Letter from Larry Shapiro to Oliver Zinn, Forward Magazine, regarding his article suggesting Palestinians want peace, & two states. No evidence of this exists, historically or currently, Jan 26, 2026

Re: I'm a Zionist. I support Palestinian rights. My campus has no space for people who believe in peace, I've looked for others who eschew ideology in favor of pragmatism - and come up empty, Oliver Zinn, Jan. 24, 2026, Forward

Jan. 26, 2026

Dear Oliver,

The first place you want to look is in Israel that on five separate occasions presented the Palestinians with land for peace proposals that would have given them a state only to have all rejected, not one receiving a counteroffer.

Oliver, you are mistaken to state that for decades Palestinian leaders have advocated for a two state solution. Their historical refusal to even negotiate proves otherwise. Their primary interest is to deny the Jews a state, not achieve one of their own. I invite you to research translation services that provide ample evidence of their true intentions.

Following that, you might study the history behind these rejections where you will find that even before Israel was established, the Palestinian Arabs rejected a United Nations plan that would have given them a state simply because they could not bear the shame of living next to a Jewish state, and where they were told by the Arab world that if the Jews had the temerity to declare a state, they, the Arab nations would demolish it and the Palestinian Arabs would have it all.

Rejection of Israel is found in Palestinian classrooms where Israel has been erased and where Israelis are dehumanized. In addition, Palestinian charters call for the demolition of Israel and the murder of Jews, in Hamas' case, all the Jews in the world. You might also contemplate the meaning of the Palestinian philosophy that any sympathy shown to Jews is an insult to them. How can peace ever be achieved when one side doesn't recognize the other side's humanity?

Nothing remotely like this exists in the Israeli culture where people have lost enough sons and daughters and yearn for peace, a peace they were told by Palestinian leaders they would never get. Of course there are Israeli radicals who advocate for exiling all Palestinians, but these are fringe voices that have no influence over policy. Sadly, much of the media reports that the radical voices create Israeli policy.

Another thought you might want to contemplate is that Israel is the national home of the indigenous people, the Jews, i.e. Zionism, a fact rejected by the Palestinians who deny Jewish history and make up their own, an embarrassment to their cause and to those who swallow the inventions.

You want to restore Palestinian rights? What are these rights? There never was a distinct Arab country called Palestine, so these rights can't have anything to do with international treaties or history. If these rights include Israel stopping the occupation, then please define occupation. The Palestinian Arabs call the existence of Israel an occupation. If these rights include the accusation that Israel is a European colonial enterprise, then please remember that Jews were living in Israel for 3500 years, 2174 years before the establishment of Islam, and 3446 years before the Arabs started calling themselves Palestinians.

If you want to help the Palestinian Arabs, convince them that all they need to do to achieve peace is to acknowledge the right for Jews to have their own state, i.e. Zionism. This will require the acknowledgement that their educational curriculum must be changed to restore humanity to Jews. You might also encourage them to revise their charters.

Another huge change is required, and that is to reverse the indoctrination which teaches Palestinians to want to be martyrs in the war against the Jews. No society can achieve any kind of normality if their people love death more than life.

Oliver, you might also share the thought that those who accept false claims against Israel to buttress their rejection of the Jewish state are prolonging the conflict. Giving credence to false Palestinian claims legitimizes Palestinian victimhood, never allowing them to become nation builders.

Thanks for listening.

Larry Shapiro, Calgary