Ilona,
I appreciated you making the point about Israel’s absence and the assumption by many that its absence would bring peace, or if not peace, that the region would be better without it. Lamentably, I think many would prefer justice over peace, even if the future would be proven to be worse without Israel. Yet what does justice look like here? The land is steeped in decades long distrust and discord and, as you note, a simple “return to the land” solution (as if there is a simple option) would not solve the problem as some are truly seeking Israel’s destruction. Israel’s absence, for current residents or for Palestinians, would ultimately be neither just nor peaceful.
