OPINION:
Clifford May observes that “Israelis have only begun the painful process of examining the failures” that led to the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas and other Islamists (“Hamas continued disinformation war fuels a global assault on Israel’s survival,” Web, Dec. 16). Chief among these failures was the belief that “if Gazans’ lives improved,” including “more and better-paying jobs, schools for their children and improved health care,” Hamas leaders would “refrain from initiating” another war.
It must be said: This is an old ailment.
Israelis and many of their allies have long believed that economic inducements could lessen hostility to Zionism, the belief in Jewish self-determination. In 1896, Theodor Herzl, arguably the founding father of political Zionism, argued that Jewish settlement in the Jews’ ancestral homeland would bring financial benefits to non-Jews too.
In 1919, Chaim Weizmann, Herzl’s successor of sorts, similarly hailed the transformative impact of establishing a Jewish “national home.” Weizmann inked an agreement with Faisal, the future ruler of both Syria and Iraq, asserting that the Zionist Organization would undertake a “survey” of the economic possibilities and “report on the best means for development.”
Zionists did indeed bring untold economic benefits to the land. Many of the hospitals and universities in the Gaza Strip and the so-called West Bank were built by Israelis. Israel itself is the famous “Start-Up Nation” and a leading light in numerous fields. For Palestinians, this was the road not taken.
Palestinian leaders have, without exception, refused to recognize the Jewish state’s right to exist.
A fundamental tenet of their ideology is to tear down and destroy, and they have proved time and again that they will sacrifice their own people to do so. Promises of economic riches and measurable improvements to quality of life count for little with an ideology that celebrates child “martyrs” and suicide bombers.
Ultimately, there can be no compromise over most basic ask: the right to exist.
SEAN DURNS
Senior research analyst
Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis
Washington
Please read our comment policy before commenting.