From time to time, the idea of a single unified Israeli-Palestinian state emerges, especially among people in Western democracies. However, anyone familiar with the conflict understands that this idea is completely unrealistic. From a distance, it may seem appealing, but in reality, some ideas just don’t work.
Take Communism, for example: it sounds great in theory with its vision of equality, but in practice, it usually leads to dictatorship. For people to live and work together, they need a lot in common. It took Christian Europe hundreds of years to form the European Union, and even with similar values, it still faces challenges. History shows that even similar groups of people can end up splitting, like in Yugoslavia, Russia and Ukraine, or the peaceful separation of Czechia and Slovakia.
If groups with much in common couldn’t stay together, expecting a unified Jewish and Palestinian state today is totally unrealistic. They have different religions, values, lifestyles, economies, and governance systems (democracy versus authoritarianism). Maybe things will change in a hundred or five hundred years, but for now, such unity is not possible. If tomorrow, Jews lose control of their destiny, then the day after, they will either be lucky to escape or be murdered, as happened in Nazi Germany (even though many Jews saw Germany as their home and could barely be distinguished from their German neighbors) or on October 7th. Anyone supporting this kind of ‘unity’ whether out of naivety or malice, is basically saying that Hamas should take control over the Jewish population, which is essentially calling for the genocide of Jews. It is like calling for “unity” between the Warsaw Ghetto rebels and the besieging Wehrmacht forces.
Of course, there is nothing wrong and nothing new in people’s desire for unity. Most of people around the world would be happy with a world of unity, a world where all people live happily together, a kind of ‘League of Nations.’ But unfortunately, this is only a dream. Could it happen? Yes. Can it happen in the future? Very likely Can it happen now? No, because different groups have different values, and they are willing to fight for them. Values define who we are, and losing them would be worse than death.
Should we give up on unity? No, but we need to build it slowly and carefully, understanding the complexity and being able to distinguish between theory and what it will mean in practice. Western democracies should focus on strengthening their internal unity before pushing for broader global unity.