Peter Reynolds

‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!’ is a legitimate, non-exclusive ambition for freedom of the Palestinian people. It’s nothing like the exclusive, racist and hate filled Israeli slogan ‘Between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty’, as enshrined in Netanyahu’s Likud Party constitution.

For all decent people, it makes no difference if you are Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Atheist, Israeli, Palestinian, British, American or a Buddhist from Outer Mongolia. To borrow from Martin Luther King, what matters is the “content of your character” and your actions.

The content of Israel’s ‘character’ and the history of its actions since its inception in 1948 are so disgusting, so barbaric that despite enormous support from the West, it has now descended into such sordid inhumanity that, unless it makes radical change, I don’t think it has any future.

Obviously a place is going to have be found for Israeli citizens, irrespective of whether they are Jews or not. The only solution that makes sense is the formal re-establishment of Palestine under supervision of the UN and the world community. Extraordinary safeguards will have to be put in place to protect the rights of all citizens, preserve their religious freedom and ensure there are no reprisals and no return to the sort of supremacist, apartheid society that Israel established.

Clearly this will not be an easy or trouble-free process but a line has to be drawn under the disaster of the past 77 years and the people of the region given a chance to live in peace, mutual respect and, in time, some sort of harmony.