It is only a question of time before the Parthenon sculptures are restored to their rightful owners. A clear indication of this eventual restoration of justice lies in the increasing divergence between ever more intransigent posturing by the British government, and the mounting public voice in favour of their return.
A similar dynamic is now in play with regard to Palestine. As the former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy observes, on the one hand the impunity afforded by Western governments to Israel’s occupation and oppression of Palestinians has led to ever more outrageous violations of Palestinian rights; yet, simultaneously on the other, because these rights are so blatantly violated, public opinion and support for Israel has plummeted. Eventually, the divergence will be so great as to set into motion a protest movement on the scale of that which led to the eventual collapse of apartheid in South Africa.
It is the combination, on the one hand, of systematic oppression and violence by corrupt states, and their tolerance by allies otherwise able to put a stop to them; and on the other, the outrage of principled ordinary folk that eventually brings about change.
As with the current dynamic surrounding the Parthenon sculptures, a similar dynamic, driven by concerted activism as with South Africa, will eventually see Palestine both restored and transformed into a land where Jews, Muslims, and Christians once again live together as one people in one land. As they had once done before Zionism destroyed that existence.