On Oct. 7, Hamas massacred 1,200 innocent Israeli and foreign citizens while 240 people were taken hostage. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said: “Babies slaughtered. Bodies desecrated. Young people burned alive. Women raped. Parents executed in front of their children, children in front of their parents. How are we even to understand this?"

A two-state solution is frequently mentioned as the solution for the issues dividing the Palestinians and Israelis. The original United Nations partition plan for Palestine would have established Israel on 46.47% of the total land of Palestine. The Arab response was for five armies to invade Israel. 

Approximately 20% of Israeli citizens are Muslim. They enjoy full rights. At the time Israel was founded in 1948, some 900,000 Jews lived in the Arab world. Almost all of them were violently forced out. Israel has made many peace offers to the Palestinians. Each was either not implemented or was rejected by the Palestinian leadership.

Palestinians have chosen leadership which is unwilling to end this struggle because it gives them an excuse to keep enriching themselves at the expense of their own people.  President Joe Biden has identified what Hamas really stands for: “the destruction of the State of Israel and the murder of Jewish people.”

Israel launched a military operation with two goals -- to destroy Hamas and retrieve the hostages. They are trying to minimize civilian casualties. Hamas targets civilians, hides behind its own citizens and according to American intelligence operates command posts underneath hospitals.

There can be no permanent peace until the Palestinians agree to accept Israel.  In the meantime, innocent people continue to die on both sides. There will be no cessation to the violence until there is leadership on both sides willing to compromise for peace.

Jay Schechter

Dublin