The Failure Of Partitioning

We have recently witnessed the latest chapter in the Israeli/Palestinian 60-year war of attempted attrition. It looks pretty much like all the other chapters, with slight variations of the direct players involved and the usual alignment of sideline speech-makers. We have seen and heard it all before. Nobody really listening, nobody learning anything new. With some certainty we can reasonably predict the outcome after a few weeks of fighting and death: further loss of America’s credibility as an objective broker in the region; disproportionate deaths in Palestinian populations vis-à-vis Israel; land taken and then returned, but with much of it significantly destroyed; continuing threats and unachievable preconditions stated that work against any realistic chance for peace. Then the cycle starts again. No matter whose side you may lean towards, the net end result is a continual never-ending stalemate.

Some continue to try to paint this intractable conflict as a fight of good versus evil, Western versus Arab, Christian (with Jewish surrogate) versus Muslim – ignoring the holy land status of Jerusalem to all three impacted religions. Yet the true fight continues to be one of land: ownership, legacy, rightful tradition. On that score, all are historically accurate, yet we continue to refuse to work this real problem of “land and home” against its true historical source.

What this conflict truly exemplifies is the continuing failure of land partitions that are created by foreign bodies over existing residents without their say. The partition of land into an Israeli state was done around the same time as the independence and creation of India/Pakistan/Bangladesh after World War 2. Iraq was cobbled together by European powers after World War 1, the same time that Ireland was finally granted independence but Northern Ireland was artificially separated out as “British.” Afghanistan is an imaginary border surrounding numerous independent mountain tribes with no real sense of “country” or central government. Even in America, we supposedly disallowed secession 150 years ago, yet the after-affects remain to this day in both subtle and overt forms.

Czechoslovakia once forced together is now back to two separate countries. India and Pakistan, now nuclear armed, continue a sporadic war that started on day 1 of their partitioning. Northern Ireland’s peace continues to hold but remains touch and go. A number of Eastern European countries are currently looking to separate into smaller independent units based upon history and culture. It they are smart, each larger controlling country will simply let them go and allow common cultures and peoples to regroup themselves accordingly.

Artificially induced borders never win. People do not surrender their land and their ancestry voluntarily to the dictates of outsiders. They simply become a sore that will not heal, festering potentially for centuries until its artificiality finally collapses. Long-term, partitioning (or merger) only works when local people choose it. Joe Biden’s earlier proposal to partition Iraq among the three ethnic groups will ultimately prove correct, because (however forced) they have already virtually accomplished the regrouping themselves.

If peace, personal security and economic well-being can be guaranteed, small countries need not fear for their existence. They can thereby get on with the business of their own nation-building, embraced by a world ready to receive and support them. But the controlling country is not capable of providing such securities, not Israel, Russia, Georgia, or others. With what little influence we still have left in this world, this is where America should push its efforts and resources in conjunction with other countries. Jumping over the local parochial arguments of the combatants that will never get resolved, getting beyond “who is right,” but instead helping all peoples to build their lives. Equal pressure and equal reward for both, without prejudice. If peace shows no reward, then there is no incentive and we consign people to the allure of warriors on both sides. If we do not like Hamas, then we need to stop playing into their hands by demonizing them and leaving them seen as the only choice for their people; if we truly support Israel, then we need to stop supporting their continuing actions as a malevolent conqueror.
In the spirit of the Camp David accord of 30 years ago, who will have the courage to come forward and break this dead-end cycle?