Israel has been dragging two heavy burdens – one since 1948, the other since 1967 – for a long time, and both must be resolved as soon as possible. This is not being written as part of any ideological or party affiliation or a belief in keeping the country whole. This is written out of a desire to find what will be benefit Israel and its residents in the long term – or in other words, forever.
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I experienced the 1967 Six-Day War as a resident of Beirut. Three months after the war, I made aliyah with my mother, as part of a prisoner exchange deal. I traveled around Israel and arrived at the insight that for the good of Israel, it must return to Egypt, Jordan, and Syria the territories is captured during the war, with the exception of Jerusalem. This insight was based on the peace treaties being signed.
Since then, the facts on the ground have gone in different directions. Today, we have to deal with a more complicated reality. I grew up in an Arab country. We are different in almost every aspect. This doesn't mean that we can't build good neighborly relations. Good neighborliness could give us the quiet, and possibly the reconciliation, we long for. There is a deep-running dispute here about a permanent solution, and therefore it should be left to the public to decide in a referendum. Most of the Middle East has already forgotten the UN Security Council's important Resolution 242 from 1967, which was passed with great effort immediately after the Six-Day War. The resolution says that a permanent peace deal will be based on familiar, secure borders. Let's repeat that – and decide what comprises a secure border for Israel. Many analysts and oped writers are discussing how to respond to the murderous wave of terrorism facing us. In my opinion, we shouldn't be looking for ways to calm the situation, but rather aspire to find a permanent solution that will allow Israel to exist in security.
The second issue we have been burdened with for a long time has to do with the Arabs of Israel. The participation of a small group of Arab Israelis in acts of ethno-religious terrorism, or the clashes in mixed cities in May 2021, should be keeping us awake at night, wondering if our approach of integrating members of that sector into our lives has been a failure. But many do not see the reality in the Arab sector correctly. Any explanation from Joint Arab List leader Ayman Odeh offers about his calls for revolt, or the deceptive maneuvers by the mayor of Umm al-Fahm, only underscore the need for a fundamental solution.
We must not be afraid to look at the problem squarely. What we need is the courage to solve it. The vast majority of Israel's Arab citizens want to live in peace and integrate into society. Arabs serve in diplomatic posts and in other government institutions, and are a credit to the country. The guiding rule is that anyone who sees themselves as an Israeli citizen, and everything that entails, is a citizen in every respect. Those who don't see themselves as citizens and opt to perpetuate the conflict and engage in terrorist activity, have no place among us.
The ongoing non-solution to these two problems will continue to embitter our lives and our ambition to keep Israel Jewish and democratic.
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