Tension grows in Gaza today as the planned withdrawal of some 9,000 Israeli settlers from the Palestinian territories approaches. It is a political confrontation, and according to our guest today, it is an ideological one as well.
Ari Shavit, a columnist for the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, is a powerful voice for a new kind of thinking about the Middle East conflict. It is thinking which scraps the idea of peace altogether — and instead settles for diminished violence. Extracting Israeli settlers from the Palestinian territories won’t be pleasant, Shavit says, but it may stop the cycle of bloodletting.
Not everyone agrees. On the right are the settlers who refuse to leave what they call their rightful homeland. On the left are Israelis contemptuous of any such land privilege. But Ari Shavit stays firm in the middle.
Guests:
Ari Shavit, Tel Aviv based columnist for Ha’aretz.