Reflection #6

I got the privilege to listen to and meet Dennis Ross, the former director of Near East and South Asian affairs in the National Security Council today. Walking into the room where the speech was being held (Addas Temple, where many Moderate Jews like me go for holidays), one of my friends pointed out the fact that there were also several notable congressmen in the small crowd of around 50 comprised of mostly ancient skeletal-like European Jewish folk; it shocked me that there weren't any other college students there to see Mr. Ross speak.
Anyway, Mr. Ross made some very interesting points regarding many different current and potential conflicts in the Middle East today. Most interesting to me was discussion of the Israeli settlements and the Peace Process. Mr. Ross pointed out that Israeli settlement leader Maale Shomron recently wrote an article in the New York Times (which can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/26/opinion/israels-settlers-are-here-to-stay.html?_r=0) that basically states the "Two State Solution" is effectively dead due to the fact that there are already 350,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, and a forced eviction could spell disaster as armed resistance by the Israeli settlers against Israel may occur. There have been several other articles both within and outside the New York Times agreeing with this deeply depressing statement. However, Mr. Ross stated without any hesitation that the Two State Solution is not long gone. He believes that although both Israelis and Palestinians are continuously losing hope in a two state solution (polls show that positive sentiment toward a two state solution on both sides are down, according to Ross), a solution can be achieved. A "twelve-step plan" to the conflict was written up by him, found in this article: http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=278914
In order to first implement this, however, Ross announced that Israelis and Palestinians need to restore a certain trust in each other that they are both serious about a two state solution. The fact that multiple peace solutions were rejected by the Palestinian leadership (and then in turn, as Yasser Arafat did, send militants and suicide bombers into Israel to kill hundreds of innocent civilians), and the fact that Israelis keep building settlements beyond the 1967 borders steeply drives down confidence for the Two State solution in both Israel and Palestine. Ross's plan, however, could restore both governments' confidence in each other and could surely lead to some positive progress in the peace process.