Israel and Palestine: the chance for peace is where nobody will look
It is sad watching as, yet again, war breaks out over a barely inhabitable desert area roughly two-thirds the size of Vancouver Island.
People on the Palestinian side of the front line (what else can you call a disputed border that has frequent military flare-ups?) with Israel crossed the boundary into Israel to capture Israeli prisoners. Israel responded by once again showing its military might. Lather, rinse, repeat.
To them I say: Stop! You're both wrong!
This will not make me very popular, but I'll say it straight out: I do not support the two-state solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
War between the sides can go on forever without ever resolving anything. A united, integrated Israeli-Palestinian country, on the other hand, has the potential to be a modern beacon of multi-culturalism and peace. It would require one or more full generations of serious effort at integration to achieve, but there is no potential for real peace any other way that I can see.
The idea of giving up even a part of the world's only dedicated Jewish country to people who are not members of the tribe is one most Jews are unwilling to consider. On a purely emotional level, that includes me. It would be the ultimate land-for-peace deal, except that neither side would actually be giving any land up.
A year or two ago, CBC aired a documentary where a few Palestinian and a few Israeli children were brought together to meet eachother, play games together, and ultimately befriend eachother. It was a very important lesson: the hatred between the sides is historical, not personal. If children from both sides attend the same schools and clubs, and are educated in such a way as to be encouraged to learn about eachother, eachother's cultures, and eachother's beliefs, their inclination to follow their ancestor's leads in unadulterated hatred will melt.
It would take time. A lot of it. There would be violence early on, but with steadfast resolve and patience by both sides, it could be overcome. By virtue of being one country, the Palestinian right of return would be completely moot. They would obviously be allowed to return as the land would be within their country. The issue of Israeli settlements would also be moot. They, too, would be within their country.
Minority governments would still be king in the joined country and this, too, could be a boon for peace. Governments would almost always have to be mixed Israeli-Palestinian to achieve the majority necessary to govern. This situation, over the long term, would force government policy to be mutually beneficial. Fighting any kind of war with its neighbours, as is happening in Lebanon right now, would be less likely.
This could, of course, all go to hell in an enormous civil war in a "united" country, but I don't see that as being overwhelmingly different from the current situation. I also don't consider this possibility inevitable. It would only be the result of an insincere effort at integration-based peace.
The current requirement by seemingly all sides for a two-state solution, with a small, two-part Palestine on either side of a small Israel with the potential a shared capital is, in my view, unworkable. With borders in dispute and incursions into eachother's sides, and a complete lack of any integration, the splits, hatred, and cycle of violence can only continue to worsen. With many Palestinians stuck in refugee camps and Israel having an affluent society next door, there is a kind of in-your-face attitude that only promotes further conflict.
In the short term, it is imperative that both sides stop accusing anyone who looks at the conflict from a neutral perspective of being biased in favour of the opposing side. It accomplishes nothing. It is a never-ending war and I see no realistic positive solution but for the amalgamation of the two sides, as equal partners, into one integrated country.
One of the keys to the success of a project like this is that both sides would be able to claim victory. The Israelis could go on living very much as before, allowed to expand ever further into what are now the Palestinian territories, but it won't be an affront to the Palestinians because they, too, can expand into the Israeli territories, including land that was once their and now sits empty.
The idea of a one-state solution has been around for a long time and is discussed extensively in this wikipedia entry.
Posted at 12:04 on July 15, 2006