This flies in the face of a lot of what I've read, but things are changing quickly over there... hmm. There is clearly a demographic divide in Israel right now, but I'm not sure this writer has it exactly right.
And, of course, the obvious bias makes it hard to trust.
Life in the middle east has been shaped by conflict. Many generations throughout this conflicted region have found a balance despite this. There will always be conflict in one way or another. Secularizing the conflict does nothing to change the stakes, only the way the game is played. Anyone wanna bet The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is behind this? This topic reeks of hidden adgendas.
I want to be hopeful about Israeli leftism's growth (and of course GS would too) but after seeing the growth of the alt-right, I'm nervous. Especially with rising anti-Semitism globally, that would be a really easy and compelling argument for right wing/nationalist growth.
Based on your knowledge of current affairs and history, do you think that the Palestinians, and the anti-Israel world at large would accept a two state solution? Or would it be a step on the path towards the abolishment/destruction of the Israeli state? Disclaimer, I'm very pro-Israel.
There's a huge feasibility problem there and it depends on what the 2nd state actually ends up looking like. After the 1st Intifada there were steps towards a semi-independence that largely left Israel still in charge. Both sides failed to meet milestones so it didn't go anywhere. I don't think it's possible for Israel to 100% disengage in the territories because the 2 societies are completely intertwined economically and the border situation with labor is messy enough without it actually being a de facto border. If Israel up and vanished one day, it would be really hard for a Palestinian state to self-support Barring the feasibility question and looking at it from a purely ideological perspective, I think a cessation of hostilities would go a long way towards normalizing relations. I think you'd still always have very nationalist Palestinians who don't accept Israel and Western leftists who will call it occupation, but overall I think meaningful peace is more important to most people. I don't think the Israeli state is going anywhere. I don't believe it's under any viable threat from any group, be it a state or a sub-state group. I kept wanting to draw Kosovo/Serbia parallels in my explanation but I'm 1) not comfortable with my knowledge of the region to make that connection and 2) fairly certain the 2 aren't comparable because Palestinians and Kosovars don't recognize each others' irredentist claims as valid.