Comments on: Edward Rothstein on Tony Judt: Is the Idea of a Jewish Homeland Dead? http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2003/11/22/edward-rothstei/ Essays on politics, culture and ideas about Israeli-Arab peace and world music Sat, 22 Nov 2008 09:29:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Jonathan Edelstein http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2003/11/22/edward-rothstei/#comment-99 Jonathan Edelstein Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://box22.bluehost.com/~richard2/wordpress/?p=203#comment-99 The thing is that Judt himself admits that a binational state is pretty far up the gravity gradient and would have to be kept in place through international supervision. I don't think either Israelis or Palestinians would want to live in a perpetual Bosnia. As far as I'm concerned, though, the two-state solution is not only the only viable way out of the current mess but it's a positive moral good in itself. One doesn't have to be a "belligerent, self-righteous, God-fearing irredentist" to believe that a Jewish and democratic state is right and just. I'd like to see Israel become the Jewish state originally envisioned by Herzl - a state at peace with its neighbors in which Arabs are equal partners - and I think there's still some hope for that. The thing is that Judt himself admits that a binational state is pretty far up the gravity gradient and would have to be kept in place through international supervision. I don’t think either Israelis or Palestinians would want to live in a perpetual Bosnia.

As far as I’m concerned, though, the two-state solution is not only the only viable way out of the current mess but it’s a positive moral good in itself. One doesn’t have to be a “belligerent, self-righteous, God-fearing irredentist” to believe that a Jewish and democratic state is right and just. I’d like to see Israel become the Jewish state originally envisioned by Herzl - a state at peace with its neighbors in which Arabs are equal partners - and I think there’s still some hope for that.

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