Wanted: Boring People who can Change the World

Last week, an expert in Middle Eastern policy asked me why I care so much about post-war Gaza. At the time, I didn’t have a full answer for him. Now, I do.

First, I don’t want to send my children to war supporting an attempt to apply the model used in Germany and Japan to Gaza. I believe it is doomed to failure, simply because Arab-Islamic culture has little in common with German or Japanese culture.

Second, I want to give those Gazans who want to live in peace a way out of the current culture of violence. As the Abraham Accords showed, there is no law of nature that specifies that Arabs and Jews must be enemies. To the extent that we can cultivate friendships and even alliances, we should do so.

Third, Israel itself could learn from such a project. More effective anti-corruption systems, a vastly streamlined taxation system and even new forms of lending could all help on our side of the border.

Fourth, Israel is on the forefront of a battle between civilization and barbarism. For me, civilization represents the vast web of ideas, social structures, relationships, processes and political realities that unlock opportunity and meaning for individuals within it. Israel, a civilization, is like a complex organism, balanced and ever changing with almost infinite homeostatic systems. Hamas, on the other hand, has produced a totalitarian society in which its own people are reduced to mere bodies in the service of a destructive ideology. Individuals cannot find opportunity and meaning because the complex social web that enables such opportunity and meaning has ceased to exist.

The future of humanity depends on turning back the tide of the growing barbarism of totalitarian states.

The Shadow Government

Some countries have a wonderful concept: the Shadow Cabinet. This idea–currently found in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the UK–is to create a cabinet with  all the usual ministers, but instead of being in the government, they are actually proposing an alternative to the current state of affairs. Think of it as a sort of institutionalized “devil’s advocate”. 

In theory, this concept could be extended to the formation of a Shadow Government – an assembly of (ideally) all the various professionals needed to run a governmental system.

Creating a Pre-Planned Day-After 

There is a saying that common sense should be more than just a last resort. As the war in Gaza continues, there has been little public evidence of a well-developed post-offensive plan. Press reports bring up various ideas and an emerging consensus, but nothing detailed or stable with clear leadership in place.

The North Gaza Project intends to bridge this gap. At the moment, the North Gaza Project is a reasonably detailed proposal that represents one of several sets of proposed ideas (although the others aren’t as public). The Project proposes a number of potential answers to ensuring that post-war Gaza is different than the Gaza from which the October 7th attacks were launched.

But what if we could take it a step further? What if we could form a “Shadow Government” for a future Gaza–a group of experts and professionals capable of actually delivering solutions should the opportunity arise? And why not? There is no lack of capable administrators in Israel.

These people would include regulators, administrators, judges, professors, doctors, religious leaders, civil engineers and more. Together they could flesh out a vision for what could be–a  vision independent of the violence of Hamas and the corruption of the Palestinian Authority. A vision that could start with Israeli security control, but which would ultimately lead to Palestinian autonomy only after the demonstrated development of a civil society.

A Practical Model for the Future

The North Gaza Project’s principles include:

1. A limited zone whose inhabitants are limited only to those who want to be a part of a new reality
2. Encouragement of responsibility and opportunity
3. A clear roadmap – with measurable metrics – to eventual autonomy
4. Civil development as the precursor to successful political development
5. Stepping away from corrupting aid and crushing loans to a new financial model for developing societies

How can this be implemented? While the North Gaza Project lays out the overall picture, a Shadow Government could refine that plan while adding real heft to it.

Real-World Examples

Here are a few areas where this could happen:

• The last major innovation in taxes was the VAT, which was first introduced in the Ivory Coast in 1954. From there, it spread globally. The Net Consumption Tax proposed for the North Gaza Project takes advantage of technologies developed since 1951 to simplify that system while replacing all other taxes (and many welfare features) with a single unified tax structure. FinTech experts could work with tax regulators to flesh out exactly how such a system would be built and how it would function. They’d be ready to develop and roll it out as soon as the opportunity arises.
• A new educational curriculum desperately needs to be developed for Gaza. There are already organizations working on curriculums – such as IMPACT-se. As part of the Shadow Government for Gaza, these organizations could help in specifying how the educational system should be regulated and how educational materials would be approved.
• The North Gaza Project calls for a unique financing system which moves away from the aid (which can undermine good governance) as well as the crushing burden of international debt. This is critical to enabling a free society in Gaza to flourish. The Project’s territory (and inhabitants) could borrow an amount specified by the average daily earnings of the population now and pay back an amount based on the average daily earnings of the population in the future. For example an individual might borrow 10 average work days now (about 150 shekels now) and repay 5 work days in 3 years. If earnings rise 3-fold (still well below West Bank levels), that payout would be worth 225 shekels, but the burden would actually decrease. If earnings don’t rise, nobody would be underwater. In theory this system would create new development market opportunities, but bankers and lawyers would need to prepare a market for this ‘developing economy equity’, administrators would need to find ways to open it to the local population, and educators would need to explain the opportunities, responsibilities and implications that come with it. If you think you can help, join in.
• The plan calls for retired international judges to decide civil cases in the early stages of the project, with local judges gradually stepping into this role. The management of such a system would need to be fleshed out, as would the regulations that manage the gradual handover process. Meanwhile, international judges could actually volunteer to take part before the system is even established.

This is just a sample of what is needed. The North Gaza Project represents a tremendous opportunity for experts of all stripes to join in fleshing out a new system – one that could potentially be the world’s most sophisticated.

Unlike the failed nation-building efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the North Gaza Project starts with a critical premise: the population must choose to be there. This is why it isn’t the All of Gaza Project. There is no attempt to force the values of the Project on the Gazan population. Instead, the goal is to give those who want to escape the conflict–those who honestly wish to live in peaceful autonomy–a way to do so.

The North Gaza Project may start with less than 1 millionth of the Earth’s land area. Nonetheless, it could benefit my children, my people, our neighbors and – indeed – all of humanity.

If you think you might have something to offer, visit northgaza.org.