I’ve offered my solution to this intractable conflict. It won’t happen, and conflict will continue until it does happen. So what lies ahead. Biden has offered up a plan. As of tonight, it’s going nowhere. He surely wants something good to happen before people start voting in the fall, but can he make it happen? Trump doesn’t really have to say anything. The Abraham Accords occurred during his term in office, so he can gloat over that.

Hamas will not give up clamoring for the right to return because it sounds good and gets lots of sympathy. People imagine that the Israelis are totally responsible for the displacement of 700,000 Palestinians and don’t consider the fact that an equal number of Jews were displaced from Muslim majority countries throughout the Middle East and north Africa. 

As for the Israeli settlements in the West Bank, it is possible that whoever succeeds Netanyahu will find a way to end new ones. I’m not counting on it, but it’s possible. There would have to be some serious interest on the part of Palestinians in a two state solution for this to happen. But Israelis who used to oppose the settlements, viewing them as an obstacle to peace, will, at some point, remind people that assigning the IDF to protect the settlements rather than the Gaza border is part of what led to the heavy loss of life on October 7. 

Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and many ordinary Palestinians are riding high on the wave of support they are receiving during the current war. This high will last a while, but at some point, someone will voice the opinion that they might be better off if they consider the ways in which their lives might improve with a two state solution. Israeli supporters of a two state solution have given up, so Palestinians and their supporters will need to break the ice this time.

These voices will first come from the West where people, including Muslims with connections to Palestine, are free to voice this thought. At some point, western leaders will talk less about justice for Palestinians and more about specific advantages of being able to focus on building up their culture and their economy. Some brave head of state will state bluntly that the right of return is not a right; It is a pipe dream and an impediment to peace. And at some point, someone living in Palestine will talk about this. Will it be mothers? Health care workers? Teenagers who are tied of the cult of martydom? Some day it will be a brave person in a position of leadership within the Palestinian community. And then the dam will break. People will talk less of the glories of martyrdom and necessity of Jihad and more about creating a better life for their children. 

Was it Golda Meir who said that peace will come when people love their children more than they hate their enemies? I believe that is what must happen. And it can happen.