Insights

Perception is definitely shaped by geography – and from where I sit, I see how cheap our blood is, and how much more cheap the blood of our enemies. How sad.

The only rational course of action that can save lives – including the life of Gilad Shalit – is to find a way to reach a bilateral cease-fire that would include a prisoner release.

The time has come for us to engrave in the brains of the Palestinians that the State of Israel is capable of “changing disks” and to work is a more conciliatory way instead of always demonstrating our aptitude as warriors.

The alternative is to renew the bilateral political process with the PLO represented by Mahmoud Abbas. While there are no guarantees of an agreement, there is little to lose. And Israel could anyway move ahead with planning for convergence.

Gershon Baskin thinks that Israel should withdraw from territories to the East of the barrier, with the area from which Israel withdraws being placed under the jurisdiction of a United Nations Interim Mission. The Mission’s military arm would replace the Israeli army contingents along the Jordan River, secure Israel’s borders in the West Bank, man all crossing points from Israel to the West Bank, and work directly with Palestinian security forces under a single command.

During Pessah this year let us remember that the experience of slavery has created for us a deep consciousness and a passionate commitment to freedom and justice as incorporated in the Torah. We vow to remember that we were once slaves in Egypt and today we can retell our story of liberation. Let us truly become free, free from occupation, free from conflict and free to build peace with our neighbours.

Gershon Baskin thinks that by taking the initiative of creating the international interim governing authority in Palestine, Israel can ensure the orderly takeover of control of territories from which it seeks to withdraw.

Gershon Baskin claims that when Ismail Haniyeh stated that he wants to put an end to the conflict that has been going on for decades, it represented the first time a Hamas leader has spoken about the possibility of ending the conflict with Israel.

Internationalization of the solution is perhaps the best way to ensure that we do not lose the two-state option