem one must understand the suffering in the victimhood of them both of course history can't be changed there's no perfect justice but this is a problem that can be fixed and i think the american people understand that alas our governments  been far too inactive in grasping this reality and using our considerable influence our diplomacy and our leadership in trying to solve it we need to do that not only to help our israeli and palestinian friends but to help ourselves conflicts like this which go on and on without any resolution usually grow deeper provoke greater and greater anger frustration and the moderate pragmatic peacemaking elements don't prevail and when they don't radical extremist forces often fill a vacuum for years people have been saying that if the secular moderate palestinian leadership which accepts peace with israel the basis of two states is thwarted that the more extreme elements are going to emerge and take over palestinian politics while it's not clear that that has happened there is a parliamentary majority now from hamas which does not accept the state of israel and which continues to support arms struggle sometimes a euphemism for terrorism the secular palestinian nationalist leadership made a commitment to accept israel and to aband think it will over time and support and to accelerate that process but we shouldn't lose sight of the basic problem which is the continued occupation of the west bank in east the growth of settlements and the continued denial of liberty and justice for the palestinian people on the basis of two states that's the essential problem here hamas is a symptom of that  long long lasting unresolved problem and how moss can change is ways i believe it's capable of doing that but i suspect that is not going to do so unless there is a some kind of reciprocity from the government of israel from the united states and the resumption of a peace process which holds out the hope that there can be two states a peaceful and secure state of israel and a free sarver contiguous a palestinian state in the west bank the two sides are going to have to share the capital of eastern jerusalem a palestinian capital in the east the jewish capital in the west side of the city jerusalem is sacred to both societies a shared jerusalem is an essential ingredient of any peace solution unilateralism which the government of ariel sharon practiced and the policy that his likely successor a hold olmert who will probably merge as the next prime minister of israel after the elections next week is a not a wise policy there cannot be peace unless it's a peace that is created through negotiations between palestinian leadership the israeli leadership unless it's an agreement that is mutually agreed upon and which meets the fundamental needs of both sides the unilateral approach that sharon  promises that he will continue to take address is already there and their goals and their needs it ignores almost entirely palestinian equities and this is not a recipe for peace reconciliation it's a recipe for further conflict water is a vital issue in this conflict the water that the israeli people the palestinians rely upon comes in large part from an underground aquifer underlying both of the western part of the west bank and eastern and central israel that's water that must be shared unless it's shared on an equitable basis  inflict it is true that some of the largest concentrations of israeli settlements on the west bank have been built on or near those areas which have the best access the underground water that is why the shire own government and perhaps the next government will demand that they maintain those very large settlement concentrations it's not only the settlements it's the access to water that those those commanding areas provide it won't work for israel to to continue  using water shared resources which ought to be shared in a highly unequal disproportionate way so equitable water distribution water sharing arrangement is critical and it can be done that's a water short air arid area but with with a negotiated agreement conservation techniques on both sides there's enough water for both societies to survive and thrive about one fifth of the citizens of israel our citizens of arab origin they are the descendants of those arabs who remained in one nine hundred forty eight and who were not expelled in the war they are legally constitutionally full citizens with equal rights the  founding charter of israel although israel does not have a written constitution calls for equality for all of the citizens of israel in fact that equality has not been achieved there are many discriminatory policies affecting the israeli arab community including access to housing and land it's a big issue inside israel i don't think it's an issue that's going to be resolved unless there is a solution to the conflict between israel and the neighboring palestinians and the creation of a palestinian state once that is resolved i think there will be a much greater impulse an opportunity to resolve the anomaly of inequality within israel and there are  israeli arab organizations there are really joint jewish arab organizations within the israel who are combat ing it's discrimination against israel's arab citizens and it's a matter of deep concern to many conscientious israelis the israeli government has a long way to go though before it resolves this problem there is light at the end of the tunnel zionism is a work in progress it's deeply divided among israelis i think a minority of israelis who believe that the highest premium is the land that god gave this land to abraham and to the jewish people and that they have a divine right to reclaim all of it without reference to the rights and equities of the palestinians that's a minority group  now that group includes both secular and ultra ultra religious messianic jews but there are there are a great many more secular jews  believe deeply that the central value of judaism that should also be the central value of israel is justice and who recognize that israel will not fulfill it stream of being a normal state at peace with the world are until the palestinians can achieve their own dream of justice and liberation those two groups that israel are competing for in recent years the right wing in israel have prevailed but i think there is a lot of volatility in israeli politics i think there may even be a silent majority of israelis who realize that it's wrong for israel to dominate the palestinians it is wrong for them to dispossess them to continue building settlements in the occupied territories indeed repeated public opinion polls show that the majority of israel's israelis would welcome the end of settlements in return for peace that a considerable proportion of israelis recognize that the palestinians must have a capital in east jerusalem while the israelis have their capital in west jerusalem all your israelis or united however on the need for peace and security but a growing number of them realize that peace and security for israelis depends absolutely on the liberation and justice and sovereignty for the palestinians in their own state there is a there is an absolute independence interdependence between those two goals security peace for the israelis and then the violence so they can be safe in a jewish democratic state and liberation human rights and justice for the palestinians you can't have one without the other and that's what gives me hope that the israelis and the palestinians can find their way out of this mess but i don't think they can do it without much more positive active american support one reason it's been so difficult to resolve this conflict is that both sides have very partisan idealised narrative is which blame it all on the other  side we are very good at that in this country the public discourse that we have on the israeli palestinian conflict in the united states is highly polarized and highly partisan we're very fond of playing the blame game of of playing the game of comparative victimology saying that our side has suffered much more than the other our side has far stronger rights equities than the other side that's dead wrong we're dealing with two people here who have rights and equities both people who have suffered both people who deserve better and it's wrong for the united states to take sides we should take sides with the forces of peace because if we don't do that we become part of the problem it will take decades to come up with a more accurate version of exactly what happened in the past but we know enough now to know that both the israelis and the palestinians have made a lot of mistakes the conventional wisdom is that the as the saying goes the palestinians have never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity one can say the same thing about the israelis but it's beside the point the point is to fix this and not to try to create a sort of balance of who suffered and who didn't suffered the task ought to be to fix it now the generous offer is part of that propaganda it's part of that purpose that partisanship and one can argue with perhaps even greater weight that it was a generous offer by israeli terms the palestinians were offered more than they ever had been in the past but it wasn't nearly enough to create a sovereign contiguous palestinian state and so on palestinian terms he was not generous at all but let's stop arguing who is right and who is wrong let's let's work harder and try to fix this thing understand this now because for the last twenty years they've been talking to each other and in an otherwise dismal picture that's part of the good news there have been countless  between private israeli private palestinian groups and experts for many many years that led to an official dialogue during the osce low peace process and there are shells full of plans many of them very carefully worked out that would resolve the problems of borders settlements jerusalem security water and refugees the best expression of this on the fischel consensus is a virtual peace treaty called the geneva accord which distinguished expert israeli privates citizens and palestinian private citizens developed three years ago  an official document but it is a fifty page virtual peace treaty which spells out what's what must be done it's not complete not entirely complete but i think the when a solution is ultimately  agreed upon it will resemble the geneva accord there is no perfect justice going to bring back all the jews who were killed in the holocaust you're not going to enable the palestinians to recover the lands of the homes they lost in one thousand nine hundred eight the majority of palestinians understand that now and in a historic move in the late one nine hundred eighty s the palestinian liberal liberation organization accepted the concept of two states and that would provide for a palestinian state in the west bank and gaza with a capital in east jerusalem hamas hasn't accepted that but i think with the right kind of diplomacy and with the right kind of reciprocity they will reach that conclusion as well it's the only realistic solution now the refugee issue is one of the toughest ones but if the palestinians insist upon the rights of palestinians who were forced out of israel in one nine hundred forty eight and their successors to go back to israel and to reclaim all of that land that would effectively mean the end of the jewish state it's not going to happen even though most division liberal israelis oppose that and most palestinians i think understand that reality there must however be compensation how that formula is derived i don't know it will be expensive but it's surely a cost worth paying there are accurate records land records there should be an symbolic acknowledgement i believe of what happened in forty eight but not a full fledged implementation of what is known as the right of return there will be some token return based upon family reunification also as part of a solution to the refugee problem i don't mean to suggest that this is going to be easy but i think it will happen and that once the larger issues of borders and land and jerusalem are resolved the refugee issue will also be resolved recognize that surely we would like to help our israeli friends out of this long long conflict surely we would like to do justice to the palestinians but we need to help ourselves as well because there is no issue that has created more hostility and more anger against the united states in the arab and muslim world and indeed which has shaken the confidence  allies in other parts of the world then the perception that the us has somehow become an agent of israel doesn't care about the palestinians that doesn't really care about human rights  dignity freedom that we that we talk so much about if we are going to regain the confidence and friendship of people around the world especially in the middle east we're going to have to address this issue much more actively we're going to demonstrate american leadership to protect our own national security interests many people believe that we can't do this because of the weakness of our own politics i don't believe that i think if the president the united states decided to offer a bold peace plan to the israelis and the palestinians if he addressed that plan to the publics in those two societies and to the american public if you work carefully with the american congress with the american jewish community the american arab community the christian community i think americans would rise to the challenge and would support such wise leadership it has to be addressed not as a pro israeli or pro palestinian initiative has to be addressed as an american initiative that embraces both of these societies and offers a way out of a terrible conflict by guaranteeing that if they cooperate with us we will help them achieve their basic interests for israel peace and security in a jewish state for the palestinians the end of occupation the end of injustice a liberation in a state of their own