The Zionist Left is far from what it used to be - the dominant power in Israeli society. But there are still advocates of a Jewish state on the left side of the political spectrum. Their political position is pretty much the same position that a good share of the Western world takes. It is that a Palestinian state should be established alongside Israel. An end to the ?occupation? of Judea, Samaria and Gaza - or in their terms, the West Bank and Gaza - will enable this solution to come into being. Then, two peoples, the people of the state of Israel and the people of the state of Palestine, will live side-by-side in peace and prosperity.



The Zionist Left does not deny the Jewish historical claim to the land of Israel. They simply say that it is impossible to realize this claim now that another people is living on this land. In fact, the Zionist Left claims that the demographic reality is such that only a separation of the kind they propose will ensure the survival of the Jewish state. The Zionist Left claims that the separation and division of the land is the only way to bring security to the Jewish state and its people.This position is the position of a good share of the intellectual elite in Israel, including the writers Amos Oz, A.B.Yehoshua, Meir Shalev, David Grossman and a host of others. It is the position of the Labor Party and the Zionist elements in Meretz.It is also the position of the Shinui party headed by Tommy Lapid.



The compromise offered by this position is, after nearly thirty-three months of violence, unacceptable to over ninety percent of the Palestinian people. For them, there is no way to receive their legitimate rights without the destruction of Israel. It is also true that the Palestinian political establishment endorses the ?state alongside state? position only insofar as this is a step toward the total elimination of the Jewish state. The fact that there is no partner for this compromise certainly weighs against it. But it does not theoretically disqualify it.



A more serious objection to it in principle comes from understanding its true meaning and implication for the Jewish state. If one thinks clearly and logically about the implications of the state-alongside-state proposal one sees it will not lead to peace, but rather to the undermining of the Jewish state. This is true first in the very area where the Zionist Left thinks it is most advantageous, demographically. A Palestinian Arab state would bring with it almost immediately hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Palestinians and other Arabs eager to be compensated as ?refugees?. Without speaking about the ecological and economic implications of an already overcrowded and impoverished area, it is possible to understand that this Palestinian population will by no means be content to remain ?in the new mini-state.? Economic necessity, family ties, sabotage and terrorism will bring them across the Green Line in increasing numbers. Not only will the demographic balance shift greatly in the Arabs? favor in the whole of the Holy Land, there will be serious inroads into the Jewish majority state. Moreover, as the Palestinians do their best to make life miserable for the Jews (which they have amply demonstrated their ability to do in the past thirty-three months), increasing numbers of Jews will decide that sacrifices worthwhile to make in order to live in a Jewish state are not worthwhile to make for one rapidly losing its Jewish character.



The Palestinian mini-state will ? since this is the fundamental goal of its leaders and people ? continue to operate militarily to undermine the Jewish state. As a sovereign state, its territory will be inviolable, and Israel will have difficulty responding to endless incursions from Palestinian territory. Not simply might there be a dispatch of Arab volunteers to the new state, but these may take the form of regular army contingents. Even more dangerously, the non-conventional weapons the Arabs develop will certainly be deployed within the new Palestine against the ?foreign body in the heart of the Arab people?, i.e., Israel.



A Palestinian state will not bring peace and will not bring an end to the conflict. It will certainly not bring about the separation that the Zionist Left long hopes for. The two peoples are too intertwined and interspersed within the land, as within Jerusalem, for this to happen. All, then, that the advocacy of this position does is weaken Israel, weaken the people?s commitment to the Jewish state, prevent a new line of thinking and block any other, more realistic possibility for strengthening the Jewish state in the land of Israel. The delusions of the Zionist Left are dangerous for Israel also in that they invite outside pressure to push toward a solution that, for Israel, will be self-destructive.



How unfortunate that the best and the brightest of Israel are so blinded by their own preconceptions that they cannot see that what they believe is the ?way toward survival? is the path to defeat and self-destruction.