the all searching eye

The above cartoon is from Al-Jazeera. The text at the top right reads: Israeli tunnels near the Aqsa (Mosque).
The bubble on the top left says: Oh Aqsa! Have Patience; He who digs a pit for his brother will himself fall into it.

Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz has written an Op-ed column in the Chicago Tribune expressing his optimism for the current peace prospects of Israel-Palestine. He astutely points out some of the main obstacles to a prudent two-state solution:

There still are many barriers to a real peace. Some come from the Israeli side, others from the Palestinian side. The greatest barriers, however, come from outsiders: right-wing American Jews and Christians who are more Israeli than the Israelis, Islamic fundamentalists and left-wing European and American academics, politicians and church leaders who are more Palestinian than the Palestinians.

I would add to this list certain groups of exiled Palestinians. They often have not had to face the harsh realities on the ground in Israel and in the occupied territories that result from Israeli crackdowns and retaliations to terrorist threats. For this reason, their concept of the conflict is more abstract and idealistic, and it is less amenable to compromise.

These types of forces, combined with those in Professor Dershowitz’s list, are very powerful. Both the far Right and extreme Left comprise at least some elements who desire to make this a symbolic, cosmic struggle between Good and Evil. So while I would like to share the Professor’s optimism, I feel my hopes being tempered by the major variable, which is: How powerful will these uncompromising centers be?