Israel and Palestine: a diplomatic path forward?

One of the great unsaids about this dire situation is that while the Arab world likes to speak of the plight of the Palestinians, they don't want to give refuge to any or to help them in any substantial way.

Firstly, nations like Jordan, Lebanon and Syria already house millions of Palestinians, and have been doing so for decades. In Jordan's case, they are not considered to be full Jordanian citizens, despite the fact that more than 20% of the population are thought to be of Palestinian origin. Indeed, they are still classed as 'refugees' with the clear intention that one day, they will 'go home'.

Secondly, a seemingly oppressed Palestinian people serves the Arab world's propaganda against Israel and the United States, used as an example of 'Zionism' and 'Western colonialism'. If they lived in peace and prosperity, the Palestinian cause could no longer be used as a rallying call for anti-semites the world over. Iran, in particular, funds and arms Hamas, as it does other terrorist groups in the region like Hezbollah, all part of its diabolical foreign policy which seems hell bent on bringing war across the region.

As President Ronald Reagan once said, the middle east isn't so much 'a place' as a 'state of mind…a disordered state of mind'.

Blinken's mission, to get the Israelis held hostage in Gaza set free, to allow life-saving aid in, and to lay the groundwork for a future two-state solution, is one fraught with danger, with no clear pathway to success. But if he manages to achieve these goals, his diplomatic prowess will demonstrate that sanity can prevail in that most insane part of the planet.