A Solution to the Palestine Problem
This is a thought experiment whose goal is to ensure that something horrifying like the Oct 7 attack on Israel never happens again, that Israel is safe and prosperous and moves forward contributing to the world, rather than having to look over their shoulders for terrorists out to kill their kids.
How would we achieve these goals?
First, let’s look at some options that don’t work:
Unviable option: Two states
In this option, Israel and Palestine continue to exist as two different countries, with their own government and security forces. This was the status quo, but Palestine is a failed state, or has been taken over by terrorists (Hamas), and in either case, a two-state solution is not viable.
Unviable option: A single state
In this option, both countries are merged into one, and everyone gets a vote. But it’s not viable to form a state with two groups of people with different identities who dislike each other and have different fundamental values. Israel is living in the 21st century and Palestine in the 19th. They can’t coexist in one country.
Viable option: Palestine autonomous region under Israeli control
The only option left is to make Palestine an autonomous region under Israeli control. Palestine would have more power than a state in a country (like California in the US) but less than a country. Israel would have the right to do anything to ensure Israeli security.
Look at this map where Israel is depicted in orange, and Palestine in yellow:
Weapons have been smuggled into Palestine in three ways indicated by the red arrows: from Egypt (bottom-left), Jordan and by sea. Israel can move Palestinian territory inland, so that they’re surrounded by Israel and no longer have access to international borders, whether Egypt, Jordan or the Mediterranean Sea. If they go this route, they’ll swap equal amounts of Palestinian land for Israeli. Israel can merge Gaza into the West Bank1 so that any future attack will come from one place rather than two at once. Further, maybe the Palestinians won’t be allowed to have their own police force and Israel will supply the force? Or will the lower ranks of the police be Palestinians? Israel will decide that. Weapons will be made illegal, and there will be various laws to safeguard Israelis. For example, if a Palestinian knows of or suspects a plot to attack Israel but doesn’t inform Israeli security, he’ll be put to death along with the attackers. The death penalty will be used against any attacks on Israelis2. Any building that has a tunnel underneath that isn’t disclosed to Israel will be destroyed. Since Gaza is anyway destroyed and has to be rebuilt, Israel can use the opportunity to destroy the tunnels and to build in whichever way the military says is less dangerous to Israel. What kind of urban environments are worse than others from this perspective?
Palestinians will have full autonomy to the extent that it doesn’t hurt Israeli security. Elections will be held, and a government formed for this purpose. This government will make laws and enforce them, to the extent they don’t hurt Israeli security. When they do, Israel will have the ability to override them.
The education curriculum will be controlled to ensure that hatred of Israelis won’t be passed along to the next generation of Palestinian children3. Maybe some of the teachers will be Israeli. Maybe Palestinian and Israeli kids will study together jointly so that bonds are formed and the next generation will be closer. It becomes harder to dismiss as other people you’ve known well for years and whom you meet every day. Besides, to truly end poverty, which feeds into violence, Palestinians will need to be educated and given opportunities in life. Until then, Israel will never truly be safe.
Coming to money, Palestine will be taxed to offset any expenses Israel incurs, like the police. Any country4 or organisation worldwide will be able to invest in or donate to Palestine any civilian infrastructure. Cash can be donated. Someone can build a school for Gaza. Someone else can donate solar panels. And so on.
I think this proposal will achieve the goal of improving Israeli security.
If you find yourself disagreeing with this post, ask yourself whether it’s the methods or the goal you disagree with. When people disagree, they’re often unclear on which. Imagine we’re discussing buying a car. You say a bicycle is better because it gives us exercise. I counter with “No, a car gets you to your destination faster”. You argue with “But we need to exercise!” This isn’t going to lead to a resolution, since our goals are fundamentally incompatible. Similarly, if your goals are incompatible with mine when it comes to Israel, don’t leave a comment. But if you share my goal of ensuring Israeli security first and foremost, and you think a different way to achieve them works better, please comment.
… which, despite its name, is to the east of Israel.
Of course, not for minor offenses like slapping an Israeli cop. The punishment must be proportionate to the crime.
And any atrocities committed by Israelis shouldn’t be swept under the carpet, either.
Except perhaps countries like Iran that have armed Palestinians. Israel will make a list of countries that aren’t allowed to donate or invest.