Kariv
does suggest a broad outline for moving forward once the fighting is done. “We
should insist on three principles,” he told me. “One is that Hamas cannot
control the Gaza Strip. Two, that Israel will not recontrol the lives of two
million Palestinians. And third, with the involvement of the international
community, the moderate Arab countries, we need to create a new civilian
reality in the Gaza Strip that will promote a new political process between
Israel and the Palestinians.”
He
continued: “We need also to insist on something that is very important to the
global community that supports the two-state solution. A victory of Hamas is
the end of the vision of the two-state solution. Too many people don’t
understand it. Not because of Israel. If Hamas wins this conflict, it will send
a very strong message to all Palestinians and to many, many radical forces in
the region that there is no reason to have a political dialogue with
Israel.”
Meanwhile,
the Jewish settlers are fomenting violence against Palestinians in the occupied
West Bank, as their representatives in the Netanyahu government endorse their
actions. “Right now, the extreme settlers are violating Israeli law, and they
are harming the ability of Israel to meet or to face its real enemies, meaning
Hamas and Hezbollah,” Kariv said. “My demand is to my government to make sure
that Israeli citizens in the occupied territories—the extreme settlers, and it’s
important to say that we are talking about a small group among the settlers—but
they are violent enough in order to create real danger to Palestinian
civilians. We need to be very clear, this is the duty of the Israeli
government, the IDF, and the Israeli police: to prevent those extreme settlers
from violating Israeli law. As opposition members, we are placing this issue on
the Israeli public discourse, together with Israeli civil society. We are
tracking the events in those Palestinian communities.”