Finding Common Ground in the Middle East Conflict

11/30/23

In the discourse about the war in the Middle East, polls about public sentiment too often cast the issue as a choice between supporting Israel or supporting the Palestinians. Unfortunately, that’s the wrong question — one that leads to unnecessary contentiousness and impedes a constructive resolution to the problem.

I’m not so naïve as to believe that the two warring factions don’t have their fanatical elements — populations that, to my mind, are responsible for the perpetuation of this conflict well beyond the point when it should have ended. These voices must be quelled. Failure to do so means maintenance of the status quo of conflict, terror, and reprisals.

Rather than lining up for or against Israel or the Palestinians, the relevant question is where one stands on whether these two entities should pursue the path toward mutual coexistence, where Israel’s security isn’t in jeopardy and where Palestinians can live in a state of their own.

The divide on this question is stark. Not committing to mutual coexistence means advocating for a continuation of ever-escalating hostilities with its consequent violence and repression, ultimately leading to the expulsion or elimination of one or the other of these populations. In any case, these views must be recognized as being…