Published: 28 November 2024
Last updated: 9 May 2025
Few of these who opine on Israel-Palestine has ever tried to negotiate peace, let alone been in the room for decades of negotiations between the leaders of the Israeli and Palestinian people.
Yair Hirschfeld is a rare exception. He has devoted his whole life to the process of diplomacy, an experience he has recorded in his recently-published memoir The Israeli–Palestinian Peace Process: A Personal Insider's Account.
At a time when the hopefulness of Oslo seems a pipe dream, Hirschfeld continues to believe in a two-state solution. Speaking to The Jewish Independent, he was blunt in his dismissal of a confederation or one-state for Palestinians and Israelis.
"A land for all is madness. We hate each other. The assumption that we will love each other is not from this world." Instead, he advocates for "a process with mutual solutions that leads to separation and a structure that leads to two national realities."
Hirschfeld's account examines the conflict through the lens of his extensive experience as a key figure in 30 years of negotiations, including secret Oslo negotiations. He critically examines past strategies, with the hope that they will inform a future peace process.
Comments1
Ian Light5 December at 01:57 am
A long truce as called in Arabic Hudna is possibly realistic ,but the Palestinians refused Autonomy and Hamas poured huge resources to launch the atrocious barbarism of October 2023 . They think the Jewish People are like the French in Algeria and will go away after atrocious barbaric attacks . The defence against the bus bombings was outrageously poor and in the heinous Netanya Hotel Bombing Pesach 2002 the murder-suicide bomber just walked in: there were no guards . Thirty civilians were killed and one hundred and forty injured . Iron clad Defence and Harsh Deterrence and Worst Case Scenario are the Doctrines .