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Developing an Israeli Grand Strategy toward
a Peaceful Two-State Solution
scenario would cause renewed violence and most likely a re-
occupation of the West Bank. Hence, supporting Palestinian
institutional, social, economic and political state-building
remains of the utmost importance. In this sphere the civil
society peace movement should find substantial support
from a wide coalition of the Israeli political spectrum and
pro-active support from the professional class in numerous
governmental institutions, including the security authorities,
the Ministries of Finance, Transport, Energy and Foreign
Affairs.
2)
Synergy
: In articulating the raison d'être of the Peace
NGOs Forum, Yuval Rahamim explained that, "One of the
things that must happen within the peace camp is tolerance of
other organizations – that we aren't in possession of the sole
truth. The essence of dialogue doesn't exist between us. We
need to sit together and find out how we can work together
to create social change, strategically." A
Heshbon Nefesh
process can serve as a forum to engage across differences
and complementarities within the civil society peace/human
rights/anti-occupation community: To acknowledge the
contributions of diverse approaches, to identify widely
shared problems and aspirations, and to build solidarity in
contending with de-legitimization by the extreme Right – to
build a "big tent" approach that will strengthen all the CSOs
that are identified within Israeli society as "Left" or "Peace
NGOs."
3)
Society
: This process should aim, once and for all, to break
peace advocacy out of the demographic box – by empowering
peace advocates rooted in diverse constituencies, and
sparking dialogue with mainstream civil society leaders from
all of Israel's "tribes." The goal must be to make two-states
a cross-cutting issue – not the trademark of a single "peace
camp" demographic, but an agenda championed by parallel
"peace camps" within every demographic.
4)
Religious Outreach
: The work carried out by Rabbi Michael
Melchior in reaching out to the most important Muslim
religious dignitaries of Palestine, and elsewhere in the Middle
East, is — in the long run — the most important legitimizer
for peace. Parallel work with rabbinical leaders is similarly
decisively important.
Ideally, it is necessary to design a strategy, coordinated to
the degree possible, of different groups working to address
different audiences: continued outreach to Palestinian
society; effective advocacy to Israel’s Centrist majority,
addressing mainly the issues of security, economic growth,
and Israel’s international standing; and outreach to Israel’s
settler community, who will have a decisive say, in favor or
against a two state solution, as they will be asked to pay
a high price. It is crucial, if understandably controversial,
to include dialogue with the settler community within the
larger religious Zionist camp. Any movement forward toward
a two state solution will require the relocation/evacuation
of settlements in the heartland of Palestine; it is therefore
essential to continue and expand successful models for
solution-oriented dialogue with the rabbinical, the ideological
and the municipal leadership of the settlers movement, with
the aim of marginalizing the most radical groups, who will
violently oppose action in support of a two state solution
(Zalzberg, 2014).
It is equally imperative to strengthen the Arab-Jewish "shared
society" sphere – in which much important and successful
CSO work is being done – and expand the legitimacy
and potential for effective political alliances without which
significant progress on peace is all but impossible. The
educational, social and economic empowerment of Israel’s
Palestinian society creates the basis for effective joint Jewish-
Arab action at the political level, as illustrated by Odeh and
Rivlin's leadership and the multi-dimensional advocacy
process that inspired government Decision 922 (Gerlitz
2016).
4
In that vein, a
heshbon nefesh
process should include
rethinking the framing of the two-state solution as "separation."
Ehud Barak's statement “we are here and they (the
Palestinians) are there,” has in many ways increased Jewish-
Arab alienation and opposition to a two-state solution, on
either side of the Green Line – it should be replaced by Rivlin's
acknowledgement that "we are all here to stay," and should
strive to live in security, civic equality, and mutual respect.
Moreover, a concept of hermetic separation echoes the
vision of Israel as a beleaguered island in the Middle East,
rather than a prosperous country pursuing integration in the
region. Finally, harsh separation would increase the risk of
state failure in Palestine, for whom Israel is a natural market
and outlet to Europe and the United States. An alternative
strategic emphasis on social, cultural and economic inter-
dependence can in the long run enable Palestine to become
a prosperous and successful neighbor of Israel.
Programmatically, a pair of landmark Rivlin-
style
speeches,
framing moral and political imperatives through clear
demographic arithmetic, could inaugurate this process.
First, an "internal" speech, directed at the peace advocacy
community, might use demographic data to emphasize
the absolute necessity of engaging the critical mass of the
Israeli Jewish public in order to achieve any progress toward
a solution. An "external" speech, by contrast, would seek to
present to the wider public the equally clear demographic
writing on the wall regarding continued control of the West
Bank, and the paths to
securely
ending the occupation and
striving toward long-term conflict transformation. Ideally,
this process would generate a comprehensive strategy for
civil society peace advocates, and inspire parallel public
conversations within all of Israel's diverse regional and "tribal"
constituencies – to motivate the broadest possible cross-
section of Israelis to recognize reality and take responsibility
for securing a democratic future.
"Unsustainable" has become the international community's
latest anodyne keyword to describe the post-1967 status
quo between Israel and the Palestinians. Yet a glance
4 A companion essay in this volume presents a detailed approach to
this issue, and advocates strengthening the Israeli Arab Palestinian
identity and working together with Jewish partners for full civic
equality.
