re: #673 Charles

The naivete is breathtaking.

You admit yourself that the Palestinians have not ever stopped committing violence, and have no intention of doing so. But you think the solution for this is for Israel to remove all the checkpoints in an area controlled by Hamas?

What do you think will happen if Israel does this? The Palestinians will be so grateful that they’ll lay down their arms?

You say you’re trying to argue from a realist viewpoint, but this idea is blatantly unrealistic.

I think that Israel needs to give the Palestinians a chance to clean their own house. The checkpoints that prevent the free movement amongst various “palestinian” lands are the main face of Israeli control. Israel should give the Palestinians a contiguous chunk of land to call their own. Seal it off, maintain the wall, maintain rigorous checkpoints for anyone who wishes to cross into Israel. But end the checkpoints for Palestinian movement within the West Bank and Gaza.

I’m not saying capitulate to the Palestinians, I’m saying remove the overt symbols of the control they believe Israel has over them. Still use drones and satellites and whatever infiltrative intelligence techniques Israel wishes to keep tabs on Hamas. But cease the settlements, cease the internal checkpoints, and give the Palis a contiguous chuck of land. Then if they continue to fuck it up, they have nobody to blame but themselves.

All I’m saying is, the current situation is untenable. Israel is unhappy manning their checkpoints, the Palestinians are unhappy with the checkpoints. And quite frankly the checkpoints haven’t stopped the violence. Why not try and take a different approach. If it fails you can always just move back in?