Israel and the Palestinians. Is there a resolution to the festering global sore?

I have considered writing this blog for a couple of years. With Trump's recent declaration that a new Palestine be created from one of its neighbors, such as Jordan. I decided to enter the discussion.. A number of thought leaders have spoken up. Recently a column in the NYT consulted 5 Palestinian thought-leaders on the subject In my opinion everyone is a little bit correct. Since Scholar GPS informed me that I am in the top 0.05% of all scholars in all fields, I feel I have license to describe subjects that are not Gd and not medical. If you are only interested in my articles on GDD, this is not for you. This presentation provides an important new concept to ideas discussed on the subject. I think my plan is by far the best plan.

First off there are some truisms of human nature that have to be appreciated.

1. people in general throughout all history strive for self-determination, and do not like to be told what to do, by outside forces. Many will bitterly resist it..

2. people have strong ties to what they consider their ancestral lands. This is much less marked in individuals who leave their original location of ancestral lands to find a new destiny in the immigrant countries of USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.. Although these immigrant countries themselves have imposed upon indigenous people. The sense though of ancestral lands in immigrant countries shows how quickly this concept can be formed, often within 3 generations of living in a location. So one can well understand that if your ancestors have lived in a location for hundreds, even thousands of years, you have a powerful sense of ancestral lands.

A brief point of history of the region. Judea existed from about the 10th century BCE to the 2nd century CE. Through Roman conquest the Romans renamed the general territory as Syria Palaestinia. In the early decades of the 20th century the British (mainly guided by Churchill, with some French involvement) created the borders of the countries in Western Asia/ Middle East. Palestine was created.

In the 20th century, and sped up after the horrors of their genocide at the hands of the Nazis in the Second World War, Zionist leaders of the Jewish people were determined to have their own country, so they will never again be at the mercy of a foreign country. In the discussion of where that country should be located Suriname and British Uganda were both suggested. Neither of these regions had any relationship to their ancestral homeland, so they were never seriously considered by Jewish leaders. So the Jewish people have a very strong sense of point 2 above.

In 1948, through conquest, the state of Israel was created in the territory that had been part of the ancient territory called Judea. Apparently on a few occasions through the early establishment of Israel the Jewish leaders suggested to the Palestinians to have two states, and Palestinians rejected that concept. One can understand both sides: Jewish wanted their own ancestral lands back to avoid the possibility of future genocide inflicted upon them, Palestinians thought, this was their country for the last 1800 years, they didn't want suddenly to have half of it taken away. But the critical recognition is one has to appreciate the Real Politik: sometimes things have to be shared.

Most informed thoughtful unbiased (and even biased) individuals understand that for there to be a lasting peace in the state of Israel, and by extension the Middle East, and further extension the world, a two state solution is essential. People do not want to be in a subjected condition (point 1) and people are very attached to their ancestral lands, if they want to want to live there, they don't want a substitute for ancestral lands (point 2). Hence a two state solution is critical,

Some more nuanced points are also essential to appreciate:

1. Most of the Muslim inhabitants of Gaza are refugees from elsewhere in Israel and were displaced to Gaza after 1948, so that exact location is not for most Palestinians ancestral in nature.

2. Having a small distant pocket of citizens (Gaza) separately from the major location (West Bank) of a state is a complication, that generally is a problem for unification.

3. Gaza buildings and towns are essentially destroyed with the current Israeli attacks. The Palestinians do not have the money to rebuild Gaza now, for decades, maybe forever, but Israel does. Especially if funded in partnership by major real estate and hotel conglomerates.

4. Gaza could well be an Eastern Mediterranean resort destination.

5. Jewish people, rightly or wrongly have built very nice self-contained towns in the West Bank, complete with modern housing, modern schools, parks, shopping.

My recommendations:

1. Israel takes over Gaza, and with the help of major global real estate and hospitality firms builds a new Gaza as a resort destination. This part Trump's plan.

2. the Palestinian state is created out of the West Bank, which is enlarged by atleast an equivalent amount of territory as Gaza from adjoining Israeli land.

3. The Jewish towns in the West Bank, now Palestine, be given over to the Muslim refugees from Gaza, will live in well built modern communities. The Jewish people currently living there will have land given to them out of Gaza, and Israel will rebuild for them new towns in the now Israel land in Gaza.

4. Palestine would have to set up a political system with new names to replace existing parties, all of the existing parties have a soured reputation from international (and often internal perspective). Hamas is a toxic name for most internationals. My opinion starting with generic names that the western nations, whose financial help they will need, would find acceptable. I recommend the names that have served throughout all humanity as the two types of political visions that a population have: Conservatives and Liberals.

5. Palestinians would prefer that East Jerusalem be their capitol city. This would be an appropriate concession. This would have to be contiguous with, within, the new country Palestine.

6. Perhaps Jordan and Lebanon, may contribute some land to the creation of Palestine, not essential, but nice.

   
   

   Not part of this division, but an interesting consideration. Bethlehem could be taken over by Christians to form its own city state, like the Vatican, after all it is the birth place of Christ. Right now Bethlehem is a dirty, congested small town, which seems at some level to be sacrilegious. Maybe the Vatican take it over, or a collection of Christian organizations. Purchase of this city state would provide the newly created Palestine with more resources to build new towns for Gaza refugees.

Separate subject, but still Middle East, the country of Kurdistan should be created out of portions of northern Syria and Iraq,. These countries anyways were created with their borders by Great Britain and Churchill in the 20th century. Territories which have been ancestral homes to the Kurds should form Kurdistan. The Kurds are a very distinct and separate group from Syrians and Iraqis. They also were the most effective and loyal fighting force for the Americans and western countries in the fight against Isis. Turkei is a strong ally to the west, so, even though some Kurdish territory is in Turkei, they are probably unwilling to give it up to the new Kurdistan. That may be ok, atleast there will be a Kurdistan. The Kurds had trained women to be soldiers, and they were amongst the most effective fighting force against ISIS. The US should have spent money and resources to train women battalions in Afghanistan... doing this could have avoided the re-establishment of the Taliban there. Women would have fought vigorously, because they would have understood what would happen to them if the Taliban took over again.

Richard Semelka, MD