What Is The Price For The Solution Of The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict?

Editor’s note: Arinze Esomnofu, Naij.com guest columnist, suggests his own plan on resolving the prolonged Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It has always been against my professional ethics to begin a piece with a quote, but I resolved to make an exception for this particular article.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, when addressing the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly made an touching plea to Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the State of Palestine and Palestinian National Authority, on establishing a lasting peace between both nations: “I know it’s hard. But we owe it to our peoples to try, to continue to try, because together, if we actually negotiate and stop negotiating about the negotiation, if we actually sit down and try to resolve this conflict between us, recognize each other, not use a Palestinian state as a stepping stone for another Islamist dictatorship in the Middle East, but something that will live at peace next to the Jewish state, if we actually do that, we can do remarkable things for our peoples.”

Having gone through Netanyahu’s speech all I could whisper was: “See how much he loves and wants peace.” Then I asked myself: “What is the price for peace?” Clearly, it has been roughly two weeks since Netanyahu delivered his speech, and the violence between Israel and Palestine still persists, the bad blood between the two nations still lingers.

When did the “hate” started? What turned the neighbors into the sworn enemies? Now let me draw your attention to the history of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Then

The end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century were marked by the birth of the two major nationalist movements among Jews and Arabs, both geared towards attaining sovereignty for their people in the Middle East. The conflict originated from the inter-communal violence between Jews and Arabs in Mandatory Palestine in 1920, and erupted into the full-scale civil war in 1947–48.

Nowadays the conflict between Israel and Palestine is regarded the most intractable in the world, and one of the major reasons for it is Jerusalem. Yes, you heard me right. Jerusalem.

The Holy Land

To every Israeli Jerusalem remains the capital. However, most world leaders do not acknowledge Jerusalem as the capital of Israel due to the power struggle between Israel and Palestine. Even President Obama do not publicly recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital despite the strong bonds existing between the nations; that’s why the US embassy today is in Tel Aviv, not in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem consists largely of two regions: Eastern Jerusalem and Western Jerusalem. As of 2005, there were more than 719,000 people living in Jerusalem: 465,000 Jews (mostly living in West Jerusalem) and 232,000 Muslims (predominantly inhabiting East Jerusalem). The battle for supremacy is mainly unfolding around East Jerusalem, which is largely dominated by Arabs.

Whose is Jerusalem?

According to the Bible, King David conquered Jerusalem from Jebusites, and made it the capital of the United Kingdom of Israel. His son, King Solomon, commissioned the construction of the First Temple. These foundational events are of symbolic importance for the Jewish people.

Looking at the Islamic reference, in 610 CE Jerusalem became the first Qibla, the focal point for Muslim prayer (salat), and Muhammad made his Night Journey there 10 years later, ascending to heaven when speaking to God, according to the Quran.

Now we can all see why Jerusalem is considered the Holy City: both Jews and Muslims have strong historical claims to the land. But the question is: “Who are the true owners of Jerusalem?”

Now

Having taken you through the Biblical and Quranic claims to Jerusalem I would like to come down now to the modern times. In 1967 Israel defeated Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon in the famous Six-Day War. As a result, East Jerusalem fell under the control of Israel, and the status quo has been preserved till date.

Presently above 90% of East Jerusalem inhabitants are Arabs, and they strongly believe that their history and loyalty lies with the Palestinian government, hence the violence.

Being a keen observer of international politics I take no personal stand in the perpetual conflict between Israel and Palestine. I rather stand on the docile side of peace, for the Middle East is in dire need of peace now more than any time in the history.

The price for peace

Now I ask again: “What is the price for peace between Israel and Palestine?” Obviously, President Abbas wants peace, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants peace as well. However, peace seems to be far from here. The previous prime ministers of Israel and the previous presidents of Palestine have once negotiated peace, but both nations are still stuck in violence, the citizens of both nations still hack each other to death at the slightest provocation.

The international community has come to pin its hopes for resolving the Palestinian issue on the two – state solution recognising the legitimate right of each country to exist in peace and security. This resolution was fully approved by President Buhari.

The two-state solution is undoubtedly a panacea to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but this is definitely not the price for peace. The price for peace is what I call the “letting go”: the hate speeches spread among the young ones have to be buried for a better and peaceful tomorrow, because most Palestinians and Israelis grow up loathing each other, for their heads are filled with the nefarious messages.

Moreover, in the “letting go” both the leaders of Israel and Palestine should understand that one cannot just offer peace without a price they are willing to pay. However, sadly, that is what both Netanyahu and Abbas have been doing now.

I urge both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Abbas to meet at the round table and discuss the terms that will put an end to the age-long conflict. Jerusalem might be worth fighting for based on its rich historic background and religious history, but it is not worth the lives of the unarmed and innocent citizens. Should both leaders continue in the way of their predecessors, Jerusalem might as well be called the land of blood, instead of the Holy Land.

Arinze Esomnofu for Naij,com

Arinze Esomnofu is a political analyst, public commentator on trending political events, and a motivational speaker.

This article expresses the author’s opinion only. The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Naij.com or its editors.

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