At the conclusion of my last post, which criticized Israel for its repetitive brutality and its lack of imagination, I promised that I would at some future point level a critical eye toward the enemies of Israel. The time is now.

The Palestinian people continue to suffer. This in spite of decades of struggle, much of it violent, against the state and people of Israel, which struggle was supposed to bring an end to the state and expulsion of its people from this land with so many names.

[A quick disclaimer: I have lived almost as long as Israel has existed. In all that time I have never been any closer to Palestine than Cairo. The effect that Israel has had on me has only been indirect.]

Now, back to my lesson for the Palestinian people and their advocates.

The land with so many names upon which the state of Israel was created has all those names because of the many – dozens if not hundreds – regimes that have controlled that poor plot. From the beginning of recorded history people have settled this poor land and been uprooted by the next settlers, who in turn have been uprooted. It has gone on and on. A considerable amount of humankind’s very early writing has been devoted to this chronicle.

When European and North American governments established Israel after the conclusion of World War II it happened again. Many, but not all, Palestinians were uprooted as the new Israeli settlers shouldered their way in. A happy event for the new settlers, and unpleasant for the Palestinians. No, it was more than unpleasant. It was horrible. Yet it was not unprecedented.

For millennia people have been expelled from this land, and centuries later their descendents have returned. There will come a time when this land will be home to the children, or grand children, or great-great grandchildren of Palestinians pushed out in 1948. At that time, the land may have its current name, Israel, or it might have a different name. Who knows?

What I do know, is that the only way for this to happen is peacefully. Because when you get right down to it, no one, Hebrew or Palestinian, can be settled if there is no peace. By continuing an armed struggle, especially a struggle of seemingly indiscriminant violence against civilians, the Palestinians and their supporters delay the day of return. The struggle is not working.

Even as the struggle continues, the suffering of the Palestinians continues. Every one knows this. The root cause of the suffering probably is the inequity in treatment of the Hebrew people compared with the Palestinian people. Inequitable and unjust. And, yes, horrible.

This most unfortunate suffering, however, is not what occupies the mind of the part of the world that wields the most power – North America and Europe. As unfair as it may be, the armed struggle against civilians in Israel comes to mind more readily than the suffering caused by the unfair conditions under which the Palestinians live. And this will remain the case until the armed struggle stops.

Perhaps this sounds impossible, but the Palestinians must stop their armed struggle. The fighting, on their part, must stop. Undoubtedly, this means that some recent and some future violent deaths of Palestinians must go unavenged. Suffering will continue – it won’t end overnight. It is the lot of the Palestinians to suffer at this time. And a better time will come. This, too, is not unprecedented.

I look at the transformation of the legal and economic status of African-Americans as a model for what might happen in the land of many names.

In a land of vicious racism, African-Americans of the middle of the last century began drawing attention to the cruel suffering they and their ancestors had endured. Over a period of about twenty years, even in a country that had Black slaves more recently than any other “civilized” nation, ordinary people stood up to say, “Enough!” Laws were changed. Opportunities opened. A generally peaceful transformation occurred. If it happened in my racist nation in an era of black-and-white television with no cell phones or faxes or internet, it can happen today in the land of many names.

If you Palestinians hasten the day without armed struggle, the world will sooner fix its sights on the suffering of the Palestinian people. That will begin an age of change during which the world will stand up to Israel and say, “Enough!”

At some point in time Israel will be unable to resist the peaceful force of the world demanding that it figure out how to stop the suffering that it has caused. When the world no longer sees Israel struggling to survive, the world will insist that it behave decently. Somehow, I don’t know the details, Israel and its neighbors will find an arrangement for sharing the considerable benefits that the Israeli people have brought to the land of many names.

So, I say to Palestinians: Suffering is your lot, and it will continue beyond the time you put down your arms, your rockets, your suicide vests. But it will end soon after. You, and perhaps your children, may not live to see it, but your grandchildren will live in peace with Hebrew and Christian neighbors in the land with many names. This is a gift you can give your descendants.

Peace