2018 Essays

Asymmetricality, the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict, and Abrahamic Peace: An Interdisciplinary Conference - The 2018 Telos Israel Conference - Imagining the Peace We Want: The intersection of Cultural and Legal Narratives, A Personal Essay

Neacsu, Dana

This personal essay was presented to the conference jointly hosted by the Telos-Paul Piccone Institute, the School of Political Science at the University of Haifa, and Al-Qasemi College, Israel, on November 18–20, 2018. In light of the current war im Haaretz, I chose to make this presentation public because peace is more important than ever, and I remain convinced that peace im Haaretz can be achieved.

In 2018 I was writing that legal obstacles redirect attention and effort. Roadblocks to the Middle East Peace Process are a form of sublimation of the imaginary space. But whether they want to mark it as barren is debatable. I would argue that both the Israeli settlements in the occupied land, as well as the wall erected by Israel have achieved much more than they intended to: ironically the settlements say that occupation is ephemeral, because they can be erased, if the Kneset or the Supreme Court of Israel so decides. The wall itself is nothing else but a border which delineates deal partners (see 1967- 2008 map below). Certainly, by legally accommodating the settlers, Israel instituted a legal dualism – one governing the Jewish settlers, the Israeli sovereignty, and another governing the Palestinians. But that legalism could not separate the deeper bond between the two populations. They both inhabit the same jurisdictional entity – occupied land, which molds the shape of peace for them.