The Long (And Only) Way to a Palestinian State

The problem in the "dialogue" (such as it is) between various parties on the Left and the Religious Zionists on the Right in particular is that the latter consider themselves to be God's mouthpiece. In other words, in contesting them, in their eyes, one is contesting God--so the engagement is asymmetrical, with one side on the absolute divine right and the other merely human and given to foibles. The challenge in engaging with Religious Zionists is to get past that. (I suppose we can use the Religious Zionist lingo and say to them something they can't deny as it is part of the whole Jewish story: that Jews have a contract with God--and over the centuries each side periodically considered the other to renege on any bargains--but that shouldn't stop ordinary humans from debating God, represented by Religious Zionists, as part of the contract. Of course, that begs the question of whether God considers the likes of Smotrich or Ben-Gvir as His mouthpiece--but that's another story).