Encountering Peace: Looking into Palestinian political realities

As Israeli society moves further away from supporting a deal with the Palestinians, Palestinian society is also moving further away. The voices of moderation on both sides of the conflict are dissipating and the belief that peace is even possible is all but disappearing. I have always said that what each side of the conflict says and does impacts the other. Neither side lives in a vacuum and each side’s discontent with the other has a direct impact across the conflict line. Each side also has the ability to positively impact the other. Recalling Egyptian president Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem, one can easily remember how public opinion in Israel on the question of returning Sinai to Egypt changed 180 degrees almost overnight. Both sides have the potential ability to positively impact the public opinion of the other, albeit given the current reality and the leaders in power, it seems very unlikely that even a very dramatic and unexpected act could change the course of negative events that we are facing. But it might be the only thing that could right now.It is important for the Israeli public to understand what the Israeli security forces understand quite well: the continuation of total non-engagement concerning returning to negotiations and not creating a political horizon will strengthen the radicalization of the Palestinian public to a point that may become extremely difficult to reverse. In the meantime the one-state binational reality is becoming permanent in the mindset of Palestinians. Their unwillingness to acquiesce to the unending Israeli control and domination that deny their basic freedoms is a force that drives Palestinian public opinion to new extremes.In addition to this, there are clear indications that the continued weakening of the Palestinian Authority, in addition to the non-existence of a peace process and any hope of its renewal, the economic decline in the West Bank and the lack of progress in internal Palestinian reconciliation are also fueling extremist attitudes among the Palestinian public in the West Bank. You don’t need opinion polls to show the shift in public opinion; it is enough to sit in any coffee shop there, to wander the streets of any town or village, to listen to any Palestinian radio station or to watch any Palestinian television station. Anti-Israel rhetoric and sentiment and support for violence against Israel and lionization of Palestinian terrorist attackers against Israelis as martyrs have spread wider and deeper than any point since the height of the second intifada in 2002.

 

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