Peace for Israel and Palestine
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Five steps that would enable the peace process to begin.
1. Israel should make payments and reparations to Gaza and West Bank for the land it has taken that the Palestinians once lived on. Perhaps ten percent of the defense expenditures of Israel should be used to fund schools, food distribution, and clinics in Gaza and the West Bank as well as business creation and other economic development.
Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948. “The Americans and the international community were alarmed as May 14 approached…[because] a calamitous communal war had broken out immediately after passage of the U.N. Partition Resolution of November 29, 1947….Before the middle of May ‘48 almost 300,000 Palestinians had fled.”
This is part of the history of the region that has led to some of the problems experienced at present. It is important to note that as of June 2004 Israel had militarily occupied Palestine for 37 years. [ http://wilsonhellie.typepad.com/for_the_record/2004/06/end_the_israeli.html ] This is obviously not a situation conducive to economic development and prosperity for the Palestinians. It is a symptom of a problem. It is not normal for a people to need to be policed heavily for 37 years. The solution is to increase economic aid and development in the Palestinian territories and for international bodies to cooperate fully and directly with the Palestinians in creating a society that functions properly and is not a de facto guerrilla state.
2. Continue making payments for continued use of this land. The international community may have to assist as well in making payments to Gaza and the West Bank and in monitoring the usage of the funds in order to develop and create opportunities for the Palestinians. This will have to continue until there is universal agreement that the Palestinians have achieved equal footing and economic standing to the major developed countries of the world.
3. Recognize Palestine as a legitimate state. Of course Palestine should be recognized as a legitimate state. There are apparently legal obstacles to this. A group of people wishing to declare statehood must, “possess an effective and independent government. It must exercise all the powers of a state independently of any outside governmental authority.” (Becker) Therefore steps one and two must be fully completed before step three can take place.
To this point of possessing an effective and independent government, the government of Hamas in Gaza does have it’s defenders. The U.S. and Israel did not recognize this democratically elected government and imposed sanctions on it thereby hindering it’s power to govern. Hamas does a lot more than instigate terrorism. It is active in the community in meaningful ways. The Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, does not have control of it’s defense and airspace nor it’s borders and therefore does not meet the qualifications to declaring statehood. Israel retains control of all of those things. This seems to put the responsibility for Palestinian statehood on Israel and the international community for without them relinquishing control of the Palestinian territories Palestinian statehood is impossible.
Another qualification for declaring statehood is that there must be a defined territory. In the case of Palestine at present this would mean that Palestine would comprise two separate areas with independently operating governments. It would mean two separate Palestinian states.
My reference material for point 3 is shown below.
International Recognition of a Unilaterally Declared Palestinian State: Legal and Policy Dilemmas, Tal Becker. [ http://www.jcpa.org/art/becker1.htm ]
4. Open the borders of Gaza and West Bank to trade. As shown in the reference material above this is a legal necessity. Gaza and the West Bank must control their own borders before they can legally declare statehood. This has to be done with international assistance and cooperation and can only be done with a concurrent halt of Israeli aggression towards the Palestinians. Of course there must also be an accompanying cessation of Palestinian aggression towards Israel.
Israel retains so much stifling control and dominance over Palestine that there seems to be a burden of impetus placed on them to take the lead in allowing the Palestinians breathing room to operate. As I am repeatedly mentioning the international community must be more involved as well. The world cannot neglect this situation and allow it to degenerate into chaos as it has for far too long.
Which brings me to my last point.
5. Get the international community more involved in negotiating lasting peace and helping the economy for the Palestinians. This is something that needs to be done the world over and not just in the situation regarding Israel and Palestine. We as citizens of the world need to show more cooperation and ability to work together. It is through increased global partnership and cooperation that we can solve the problems in the world satisfactorily. One powerful government cannot be allowed to dominate a situation and have it’s way all of the time. That leads to abuse of power.
4 Comments
Amen! That was great tips on peaceful. Thanx 4 sharing and concerned.
Odd that the Palestinian leaders do not have any obligations or actions to take in order to start the road to peace. It’s a two sided conflict remember, Palestinians have just as much obligation to halt rocket attacks and suicide bombers or at least denounce them before peace can have a chance.
As with what ‘S’ said above:
It is faulty to believe that peace between Israel and Palestine will be achieved solely by the merits of Israel. Although Israel has a part of the problems faced in Gaza and the West Bank, there is still a significant problem faced in Palestinian leadership and hostility. There has been a long history of hostility towards a) the Jewish people (see the people living in Sderot, Isreal, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7GFkORHRNk) and b) the State of Israel (Hamas, the “government” in Gaza calls for Israel’s destruction, http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL1229777020070312 [I am aware that this article is old, but regardless, these ideals have been circulating for years.]) Your supposedly simple solution for peace needs to be reevaluated; problems in that region are not going to be solved in five steps.
Thanks for the input. I really do appreciate it.