Lecture given in Copenhagen Denmark on June 14th. 2015. By invitation of Danish Zionist Federation and Fælleskommiteen for Israel Einat Wilf is a center-left-wing, peace-oriented Israeli scholar and activist who is committed to achieving justice for the Palestinians - and for Israel. The talk explains what she has learned about the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - and how "Western" intervention is making it worse. There are lots of "aha" examples in the talk - and she is a fascinating, compelling speaker. Here is a dry resumé of the main argument: The British foreign minister, Ernest Bevin, gave a speech in February, 1947, in which he explained why the UK was giving up the Mandate for Palestine (that is, the part lying west of the River Jordan, as the rest had been given in 1922 to the Hashemites as TransJordan - today's Jordan). Bevin said that there is an irreconcilable conflict between core principles. The Jews want a sovereign state in their ancient homeland. The Arabs would rather die than accept Jewish sovereignty anywhere in the region - regardless of the size of Jewish state. After many years of working for peace, Einat Wilf has concluded that Bevin's analysis has been the best predictor of actual behavior: Arab leaders have rejected every partition proposal up to this day, including one from the 1930s, which only gave the Jews 10% of the area from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea. Deep down, many, if not most Israelis and Palestinians want the whole area "from the river to the sea" to themselves, and they wish that the other claimants would disappear. Einat Wilf understands these deep-seated desires - on both sides. But these desires live in the realm of dreams. She believes that if one side wins, the tragedy for the other will be much greater than past tragedies related to the conflict have been. This is a widely shared belief. So many Israelis and Palestinians know that the land will most likely have to be divided. However, the division cannot be forced. It cannot happen until the people and their leaders themselves are so tired of the conflict - whether it is expressed in violence, diplomatic maneuvering, or propaganda - that they are motivated to solve it themselves. But the "international community" is trying to force a solution, and in doing so is worsening and prolonging the conflict. On the one hand, the "international community" is very much aware that Jewish settlements and other activity outside of the 1949 armistice lines (the "green lines") keep an impossible Israeli dream alive (this dream is impossible even though the green lines were never intended to become actual borders). So huge - and growing - amounts of pressure are being applied to Israel about this issue. On the other hand, the "international community" pays no attention to how the impossible Palestinian dream is kept alive. This is most evident in UNRWA - the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees. UNRWA goes so far in keeping the dream alive that it classifies all descendents of 1949-49 Arab Palestine refugees as refugees themselves, even if they have citizenship somewhere. This is why there are five million so-called refugees, of which less than 100 thousand are actual survivors. And the funding is mostly provided by Western democracies and NGOs. Einat Wilf explains how UNRWA and the organizations it cooperates with fuel the flames of the Palestinian "river-to-the-sea" dream of millions of people. Many NGOs and Western democracies are not aware of what is going on; and many of those who are aware of it do not understand that the brain-washing of Palestinians, especially young people, is actually creating a much worse barrier to a solution than settlements are. As long as the "international community" continues appeasing the Palestinians while excoriating Israel, they are creating an uneven playing field that only prolongs the conflict.

• published: 02 Jul 2015
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