​Yes, to a Two-State Solution in the Middle East, And a Return to the Spirit of Moshe and Munir!

Palestinians race to recover food aid dropped from the sky.

Israel is increasingly isolated in the world because of its continued war in Gaza, killing thousands of Palestinians.
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France, Great Britain, Canada and now Portugal have all declared themselves in favour of a Palestinian state, over the objections of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamen Netanyahu who continues to wage war as a way of holding on to power. ​

Canada, France and Britain were among the first countries to express their support for Israel in the hours and days after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas. Freeing the remaining hostages held by Hamas and the essential return of the human remains is those who died in captivity.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced that Canada intends to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September. Carney has taken a sensible approach:  He says that “the level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable and is rapidly deteriorating…Canada condemns the fact that the Israeli government has let the situation deteriorate in Gaza to this extent.”

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, now without a seat in the House of Commons, and embroiled in a complex by-election campaign in Alberta, is a toothless tiger on the Canadian political scene at the moment, and he did not add much to the debate on the Middle East when he said that Prime Minister Carney’s position “rewards violence, not peace.”

The New Democratic Party called Carney’s approach “a welcome step forward.”

Carney is further suggesting that the recognition of a Palestinian state is based on the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to needed reforms, including the holding of general elections in 2026 in which Hamas would not be able to take part, “to demilitarize the Palestinian state.

There is an important degree of nativity in this reliance on the Palestinian Authority, which has been largely ineffectual under the domination of the military strength of Hamas.

For his part British Prime Minister in his position takes things to the point of ridiculousness by saying that Britain would recognize the Palestinian state if Israel does not agree to a ceasefire.
Surely a Two-Nation solution to the Middle East’s problems is a valuable goal, without such a tit-for-tat approach.

Israel’s ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed, takes the Israeli position to sad lengths when he says: “We will not sacrifice our very existence by permitting the imposition of a jihadist state on our ancestral homeland that seeks our annihilation.” 

Israel must remember that Israelis are not the only people who claim the “Holy Land” as their ancestral homeland.

The extermination of over six million Jews in the Nazi holocaust is one of the worst blights in the history of humankind. It was the major reason there was an irresistible force for the creation of the State of Israel.

Now, ceaseless aggression by the Netanyahu regime, including accelerated expansion of settlements on the West Bank of the Jordan River, and lack of compassion for the starving Palestinian residents of Gaza, show no regard for the need of Israel to forge friendships with its neighbours.

With Netanyahu’s determination to continue wage war until Palestinians are driven out of Gaza, he will only perpetuate the cycle of violence and encourage young people to sign on with extremist organizations like Hamas.

If there is any hope for a two-state solution in the Middle East it could result of adopting the “Spirit of Moshe and Munir”, something that has been discussed before in this space.

As far back as 2007, Adrienne Arsenault, then a television reporter for the CBC and now the host of The National and the Chief Correspondent of the network, told the touching story of Munir a Palestinian olive farmer, and Moshe, an Israeli contractor. Munir was angry that a radical Israeli, living in the occupied lands of the West Bank had shot and wounded a friend of his.

In Arsenault’s story, Munir said he could not be angry with all Israelis after the shooting, as he had lived and worked in Israel and had gotten to know many Israelis as friends, notably Moshe. The two men and their families had developed an unshakeable friendship.

Then over a period of about 10 years, Moshe and Munir were separated by the gathering antagonism and violence between Israelis and Palestinians, symbolized by the harsh reality of the high wall erected by Israel to keep the Palestinians out.

With the facilitation of the Arsenault and the CBC and under the watchful eye of the Israeli military, there was a heartfelt reunion between the two men. Munir cried as he told Moshe how his mother, a commending presence, had died, and his sister had fallen ill and died as well.

Moshe said that it does not matter what people are like when they are born, it is their education, their social relations, and their friendships, which are vital.

These two wise and honest men speak in the television piece, but as argued by the Against the Flow blog back in 2023, the problems of the Middle East remain complex and seemingly intractable, but words like love, friendship and loyalty shine through.
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We know that that this thought is idealistic, but what other way is there to end the killing in this troubled part of the world? It is indeed The Spirit of Moshe and Munir.