Finally, the New Yorker tackles the Gaza war:
Gaza is a place that Israel wishes it could ignore: the territory has long had the highest concentration of poverty, extremism, and hopelessness in the region. Gaza makes a mess of the idealized two-state solution because it is separated from the West Bank, the much larger Palestinian territory, not just physically but also culturally and politically. In 2005, the RAND Corporation proposed integrating a future Palestinian state with a high-speed rail and highway system that would connect the West Bank and Gaza. Former President Jimmy Carter told me that, in 2005, he and Ariel Sharon had agreed to promote a land swap between the Israelis and the Palestinians that would provide a corridor between the two halves of Palestine.
It’s a mixed essay. On the one hand, it fairly accurately describes the grim reality of life in Gaza itself (something I saw myself in July) but far too easily accepts the Israeli rationale for the attack in December and January. Israeli claims are seemingly treated with respect while Hamas and other Palestinians less so.
Despite these major flaws, at least Gaza is finally featured in a leading American magazine. Still, the “liberal” Jewish mind in the US appears unwilling to truly accept the ramifications of Israeli policies in the Palestinian territories.