The parallels are being drawn between the conflict in Israel and the troubles in Northern Ireland. And with good reason: Encroaching settlers taking over the place and treating the indigenous population like hell. Yet they built a new country, and having lived there for generations, do they not have the right to defend themselves?
The likeness spreads out, to even the neighbors. Great Britain, for generations, wanted nothing more than to get rid of the Northern Ireland headache, but the Republic of Ireland didn’t want to take it on. They still don’t. Israel has sworn it will cut Gaza free completely after it has routed out Hamas. Practically, though, Gaza can’t stand alone, and Egypt oversaw the region from 1948 to 1973, an does not want to do it again.
So what is to be done? With current tensions, that the two sides every reaching their version of Northern Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement seems inconceivable. But it did to people of Ulster at one point too. It hasn’t been perfect, but it’s been workable. It was a masterstroke of letting go and carrying on.
