The Jewish people have always felt a tie to Eretz Yisrael/Palestine. Jews have lived there for thousands of years, along with others (who were usually the majority). Like all peoples, Jews have the right to self-determination in some form and consider this land their own.
However, there is no system of law or ethics in which even a firm belief that something belongs to you confers a property right. The right to self-determination of one people cannot be as exercised at the expense of another.
Such a belief cannot justify allying with a powerful empire — Britain —to gain control of the land. The Jews absolutely needed a refuge from the Nazis. The racist and antisemitic 1924 US immigration act denied those refugees entry to the country most would have chosen. US immigration policy and European antisemitism forced a confrontation between Zionists and Palestinians that both saw as existential. Israel was founded and Palestinians became refugees.
The Palestinians are victims of multiple tragedies that are the responsibility of many actors besides Israel. Today there are well-developed national identities of both Israelis and Palestinians. Israel has repeatedly defeated the Palestinians and can do so again, but that will bring neither peace nor security nor will telling the Palestinians that they deserve to be beaten or killed because they are resisting Jewish self-determination. It would be better to recognize that both sides have been victims of forces beyond their control.
Outsiders above all the US must not exacerbate this conflict through selective empathy and weapons. It is better to offer compensation, recognition, and a dignified status to the Palestinians—ceasefire; atonement; dialogue; truce: maybe reconciliation; peace. Continuing the conflict is suicide. One, two, three states — it doesn’t matter. We are all human beings. Was it created in the image of God? I don’t know what that means. Enough to know we are images of each other.
Renowned US scholar and strategic affairs expert Prof. Barnett Rubin posted the views above originally via X)
