The Plan That Can Stop The War And Resolve The Conflict

Synopsis:
The PEIS Plan is a breakthrough three-state solution that can stop the war in Gaza and resolve the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict one and for all.

Contents:
In one stroke, the PEIS Plan resolves three Middle East agonies: the drawn-out Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the unrelenting Gaza war between Israel and Hamas, and the Egyptian financial crisis. It then opens a vista of peace and prosperity across the whole region.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is deemed the most intractable in the world because two peoples, the Israelis and Palestinians, fight for the same piece of land – the West Bank. Every one-state or two-state solution that sliced and diced that piece of land over eight decades had failed. The PEIS Plan takes a different approach: It introduces a new land.

The PEIS Plan stands for the Palestinian-Egyptian-Israeli-Sinai peace plan. It proposes that Egyptians sell the insurgent-infected part of the Sinai Peninsula to the Palestinians and use the proceeds for its stalled economy. The Palestinians sell the West Bank to Israel and use the remittance to pay the Egyptians and build a New Palestinian state that combines its Sinai purchase with the Gaza Strip for a new country that is 50% bigger than Greater Israel, six times larger than the landlocked West Bank, contiguous from the Mediterranean Sea on the North to the Gulf of Aqaba on the South, free-standing with an unrestricted air space, and ample enough to welcome home the returning diaspora with homestead resettlement and additional land compensation. Part of Jerusalem belongs to this new nation as its cultural capital. The Israelis buy the West Bank (minus the Jerusalem enclave) from the Palestinians and finally fulfill their immemorial yearning for the “Land of Israel” with Judaea and Samaria under full international recognition. There will be no expulsion of Palestinians out of the transferred West Bank: Those who choose to stay will have the New Palestinian citizenship and Israel’s native residency – a special status that grants non-citizens all the local rights of a citizen.

The PEIS Plan was written before the October 2023 Hamas attack and the ensuing Israeli invasion of Gaza; however, the integration of Gaza into New Palestine shows the path for resolving the Gaza war. Once the Israeli and Egyptian governments and the Palestinian Administration see the merits of the PEIS Plan, they will offer an alternative of nationhood, peace, and prosperity to the Palestinian people in contrast to Hamas’s armed struggle ideology that only results in oppression and destitution, and lately, deaths and destruction. Hamas’s strength is in the protection of the Gazan people, and once they lose it, they will be naked against the Israeli military and the New Palestinian security forces. They have a salvaging option: be part of the political future of New Palestine. With Hamas on board the grander Israeli-Palestinian peace train, the war in Gaza will resolve itself through a parallel track of goodwill, leading to a ceasefire, the release of hostages and prisoners, the resumption of humanitarian aid, the return of the displaced, and a complete Israeli withdrawal. With Gaza being part of a future New Palestine at peace with its neighbors, there is no point for Israel and Hamas to insist on present hostilities.

The PEIS Plan is not cheap, and Israel will bear the ultimate cost of this three-way transaction. But will it be expensive? Every year, Israel spends over $20 billion on its military, and once in a while, there are flare-ups, such as the Gaza war, which is estimated to cost Israel $51 billion, not counting the loss of lives and reputation. Would some of this money be better used to secure peace and Judaea and Samaria forever? Egypt will receive a “down payment” and steady “mortgage payments” in the billions of dollars annually for the sale of northern and eastern Sinai – plagued by Islamic insurgents, Gazan refugees, and Hamas militants, costing the Egyptian military assets and lives, and hitting the Egyptian treasury millions year after year. Egypt will retain the best part of Sinai – the Suez Canal, the Red Sea Riviera, and the western and southern areas. Egypt is one of the most indebted countries in the world, has to sell national assets, and keeps seeking IMF bailouts that have strings attached. The PEIS Plan money belongs to Egypt in full and clear of foreign interference; the best part is this money comes from Israel, its old nemesis and perennial regional competitor.

As for Israel, it may find itself in something it has never known since independence – at peace with all its neighbors. The PEIS Plan will be the template to resolve the conflicts between Israel and its other two neighbors, Lebanon and Syria. The cost of the expanded PEIS Plan will be significant; it should be viewed not as an expense but as an investment. With the Palestinian issue settled and all other border conflicts resolved, Israel will be welcome in the Middle East countries and on its way to becoming a multi-dimensional economic power. The tenor of the region will change from aggrievances and radicalism to opportunities and prosperity, starting with the New Palestinian state.

The New Palestinian state, combining the PEIS Sinai and the Gaza Strip, is the breakthrough state that Palestinians have sought for decades. It is not in the West Bank, which has proven to be a lost cause with its landlocked geography, continuously encroached and hopelessly surrounded by Israel, which controls all land and air accesses. The new country’s vast expanse will facilitate the development of green energy to undergird a manufacturing base for exports to the European market. For the seasoned autocrat currently heading the embattled Palestinian Authority, being the founder of New Palestine will be his swan song, recorded forever in history.

The PEIS Plan’s groundbreaking three-state solution can succeed where others have failed because it gives something most dear to the stakeholders: to the Egyptians, prosperity and the finance for its pharaonic ambitions; to the Palestinians, a viable country and dignity; and to the Israelis, peace and Greater Israel.