The Zionists are adamant in the existence of an Israeli State while Hamas is equally adamant in its demand for the return of the Palestine State to its original Mandate borders ! The only way to achieve any Peace Agreement is to shoot down all the Hawks and to bring back the Doves to make the necessary compromises to strike a lasting peace deal. For that to happen, the Quartet on the Middle East -USA,RUSSIA,EU&UN has to bring about the Referendums for Peace from both the peoples of Palestine and Israel; Hamas has to disarm;there must be complete withdrawal of Israeli military and settlers from Gaza and West Bank and the lifting of Israeli blockade on Gaza; Palestine and the Arab league have to accept Israel's right to exist; Israel has to recognize the sovereignty of an independent Palestine state and the Palestinians have to sort out the power sharing between Hamas and Fatah.
The Quartet and the Arab League nations can assist in the rebuilding of the infrastructure and economy of a new Palestine state.
The economic cost of the Palestine /Israel conflict in the last decade alone,has caused the Palestinian people to have lost almost 5,000 lives, close to $40 billion in income opportunity, 20 million square meters of agricultural land, and 100 million man-hours in crossing at Ramallah. Moreover, almost 1.7 million of the 4 million residents of Gaza and West Bank are refugees. The opportunity cost of conflict for the Middle East from 1991-2010 is $12 trillion. Palestine's share in this is $38 billion while Israel is $1 trillion. In other words had there been peace and cooperation in the Middle East since 1991, every Palestinian citizen would be earning over $2,400 instead of the $1,200 in 2010. Every Israeli citizen would be earning over $44,000 instead of the $23,000 in 2010.
2 comments:
I agree that the Israel-Arab/Palestinian crisis is a very complex problem but disagree with your solution that all it takes is to get rid of the extremists, talk peace and disarm.
We are dealing here with a political conflict that emanates from an ancient family trauma (the rejection of the half-son from the Abraham family) which resulted in so-called religious texts that specifically encourage the ethnic cleansing of the half-blood tribe.
Nonetheless, there are several ways to appoach the problem and achieve a solution. A complicated problem requires a complicated analysis with a simple but profound solution.
1. Reexamine the simplicity of the political solution: a two-state solution simply requires that each state recognises and respects the existence of the other. All other tactics to obstruct this process reflects an indirect denial of real peace. For example, if Singapore/Indonesia refuses to recognise Malaysia as a legitimate country, why bother talking about a truce or lasting peace with them? Wiser to prepare secretly for the coming attack.
2.The diplomatic solution is now offered by President Obama. He is likely to convince Iran and all the proxy elements of the Arab world to lay down their arms for peace. But this peace won’t hold because it is merely diplomacy laced with great rhetoric from an ambitious world leader. Read his inaugural speech:
“To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”
This means a voluntary disarmament which will eventually be a prelude to rearmament. An unclenched fist can easily become clenched with a nuclear bomb later on.
3. On the question of who is right or wrong. I suggest we heed Jesus’s advice to judge a tree by its fruits. How many Jewish and Arab friends do we personally know from both sides of the issue to be able to know the truth of their lives in this region?
We should learn to see the problems of the Middle East from the perspective of a Martian who has no vested interest. Which party in this conflict is unreasonable, barbaric, illogical and religiously extremist?
Maybe, the Martian will conclude that both parties are equally guilty. But ask him further, show him the history of this conflict which extends to Abraham’s relationship with his two sons Isaac and Ishmael and you may arrive at a truly objective view.
4. The spiritual solution is the most effective one: both the Arabs and the Israelis must look deep into their intertwined past as half-brothers and truly repent and forgive each other. They must be made to see that the alternative is more bloodshed and perhaps a geopolitical war. Just remember that the last world war was tainted with the tragedy of the Holocaust.
Hi Jeremiah. Thanks for dropping by and for sharing your views.
I definitely agree that they have too much bad blood among them that goes back a few thousand years, that there is no love lost between them.
We were lucky that the animosity during the "troubled times" in Malaysia and Ireland did not last that long !
In any case, in Ireland, peace was possible only when both factions were genuinely interested in achieving peace based on a power sharing and prosper thy neighbour platform and only when both opposing sides could let go of the past and accepted a path of reconciliation.
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