Today's Friday cartoon

How fickle is life. A month ago, everyone thought that new US president Donald Trump had killed off the so-called ‘two-state solution’ (Avi Shlaim, “Donald Trump and the death of the two-state solution”, aljazeera, February 24, 2017). Now, everyone’s talking about nothing but the two-state solution:

-Adam Rasgon, “Arab leaders at Summit endorse two-state solution”, jerusalempost, March 29, 2017

-Tal Polon, “Dershowitz: Trump was clearly talking about a two-state solution”, arutzsheva, March 30, 2017

-“Jordan’s King Abdullah says two-state solution only path to peace”, reuters, March 29, 2017

-Tyler Durden, “Chinese president throws weight behind Israel/Palestine peace, two-state solution”, zerohedge, March 23, 2017

-Henry Siegman, The ultimate deal [the two-state solution]”, londonreviewofbooks, vol. 39, number 7, March 30, 2017, p. 12).

-“Merkel affirms German backing for two-state solution”, associatedpress, March 24, 2017.

At the same time these headlines tell us how alive the two-state solution is, Caroline Glick comes along to affirm that it’s actually quite dead. She argues there’s no such thing as a ‘deal’ for two-states because the Palestinians clearly don’t want that—and the Israeli public knows it (“Column One: Israel’s silenced majority", jerusalempost, March 30, 2017).

We’ll talk about Ms Glick in a moment. Right now, here’s a new Friday cartoon. It comes from arutzsheva. I have no date for it. I can’t make out the cartoonist’s name.

This cartoon illustrates what Ms Glick declares the Israeli public understands. Take a look:

from: arutzsheva, no date

This cartoon shows a man who tells us that a two-state solution is possible if only Israel would abide by the Hamas Charter and the UN.

The man wears the red-black-white-green Palestinian flag as a shirt. Superimposed onto the flag-shirt is a map.  The map stretches from his neckline down to his breastbone. That map shows two-states sitting side-by-side, along with Jordan at the bottom-right and Egypt at the bottom-left. Can you see that?

The two states that begin at the neckline run north-south, from neckline to breastbone. To your left (as you look at the map on his chest), you see the state of ‘hamasistan’ (the light beige area). To your right is the state of ‘fatahistan’ (the light green area). 

Notice there is no Israel at all. The two state solution replaces Israel with states formed by Hamas (hamasistan) and by Abbas’ Fatah Party (fatahistan).

As Glick (ibid) points out, a new poll has revealed that, for Israelis, the two-state solution is dead. She argues that Israelis understand that ‘two states’ means the destruction of Israel, just as this map illustrates. Referring to the new poll, she says, “Trump’s desire to mediate a deal between Israel and the PLO places him in conflict with anywhere between 60 and 85% of the Israeli public”, depending upon how that deal is actually described. Glick calls this anti-two-states Israeli public, the “silenced majority”, because it’s been silenced. No one listens to them.

The G-d of Israel has said the land of Israel, including Judea-Samaria, belongs to the Jews. Despite the fact that most Israeli Jews are not ‘religious’, between 60-85% of them understand that their survival is not tied to two states. It’s tied to Judea-Samaria—the heart of G-d’s country which, you might remember, contains the Temple Mount, the holiest site on earth for Jews.

Regarding the ‘two-states’ question, who is more correct? Are the diplomats and politicians who work for ‘two states’ (for the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea) correct? Or, are the G-d of Israel and the Jewish people of Israel, who choose one state only for Jews in that area, correct?

 

I stand with G-d and Jewish Israelis. Where do you stand?