Even the unhinged have brilliant ideas: The Gaza proposal

“Well, I may be an idiot, but I am no fool.” — The Village Idiot in Monty Python’s Flying Circus.1

There was a character in Elie Wiesel’s book Night by the name of Moshe the Beadle. This character was poor and an outcast. The citizens of Elie Wiesel’s town, Sighet, had ill regard for him. He was one of the first to be deported to Auschwitz, and yet managed to escape and return to Sighet to warn the town. Everyone considered him mad.

I first read Night in high school. Since then, I truly listened to “madmen”, whether I was providing therapy to Level I mentally ill people, or spoke to the homeless that hung outside my retail business in Manhattan during the night. They all had so many legitimate things to say. I knew them all by name.

The Gazan Proposal of Donald Trump is one of those brilliant ideas emanating from a clearly unhinged man.

The idea to resettle the Gazans, and have the Americans take over the area is worthy of consideration. It will, at minimum, bring peace to that area. If any country foots the bill to rebuild Gaza, history has shown that the Gazan leadership will just destroy it.

The twentieth century is replete of examples of organized population shifts. These forced migrations proved effective in eliminating war, or maintaining some semblance of peace. These shifts affected huge swaths of populations who were displaced from lands that they were living on for generations:

• 1947- Newly Independent India and Pakistan. Millions of Indians who lived in the new Moslem State of Pakistan, and millions of Moslems who found themselves in the Indian border had to switch sides. This resulted in a reduction of tensions.
• Late 1940’s Postwar Europe: Ethnic killing was rampant. Europe was in a state of anarchy. Thousands of Ukrainians who lived in Prewar Poland were forced to relocate to Ukraine SSR. Polish borders shifted after the War resulting in Poles being slaughtered in Ukraine SSR. They too had to relocate to Poland.Plus, Germans who lived for generations in various areas in Europe, from Silesia to Czechoslovakia had to relocate to the new re-bordered Germany.
• The British Peel Commission in 1937 of Mandate Palestine proposed two states, Arab and Jewish to be carved out. Knowing that either side was hostile to each other, population shifting was required. The Arabs, as usual, rejected this plan while the Jews accepted it. It was never carried out since WWII got in the way.

It is time to rethink the idea of what to do with Gaza. Over the decades, the proposals coming from mainstream diplomats and politicians have created more conflict. Today, it is obvious there would be no peace between the Palestinians and Israelis. There is only one tiny Jewish State, and 22 Arab nations. The latter could easily absorb the Gazans.

Lastly, the population of Israel may accept such a plan, except the Dati, religious. According to Jewish Law, it is forbidden to give away any part of the holy land. Instead of allowing the United States to cede Gaza, Gaza could be leased, instead of given away, for 99 years. The United States had such a lease with Panama at the turn of the Twentieth Century, and the United Kingdom had a 99 year lease with China for Hong Kong.

Risks must be taken for the sake of peace in this region. Sadly, the world has run out of alternative, workable solutions.

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1 – The Village Idiot“ Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Mockumentary skit about the village     idiot. 1969