The tragedy playing out in Israel-Palestine now is a witches' brew with many chefs. The nihilistic malice of Hamas of course has contributed. But the ludicrously cynical politics of the Trump and Netanyahu administrations share equal blame. The surreal destruction and mob violence feel like the beginning of the end.
The Netanyahu government obliged Hamas by providing an open wound into which salt might be rubbed. Encouraged by the absurd Trump-Kushner "peace plan" (neither a plan nor a design for peace), Netanyahu unleashed his ultra-religious allies to pursue their most gratuitously belligerent goals in East Jerusalem. The expulsion of Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood is a calculated assault on any concept of equity, fairness, or good faith compromise.
The 200+ families in the targeted homes have lived there for more than seventy years, and are to be ejected on the strength of a 19th century deed of purchase. That this should be allowed in a nation that will not grant thousands of Palestinian refugees the right to return to homes from which they had been expelled by Israeli forces in Lydda and Ramle in 1948 makes a mockery of any notion of justice.
Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, a deputy-mayor of Jerusalem, summarized the principles being asserted by the Jewish settlers driving the expulsions quite succinctly: “This is a...Jewish state. It is here to protect the Jewish people.” In other words, the settlers seek to establish by open and blatant precedent (as opposed to tacit bias) that Israel is a nation in which only Jews will have the full protection of citizens. It is an ethno-nationalist vision ironically equivalent to Fascism. The message was not lost on Israel's Arab community, sparking the worst civic unrest between Jewish and non-Jewish citizens in the nation's history.
The tragedy is made doubly absurd by the fact that Netanyahu is abetting his followers in a game that they cannot ultimately win. Chaos has little but upside for Hamas. Acting out Palestinian rage wins them political capital from some in the Arab community and opprobrium from others in the Middle East and beyond. Either way, it forestalls peace and keeps the wheel of conflict spinning, which is just as Hamas desires. Other than attacks on its leadership, Hamas has little to fear from Israel. It would be more expensive for Israel to re-occupy Gaza than to deal with occasional rocket attacks, so Israel possesses little leverage over Hamas's strategic decisions.
Hamas will continue to enjoy purchase in Palestinian society as long as its people are captive to despair, humiliation, and rage. The only way that Hamas can be stopped is if the rights and dignity of the Palestinian people are recognized. Whether that happens through (an increasingly untenable) two-state solution or the merger of Israel and Palestine into a single state with full citizenship for all people, the violence and death will continue until justice is achieved. It feels like the beginning of the end, the only question is: "of what?" We may be witnessing the beginning of despair and the end of all hope for peace. Let us pray rather that it is the end of delusion and the beginning of a path back to sanity.
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