So Israel can stew happily, the more so since the US continues to pay us their annual three billion dollar tribute, provide us with arms and use their UN veto power to protect us from international censure.
FOR THE Palestinian side of "both," stewing in their own juice means something very different.
The effort to achieve Fatah-Hamas reconciliation proceeds slowly and can break down at any moment. It depends on Abbas' success in forming a Unity Government composed of impartial "technocrats" and Hamas' willingness to give up its sole rule in the Gaza Strip.
Almost all Palestinians want unity, but ideological differences run deep (though in practice the differences are now much shallower). But even if some kind of unity is achieved and recognized by the international community against Israel's wish, what can the Palestinians actually do without violence?
They could, with the help of Saudi Arabia and the military junta in Egypt, establish some direct contact between the West Bank and Gaza and break the Israeli blockade on the Strip.
They can apply for admittance to some more international agencies and for more positive resolutions of the UN General Assembly, where the US veto does not apply but whose decisions have very little concrete effect.
They can encourage European countries and the international BDS movement to reinforce the boycott of the settlements or of Israel itself.
Altogether, not very much. The stewing period will enlarge even more the imbalance of power between "both" parties.
If the stewing lasts long enough, the "moderate" leaderships of Fatah and Hamas will be swept away, and Palestinian violence will raise its head again.
Conclusion: "Bothness," which looks so fair and impartial, is in effect a policy of 100% support for the Israeli Right.
WILL THIS strengthen anti-Israeli sentiment abroad?
Two weeks ago, a US Jewish organization dropped a bombshell: in every country around the world there exists anti-Semitism, from 91% in the West Bank to 2% in Laos. (One may wonder where Laotians find Jews to hate.)
Every fifth person on earth harbors anti-Semitic prejudices. More than a billion human beings!!!
The organization which invested so much money to finance such a world-wide poll is the (Anti-)Defamation League. I put the "anti" in brackets, because its proper name should be the Defamation League. It is a kind of Thought Police in the service of the right-wing American Jewish establishment.
(Many years ago, when I was a Member of the Knesset, I was invited to give talks at 20 high-class American universities. The hosts were the Jewish chaplains who belong to the Bnei Brith (Beit Hillel) order. At the last moment, 19 talks were canceled. In a secret letter, the Defamation League had told the chaplains that "though MK Uri Avnery cannot be called a traitor..." etc. etc. In the end, all the talks took place under the auspices of Christian chaplains.)
The publication of the devastating results of the poll exposed a curious fact: news about the rise of anti-Semitism is received by many Jews with something strangely like joy.
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