Wapo gives false hopes for Israel/Gaza-nothing new

In, “Gaza is shattered. Here’s how to ease the suffering – and offer some hope.” (1/10/24), the Washington Post editorial on the Gaza/ Israeli war misses the mark once again. Their offer for hope is a two-state solution; one Israeli and one Palestinian.  Where’s the hope!?

Perhaps someone should let the Washington Post know the dark little secret that they seem to miss over and over again. The Palestinians do not want a two-state solution. You cannot force something on a group of people that they do not want. The Palestinians and their supporters have made it plainly clear, and the only thing that makes the Washington Post not get it is they are apparently are not listening. For one thing, at all of the numerous worldwide pro-Palestinian/Hamas rallies, there has not been one call for a two-state solution. There isn’t a single one of their not-so-catchy chants calling for the genocide of Jews and the destruction of Israel which contain any resemblance of a goal of a two-state solution. Quite the opposite. Washington Post, where is the two-state solution in the chant “from the river to the sea”, the most widely known chant of the Palestinian supporters? That disgusting chant only shouts for the destruction of Israel as the wide-spread goal of the Palestinians.

Interestingly, and missing from any editorializing at the Post on this topic, is that the Palestinian’s rarely discuss what a Palestinian state would look like. But they are very clear on ideas about what the destruction of Israel would be like. What role models do Palestinians have for what a future Palestinian state would look like? The dictatorship and corruption of Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank? The barbaric dictatorship of Ismael Haniyeh in Gaza? How about the dictatorships in pretty much all of the other countries of the region, aside from Israel? How does The Washington Post realistically envision a Palestinian state? They don’t even say. Where is the “hope” in that?

Further, the Post seems defiant in their claim that there are 22,000 “civilian” Palestinian deaths, which they attribute to the Gaza health ministry. Earlier last week, the Post in their correction section, actually admitted that the Gaza health ministry does not separate combatants from civilians in their casualty count. What does that action say for the credibility of their numbers and the motivation for reporting them?

Whatever the Palestinians say over and over again ad nauseum, the Post editorial concludes that, “Israel should recognize now that there is no reasonable, long-term settlement with the Palestinians that does not involve the creation of a Palestinian state.” The Post believes October 7 must change Israel’s recent disinterest in a two-state solution. And why? Because they say “alternative approaches…have all failed.”

Is the Post not aware that the Palestinians have been offered a state numerous times and said no each time without making counter-offers? Would any rational, objective observer not view that as failure?

Further, October 7 has shown even the most staunch Israeli supporters of a two-state solution that they don’t have anything close to a partner for peace. Reminder to Washington Post: in the months preceding the Oct 7 slaughter of Israeli men, women, toddlers and babies, Israel started letting in additional Gazans giving them jobs to improve their lives. What did the Gazans do? They mapped out where the schools and daycare centers were along with community security centers and gave that information to Hamas to aid in the barbaric slaughter of Jewish families.

There may be hope in the Gaza region for Israelis and Palestinians but the Post’s answer for a two-state fix is premature to say the least. One side – the Palestinians- have never come close to agreeing upon a deal; and since Oct 7, even the most dovish Israelis have now turned sour to the idea.

Perhaps the Post can bring some new ideas to the table instead of enticing its readers with the same worn-out failed “hopes” that it has written about – optimistically – for decades.