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8 Sivan 5768, Wednesday, June 11, 2008 22:01 IST

Paradoxes? You bet

Sir, – Is it too late to praise Yossi Klein Halevi’s “The paradoxes of life in Israel” (May 21)? Its many truths included: “The Left has won the argument over concessions; the Right has won the argument over peace.”

Not long ago the occupation seemed wantonly endless; the then-dominant Likud’s platform claimed an eternal “Greater Israel”; in Gaza one percent of the people were settlers given 30 percent of the land, on which demarcations seemed to exceed security needs and Palestinians could become a majority “between the sea and the river.”

Israel seemed increasingly maximalistic and ideological, and the Palestinians increasingly moderate and pragmatic, just wanting the territories back.

But since then a sea change has occurred. Ehud Barak’s and Clinton’s offer to Yasser Arafat of land for a state was rejected outright, the second intifada came, and Islamist extremism arose. Ariel Sharon came to reject the occupation and Greater Israel and unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, with further plans to withdraw from most of the West Bank. The ominous future of an impending Palestinian majority and Israel as a future, “apartheid-like” occupier of a majority Palestinian population disappeared, and Israel’s stature in the world – and its self-confidence – leapt.

But though Israel’s new stature has, importantly, remained, her sense of well-being soon ended with Ahmadinejad’s threats and Hamas in power, the 2006 war from Hizbullah in the north and Gaza in the south, and continuing missiles from the now Hamas-run Gaza in the south.

Now the Palestinian side is the one that seems maximalist and ideological, and Israel the side that is moderate and pragmatic.

The Left’s critique of Israel – which I used to agree with – doesn’t make sense to me anymore. I feel betrayed by the Palestinian leadership. I have run out of excuses for it.

Nonetheless, there is no choice but to keep trying for peace, even if it takes decades, or even centuries. I wish I knew an alternative, but I just don’t.

JAMES ADLER
Cambridge, Massachusetts