The discussions about Israel, the US-Israel relationship, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have drastically changed since the October 7 Hamas massacre. Along with the facts on the ground changing, the perspectives of Israelis, Palestinians, and the international community have also changed.
There seems to be a consensus among the various international parties that the attacks have altered the region in an irreversible manner. All previously held axioms about the region are being reexamined, and discussions regarding the “day after” must be creative. The old assumptions can no longer be relied upon.
This is true for everyone but the United States. Most Israelis are incredulous when they read recent American statements advocating for the creation of a Palestinian state and the two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The two-state solution has existed since well before the foundation of the State of Israel. Many are under the misconception that the Oslo Accords called for the eventual creation of an independent Palestinian state. In fact, they called for autonomous Palestinian areas, but it was US President George W. Bush who energized the two-state solution as a practical strategy with which to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at that time.
Upon presenting his credentials to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, former American ambassador to Israel Tom Nides referred to the recent Abraham Accords saying, “We seek to harness existing and future agreements to improve the lives of Palestinians with a view to preserving the vision of a negotiated two-state solution.” Ambassador Nides, among others in the Biden administration, made it clear that solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with a peace deal was not their priority. Nides said that his goal on a day-to-day basis was not to finalize a peace deal or even to help the parties resume negotiations. He saw his role as moving the situation forward in small steps while keeping hope alive. “I am trying to keep the flame going,” he said.
While the Biden administration believed the two-state solution was the only path forward to ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they would be the first US administration to hold back from offering a peace plan, try to start negotiations, or pressure either side to work towards peace.
Under President Joe Biden, America would work to ensure that any steps or policies that could permanently close off a two-state solution be avoided, but there wouldn’t be any steps put forward that would actually advance the two-state solution. This approach was welcomed by Israelis, who saw it as a policy borne of the reality that both the Israelis and Palestinians weren’t ready for a peace deal.
When Hamas attacked on the holiday of Simchat Torah, Israelis knew that their greatest ally would be by their side. They knew that President Biden – who, upon visiting Israel for the 10th time, and the first as president, declared himself a Zionist – would support Israel. The quality, quantity, and strength of support surprised Israelis. They were inspired by the US president’s repeated strong statements of support and the need to eliminate Hamas from the Gaza Strip. When President Biden visited Israel during the war – the first American president to do so – Israelis were dumbfounded at the over-the-top support he was demonstrating.
In mid-November, President Biden surprised Israelis and pro-Israel Americans when he penned an op-ed in The Washington Post and wrote, “As we strive for peace, Gaza and the West Bank should be reunited under a single governance structure, ultimately under a revitalized Palestinian Authority (PA), as we all work toward a two-state solution. I have been emphatic with Israel’s leaders that extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must stop and that those committing the violence must be held accountable. The United States is prepared to take our own steps, including issuing visa bans against extremists attacking civilians in the West Bank.”
Advocating for a two-state solution after October 7 was insanity
ISRAELIS COULDN’T believe that in the aftermath of the worst Palestinian terror attack in Israel’s history, the Americans thought it was time to advocate for a two-state solution.
A recent poll of Palestinian Arabs in Gaza and the West Bank revealed that over 75% of Palestinians support Hamas’s October 7 massacre; 98% of Palestinians said the October 7 attacks made them proud; 77% of Palestinians want to destroy Israel. In the West Bank, Hamas enjoys an 88% approval rating, while Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) is supported by 93% of West Bank Palestinians. Israelis can’t understand how the Americans think now is the time for a peace push.
Israelis are also shocked at the American advocacy for a “revamped” PA and their focus on the problematic but not urgent issue of settler violence. The PA has been known as one of the most corrupt organizations in the world, and there’s never been a movement of Palestinians who want to fix it.
Declaring that a revamped PA would be able to effectively rule Gaza and the West Bank without identifying future peaceful Palestinian leaders or steps to rejuvenate the PA will not change it. With Palestinians attempting almost five terror attacks a day, every day, America’s focus on the rarely violent intimidation tactics of a statistically insignificant subset of the settler population seems biased, heavy-handed, and beneath the world’s greatest power.
WITH A picture of one-year-old Israeli hostage Kfir Bibas on the side table next to him, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who spent his political life advocating for left-wing peace plans with the Palestinians, said at the January World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, “If you ask an average Israeli now about his or her mental state, nobody in his right mind is willing now to think about what will be the solution of the peace agreements because everybody wants to know: ‘Can we be promised real safety in the future?’”
While the American’s desire to achieve a grandiose peace plan that will include normalization with Saudi Arabia, a plethora of other Arab states, and an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is commendable, Israelis are questioning the US’s timing and what has led it to believe that at precisely the time when Israelis think that peace and an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are least likely to happen, is the time for the US to start a peace push.
The writer is a certified interfaith hospice chaplain in Jerusalem and the mayor of Mitzpe Yeriho, Israel. She lives with her husband and six children.