In this background paper, Gershon Baskin demonstrates how twenty two years of failed peace process have left the public on both sides of the conflict with a deep sense that there is no partner for peace and that peace is not possible.
Gershon Baskin focused on the lessons that should be learned from the failures of Israeli Palestinian peace processes and offered conclusions regarding future prospects.
Gershon Baskin believes that the only solution to the Israel Palestinian conflict is dividing the land between the river and the sea.
Gershon Baskin, the acclaimed activist-journalist-peacemaker, spoke about “Israel’s Direction Post-Election” at Temple Isaiah in LA.
Half of Israel’s population continues to support a vision of two states for two peoples, and if Israelis believed it was possible to achieve such a solution, that number would grow to two thirds.
Israel should announce immediately its willingness to have those 18,000 remaining residents of Yarmouk come to the West Bank. There should be no conditions attached to Israel’s benevolent action.
Today it is the Jewish side which refuses to accept the proposal and attempts to suggest that those nations which support the upcoming Security Council Resolution are anti-Israel.
I challenge the Palestinians and ask: why it is so hard for them to recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people?
Israel will not be a better place to live following these elections. But this is what the majority of Israelis voted for and this is what they will get.
It seems a very likely possibility that both Kahlon and President Rivlin will push for a so-called national unity government with Likud and Labor rotating for Prime Minister.