Vorwort

FOREWORD to ONE JEWISH STATE: THE LAST, BEST HOPE TO RESOLVE THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT by David Friedman

PLEASE READ THIS WITH AN OPEN MIND.

This book challenges the most widely accepted but fatally flawed concept in Middle Eastern diplomacy: the Two-State Solution. It is an odd name for a policy that is anything but a “solution.” Indeed, for more than fifty years, American and world leaders, some with good intentions, some without, have tried without success to implement this policy. The efforts have brought nothing but failure and misery.

A Two-State Solution, if implemented, would force Israel to take territory that it captured fair and square from Jordan in 1967, and give that land to Palestinians who have never before had a country, have no track record of running a country, have no popular mandate because of endemic corruption within their society, and, in far too many cases, just want to kill Jews and destroy Israel. No wonder it’s gone nowhere.

The Two-State Solution is more than a bad idea, however. It is a formula for a never-ending conflict. Diplomats in America, the United Nations, the European Union and elsewhere, throw billions of dollars towards the Palestinians to virtue signal their support, to buy protection so as not to be terrorized themselves, and to raise expectations of a Palestinian state even though everyone knows they won’t materialize. Every few years, the money runs out because it has been pocketed by corrupt leaders or invested in terror assets, the expectations that were never realistic are dashed, and another war begins in which Palestinian terrorists attack Israeli civilians. Israel, of course, responds – carefully and surgically, seeking to minimize civilian casualties – and then the world reflexively sympathizes with the Palestinian aggressors because they are the weaker party. This results in more money being sent to the Palestinians, more corruption, more anger and another war. It is an endless cycle of violence, and it never improves because the world refuses to recognize the obvious: the Palestinians should not have, and many of them don’t even want, their own state! 

Adding a massive insult to the already massive injury of Palestinian terrorism, the land that the world wants Israel to surrender to the terrorists is Judea and Samaria, referred to by most as the West Bank. This is the heart of Biblical Israel, where the ancient kings of Israel ruled and the prophets preached. Surrender of this territory would put some of the holiest sites on earth for Jews and Christians into the hands of people who want nothing more than to eradicate the Biblical sanctity of this land. To millions of Christians and Jews, this surrender also is decidedly against God’s will.

The Jewish people are called Jews because they come from Judea, the Kingdom ruled over by King David and King Solomon. The notion of Judea not being part of the Jewish State of Israel, as demanded by the Palestinians and nearly all of the world, is untenable and part of a larger goal to decouple the Jewish people from their Biblical homeland. 

As an observant Jew, and particularly since the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023, I feel as if God is calling out to us and admonishing: “How many more times do I need to convince you not to surrender the land that I have given to you for eternity?”

I hope October 7th is the last time.

But this book is not just about ending the Two-State Solution. It’s also about replacing it with a structure that works for all. While some will presume that this book is hostile to the Palestinians because it rejects Palestinian statehood, it is hostile only to their failed leadership and to those committed to hatred and violence. To those willing to consider a more hopeful and peaceful region, this book presents a realistic plan to bring the Palestinians out from under their own largely self-induced misery: a plan that follows the lessons of the Bible and applies them to the complex facts on the ground, to thread the needle in a manner that is true to the dignity of every human life and to the Biblical covenants of God. 

The State of Israel has not known a single day of peace in its 76-year history. It remains in a state of war with Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, and with terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad. Although Israel is a party to peace treaties with its other neighbors, Jordan and Egypt, that peace is exceptionally cold and often strained. Most of Israel’s diplomatic challenges, however, are not with these local players. Its greatest challenges have come from America, the EU, the UN and others who presume to know better than Israel what is best for Israel. 

It’s time to let Israel be Israel. It wants peace far more than any of the chattering elites with Ivy League degrees who have never served a day in battle nor known the anguish of losing a child in the defense of a nation. Given enough runway to plot its own course, I believe that Israel will embark on a realistic path to peace. I think that plan will look a lot like the contours presented in this book. 

Each chapter of this book tackles an issue relevant to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Like the trial lawyer that I used to be, the different blocks of evidence may not immediately appear connected to the ultimate point. But stay with this until the closing argument and it should all come together.

Please read this with an open mind. My hope is that this book becomes a topic of serious discussion, and perhaps even the handbook for the last and best chance for Middle East peace.

Autorentext

DAVID FRIEDMAN (JERUSALEM, NEW YORK, NEW YORK & BOCA RATON, FLORIDA) served as the United States Ambassador to Israel from 2017 to 2021. Under his leadership, the United States made unprecedented and historic diplomatic advances, including moving its Embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Ambassador Friedman was also one of the architects of the Abraham Accords. For his efforts, he was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and granted the National Security Medal.

On numerous occasions, The Jerusalem Post has named Ambassador Friedman one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world -- he rose to number 2 in 2019 and number 1 in 2020. In 2021, The New York Times described him "as one of America's most influential envoys" and as someone "who drove the radical overhaul of White House policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

Ambassador Friedman is the bestselling author of Sledgehammer: How Breaking with the Past Brought Peace to the Middle East, and the executive producer and co-star, with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, of Route 60: The Biblical Highway, a film about Judea and Samaria. In 2021, he launched the Friedman Center for Peace through Strength which has recently launched a project that bears the name of this book: One Jewish State.

He lives with his wife, Tammy, in the Jerusalem, Florida, and New York City metro areas and is a proud father and grandfather.

To learn more about the One Jewish State movement and get involved, go to OneJewishState.net.

FriedmanCenter.com

Klappentext

THE TERRORIST MASSACRE COMMITTED BY HAMAS AGAINST INNOCENT ISRAELIS ON OCTOBER 7, 2023 BROUGHT GREAT TRAUMA TO THE STATE OF ISRAEL.

BUT IT ALSO HAS BROUGHT GREAT CLARITY.

It is this clarity that tells us we must try something NEW.

It is this clarity that tells us Israel must plan its future on its own and not obsess about what others think.

And it is this clarity that compels us to go back to basics - to return to the biblical values and divine covenants that unite the Jewish people. …