Dreams Of A Palestinian Utopia–Part II

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In Part I of this essay, I set forth elements of the current situation in the Middle East that have militated against a solution to the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Intransigence on both sides has actually intensified, as each gesture towards a lasting peace has devolved into violence.  Very few people seriously believe that a two-state solution is viable under current circumstances.  A one-state, bi-national solution means the end of the only Jewish state and, probably, continued internal conflict.

And yet, the status quo is unacceptable and unsustainable.  Accordingly, I am going to try to draw upon solutions that have proven effective in other similar and dissimilar settings, and propose them in brief outline form for consideration. I freely acknowledge that I am not the one who has the wisdom, knowledge, or experience to propose the best solution.  I also know that anything I propose will have many, many deficiencies.  I only wish that there were more capable people in positions of power without axes to grind to propose and effect better and more effective measures.  Maybe this will inspire them to try and do better.

And one more caveat.  Before the heartbreaking murder of the six hostages, which somehow seemed even more devastating than the brutality and savagery that preceded it, because we foolishly had permitted ourselves to hope they would be spared, one might have been willing to be a bit more flexible in viewing Palestinians, many of whom support, and a majority of whom, in Gaza, elected, Hamas, as potential good-faith partners.  We still need to go forward, but we do so with even fewer illusions.  It remains questionable whether they have forfeited the benefit of the doubt. But the Palestinians, like us, are here to stay, and any solution must deal with that reality. One can only hope that the same is not true of Hamas.

Some postulates underlying the proposals:

1.  Only Israel can be responsible for assuring the security of any arrangement.  The UN has proven itself worse than useless.  The US is no longer trustworthy because of political realities.  The Gulf States, Abraham Accord participants, Egypt, and Jordan should play roles, but those must necessarily be support and advisory roles initially.  No one other than Israel can ever again be trusted to keep Israel safe.
2. Palestinians have to find responsible leadership. Palestinians who really want to live in peace, and really want better lives for their people, if such Palestinians exist, and I hope and believe that they do, must take, or be assigned, control.   Otherwise, there is no chance for peace.  That responsible leadership has to recognize that Israel is here to stay as a Jewish State and has to be willing to work with it and make the best of what, initially, will be a sub-optimal situation for them.  If that is impossible, then there is, indeed, no hope.
3. This is not a wave the wand, overnight solution.  It will take time to implement, and it must be implemented in phases, as confidence builds.
4. For the foreseeable future, the Palestinian militias must be disarmed, demobilized and demilitarized, aside from an Israeli-trained police force with sidearms.  Until the desire for peace takes root and flourishes, the ability to make war must be eliminated.

Some solutions that may be summarily rejected:

1. The UN/Spain/Ireland model of declaring a State without assuring that there is infrastructure and wherewithal to support a peaceful partner.  Been there; done that.
2. Any government that includes Hamas, the present top leadership of the Palestinian Authority, and anyone else who denies the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish State.  Been there; done that.
3.  Any plan involving deportation of present residents or the right of return for present non-residents.  One may scoff, and I have, from a historical perspective, at the Palestinian cultural infrastructure that has been manufactured from whole cloth, but the fact is that there are millions of people living in Gaza and the West Bank who consider themselves Palestinians, many of whom have never known any other identity. That is a truth that may not be disregarded or discounted.  They do not identify as Israeli, or Jordanian, or Egyptian.  That boat has sailed.

The Proposal:  Principles Underlying The Establishment Of A Palestinian Utopia:

1. Israel must win the war (or wars) decisively.  There is no other path to peace.  Iran and its proxies must be neutralized or dissuaded from malicious intervention.  Otherwise, they may be expected to sabotage any progress towards peace.
2. The much discussed “day after” is more like a “half-decade after.”  Germany was occupied, de-Nazified, reeducated, and rebuilt by the United States, England, France and Russia over a period of years, before it could take its place among the nations and function effectively.  Japan was not deemed capable of self-government and existence as a peaceful citizen of the world for many years after World War II.  Palestinians have endured a period of indoctrination and miseducation–Nazification, if you will– for many decades.  School curricula will need to be revamped, a cadre of civil servants dedicated to civic improvement must be trained, and an entirely new cultural and educational infrastructure must be established.  Look how long it took for progressives in the United States to teach white students that they were racist.  Imagine how long it will take to teach Arab children not to hate Jews.
3. Israel must be established, now and forever, as a homeland for the Jewish people.  The Declaration of Independence was a good start, but a Constitution that may not easily be  amended must be adopted.  The Constitution must enshrine the freedoms promised in the Declaration, but it must also render it impossible to change the Jewish character and mission of the State. Jews are entitled, in perpetuity, to a homeland of their own, not only as a place of refuge, but as a place where Jewish values and culture may flourish.  While the notion of a State that is both Jewish and democratic faces challenges, and may appear to be a contradiction in terms, Israel has shown that it is able to maintain its Jewishness, while being fair and just to all its citizens and residents.  It needs to do even better, guaranteeing the rights of all, without surrendering its Jewish identity.  Israel can be Jewish, democratic, and pluralistic, and it can provide a home for all its citizens, Jew and Arab, secular and religious. It needs a Constitution guaranteeing these rights, obligations, and liberties, echoing the language of its Declaration of Independence, but going beyond it to establish its principles as immutable law.
4. Judah, Samaria, and Gaza should become part of Israel. After the requisite education and normalization periods described above, and upon fulfillment of appropriate requirements, including equivalents of citizenship tests, Arab residents in those territories should be provided a choice, at their option, of becoming full-fledged citizens or permanent residents.  The former will get Israeli passports and the latter will receive teudot maavar  (Travel Documents); as is the case today, holders of both will have full ability to enter and exit the country.  Permanent residents will enjoy all rights and privileges of citizens, except the right to vote in national elections.  In exchange for the surrender of that right, people who choose to become permanent residents will receive at least a 50% reduction in taxes, and perhaps other benefits. (In the only overtly discriminatory features of this plan, Jews will not be able to choose permanent residency in lieu of citizenship, and the Right of Return will continue to apply only to Jews–otherwise it might not remain a Jewish State.)  In another context, which I freely acknowledge is vastly different, shareholders often surrender the right to vote in favor of enhanced dividends.  Between the guarantees in the Constitution of a Jewish identity, and the economic appeal of non-voting permanent residency, the continuity of a Jewish State should be assured.  This proposal also accommodates the possible fact that some Palestinians might not want to be citizens of a Jewish State, and should not be disadvantaged in terms of civil rights if they choose accordingly.
5. This plan will require the approval and assistance of the Gulf States, Egypt, Jordan, the United States, the European Union, and any democracy that wants to participate.  Part of the program will be massive investment in the educational and cultural infrastructure discussed above, as well as investment in industrial enterprises and technology.  The object will be to create an economic miracle and full employment, and to yield significant opportunities and investment returns.  There must be a peace dividend.  Foreign investment will be welcome and necessary, but it will be applied to building economic wealth and social stability, not tunnels, munitions, and war.  During the transition period to a planned, modern economy, oversight committees comprised of government officials, academics, and business professionals will assure that wealth is not concentrated in the hands of oligarchs, but that a broad swath of the population has its economic profile enhanced.  During the adjustment/education period there will have to be an effort that approximates the rebuilding of Europe after World War II.
6. Many social and political innovations and much fresh thinking will be required.  Municipal advisory boards and governments will gradually take over local affairs.  There should probably be an alternative national anthem available to non-Jewish permanent residents and citizens of Israel, along the lines of the Black national anthem currently in vogue in the United States, so  that not everyone will be singing about nefesh yehudi (a Jewish soul) at all public events, but everyone will be able to sing about being a free nation in our land, which will belong to all its inhabitants.  Schools should be bi-lingual, as in Quebec. (In B’nei Brak, Hebrew and Yiddish, perhaps.)  After the transition period, national service and military service will be expected of all citizens and residents.  If the re-education is as effective as it should be, the Palestinian attitude toward its–their–state should be similar to the attitude prevailing in the Druze communities.

Utopia is a fictional place where everything is perfect.  Instead of using that word, borrowed from Thomas More’s book of that name, I considered using Erewhon, based on Samuel Butler’s 19th century fictional country.  The idea of “nowhere” spelled backwards is probably more appropriate, but we need to be in a utopian mood to imagine a happy ending to the morass in which we find ourselves.  Unfortunately, we are living a dystopian nightmare; the events of October 7 were a terrifying and sobering wake-up call.  Unless people of good faith and sound judgment come together to promote actual solutions that might work, even if they would be difficult to implement and would require years, if not decades, of hard labor and indomitable will, the future is bleak.

Everyone will find something to hate in this plan, and I acknowledge it as a shell, or a starting point for additional discussion.  I also hope that people who talk endlessly of peace, with no realistic way of achieving it, will find something here upon which to build in seeking that objective.