Israel's loyalty oath bill

Reality-check needed

However, the greatest problem for the loyalty oath bill is its clear deviation from reality. In fact, it strikes at the core of the problem of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict shared by both sides: the struggle between illusion and reality.

For behind the push for a loyalty oath bill is the romantic concept that a Jewish oasis in the middle of a desert, solely for Jews, can exist without issues. The concept won sympathy - from the West at least - post-World War II, but unfortunately the reality paints a conflicting picture. Instead of a Jewish-only oasis, we have a state implanted on a large non-Jewish indigenous population that, including the Occupied Territories, is heading towards becoming the majority.

 Illusions are not limited to the Israeli camp either. Despite American denials, Hamas is the most powerful Palestinian faction at present, and also determines its policies on an opposing romantic ideal: an Islamic Palestine where non-Muslims would have to pledge loyalty to the Islamic character of Palestine.

The most pressing dilemma of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that it is being strangled by two extreme and conflicting forces that have no grasp on reality, and no desire to accept it. Neither Israelis nor Palestinians are simply going to vanish, and the sooner both sides acknowledge this, the sooner an agreement can be reached.

Much progress is, of course, incumbent on the United States. The Obama administration has thus far been unwilling and unable to create a new atmosphere in which peace is attainable. Instead, it has resorted to the erroneous approaches of previous administrations of dead-end road maps and too little action.

The peace process requires not simply political will from Israelis and Palestinians, but political awareness. As it stands, the two main forces in Israel and Palestine are conservative, ethno-religious -based leaderships supporting flawed, extreme concepts that have no bearing on reality.

Removing the blinkers of idealism clearly reveals that Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and non-Jews have no choice but to find a way to co-exist on the same land. That might, indeed, be a difficult pill to swallow if you are Avigdor Lieberman or Khaled Meshaal, but any attempt otherwise will only further prolong an already decades-long conflict.

The powerful Israeli-right can continue to draft laws for a Jewish Israel, and Hamas can continue to preach an Islamic Palestine, but the facts on the ground are the only facts that matter, and no loyalty oath bill is going to change that.