A common man's view of the Israeli - Palestinian problem

I was listening to Michael Smerconish interview an Italian-Israeli journalist named Rula Jebreal on XM Potus the other day. Initially I had to appreciate that she was at least trying to get both sides of the Israeli – Palestinian story out. Most of us in the US can only make up our mind by the material provided by the biased media. They were congratulating each other that they were getting both sides out, while in my view both of them missed the bigger point. There’s no use in trying to correct the record on who did what to who, and when. While there are many causes to the current dispute more importantly there is a root cause for the inability solve the conflict and move forward. I propose we throw out the problem of the day and insist on disclosing the real cause of ongoing conflict.

The real root cause of the ongoing conflict is that the Palestinian representation framework is flawed. You can't have more than one representative representing you. The reason why there can never be peace between Israel and the Palestinians is because the conflict isn't “Israel vs. Palestine”, the conflict is between the following:

• ·         Israel vs. Palestinian Authority (PA) – the official representative government
• ·         Israel vs. Hamas
• ·         Israel vs. Palestinian Islamic Jihad
• ·         Israel vs. Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine
• ·         Israel vs. Palestine Liberation Front
• ·         Israel vs. Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
• ·         Israel vs. Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command
• ·         Israel vs. Popular Resistance Committees
• ·         Israel vs. Black September Organization‎
• ·         Israel vs. Fatah‎
• ·         Israel vs. Palestine Liberation Organization‎

Honestly, I will just have to admit I know nothing about most of these, and frankly I just found the list on the net. So, while somebody could easily debate why one Palestinian group shouldn't be labelled terrorist is just missing the point. I’m just a regular guy pointing out what to me should be really obvious.

The point is, there are a bunch of different Palestinian organizations on the list, and each one has to agree to any terms for peace. Israel has ONE government. Israel has politicians who dispute internally, but the final terms from Israel comes from ONE voice, the Israeli government. Palestine continues to lob rockets or dig tunnels even if the majority of the people are happy with terms for peace, why? Because they allow minority splinter groups to keep the battle alive just because they don't get what they want.

Here’s a question to you, the reader, regardless of how you come out on the dispute. Can you honestly say that there would ever be hope for an agreement if Israel is only 1/12^th of the decision?  Meaning, if 12 participants have to be pleased with the proposed solution does it make sense to you that this would EVER happen?  Doesn’t Israel have a right to be 50% represented? Reasonable thinking people know that there is only ONE possible hope for peace between Israel and the many faces of the “Palestinians”, and that is when the People of Palestine truly self-select their representation.

Clearly that has to come first. To be clear, “self-select” doesn’t just mean declaring the victor, it means that the people of Palestine have to do whatever they can to force the will of the people in their land. The Palestinians have to elect their leaders and when the leaders vote on a position then the Palestinian Government dully elected MUST forcibly eject any organization that is not representing the will of the people. How can this be hard to understand? I’m sure and I know there is a big blame game going on, but the current scenario is not the problem, the problem is that Palestine allows itself to be represented by more than one entity – this has to stop or Israel will never be able to negotiate, and they will never stop their blockade.

It is important that the international community put 100% of their focus in solving the problem of splintered Palestinian leadership – that is the long term strategy for peace.

#MichaelSmerconish  #RulaJebreal #XMPOTUS