In Israel’s propaganda campaign directed at the West, the dominant narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict focuses on security. Based on this, many outside the region come to believe that the conflict is fought between two relative equals with security for both populations as its core principle. In truth, the conflict is defined by control more than anything else. Israel has demonstrated time and again that the preservation of its military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank and east Jerusalem drives its policies. Since the occupation is the primary source of conflict, the narrative spun by Israel’s PR machine is false. The current uptick in violence in Jerusalem clearly demonstrates this situation.
The majority of perpetrators of the stabbing attacks, for example, are Palestinians from east Jerusalem or Palestinian towns inside Israel. They are either permanent residents or hold Israeli citizenship. While there are clashes happening across the West Bank and on the border with the Gaza Strip, Israeli society is shaken by Palestinians who are direct subjects of the Israeli state. While Tel Aviv has been quick to blame Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas for the recent violence, the fact of the matter is that Mr Abbas can do little to stem it. After all, he doesn’t directly represent the Palestinians of Jerusalem. These are the contours of the de facto one-state reality that exists on the ground, which features Israel’s complete control over Palestinian life and which results in random violent attacks on Israeli civilians.
Compounding matters is the fact that the majority of Israelis and Palestinians and their respective leaderships have all but abandoned the two-state solution as envisioned by the Oslo Accords. While few politicians on either side have embraced an equitable one-state solution to the conflict, both sides are waking up to the one-state reality that has been the result of years of mismanagement of the conflict and the drive by Israel to ensure its permanent control over Palestinians and their land.
Genuine security for both sides can only be guaranteed when all people between the Mediterranean Sea and Jordan River enjoy their basic civil and human rights. If this violence is symptomatic of a one-state reality, in which Israel imposes curfews and creates road blocks throughout Jerusalem, we are witnessing the start of a civil war. It also means that the international community must stop ignoring the rights-based narrative that is at the core of the conflict.
