Middle East

Jodi Rudoren, Guardian -   That’s one thing I’m certain of after a dozen years of intensely covering this saga, first as Jerusalem bureau chief of the New York Times and now as editor-in-chief of the leading American Jewish news outlet, the Forward. There is no hope for resolving the dueling historical narratives of the Holy Land. A peace agreement is possible only if it takes today as its starting point and focuses on the future.A future in which Palestine and Israel exist side by side, recognized by each other and all the world as the nation-states of their respective peoples...

In joining the 143 other countries that had already recognized Palestine, Spain’s prime minister said on Tuesday that the move had “a single goal, and that is to help Israelis and Palestinians achieve peace”. As the Irish leader, Simon Harris, put it: “You can’t say you’re in favor of a two-state solution and not recognize the very existence of two states.”

It’s time for the United States to join them, and for American Jews to lead the charge. Mutual recognition won’t end the devastating war in Gaza or outline who should control the territory afterward. It won’t return the 120-plus Israeli and other hostages still being held by Hamas terrorists to their families, or end antisemitism around the world. But it’s a place to start.

Only once Israel and Palestine recognize each other’s right to exist can they start talking about how to maintain safe and durable borders, resettle refugees and provide everyone reasonable access to the holy sites. The question is not who did what to whom in the past, but how they want to live, separately, in the future.

If we don’t recognize Palestine as a state alongside Israel, it only gives power to those whose chants “from the river to the sea” herald a hope for the Jewish state’s destruction. And if world leaders – including Abbas and other Palestinians – don’t recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, it only eggs on the expansionist Israeli ideologues who want to rebuild settlements inside Gaza. Both are profoundly terrible ideas. If Joe Biden wants to make history, he has to convince the Israelis and Palestinians to stop talking about history and start thinking about what comes next.