It's Friday night. You walk along a pier near your house and stop at the end, taking in the air and the sights. There's no person in view just a whimper. You look under the wood and find a little girl along the sand, cold and alone. You take her back to your place and you discover that her parents were insane and abusive. You go to court and become her legal guardian and for months the two of you live happily together. But then her uncle shows up and he wants to move in and soon after so do all her friends and relatives. Soon enough you complain to the landlord who you explain that they are trying to kick yourself out and he advises that you to it to court. There it is established that it is as much theirs as much and yours and you also discover that all of those people came from some dysfunctional history where they were treated worse than you are right now. Should they be forced to wander from place to place seeking refuge for their entire lives purely because they were born to a certain culture or should there be a domino effect where they kick out one family who kicks out another, and which becomes and ever ending cycle.
Though this is not a perfect example, at its basis this is the moral quandary presented in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. This collision is the most grand scale, contemporary model that outside forces shouldn't dictate what happens between two civil forces. Jews were recoiling back from World War Two and were trying to find a permanent refuge, considering the Americas and Africa, but finally settling on Palestine. Palestinians were cool with them here but later when their masses increased they became more and more worried. And soon there was conflict on whose state it was and how to settle the conflict. The UN was the first to mediate, from external pressure faced from the Zionists they came to the decision of giving Jews the majority of the land, even though they one made up a third of the population. Later when the war broke out Israel conquered the Gaza Strip and the West Bank but since it is international law that one cannot conquer land through war anymore they simply inhabited that area.
There are many different proposed solutions to try to get them to peacefully coexist but there is one in particular which may seem crazy for the outsider but is becoming more apparent due to demography and geography reasons. The proposition to combine Israel and Palestine into one single country. But of course like every compromise, there comes with a set of problems.
Firstly, the Jews would have to give up their dream of ever being part of their own country. Self determinations was the sole motive for the Zionist project and to give up on a country built on sacrificing 23,320 men, women, and children is just too much to bear for some.
Secondly the change in the community is improbable to be adaptable for each side. What protected minority is safe in the Middle East? The Coptic Christians who are experiencing the worst violence since the 14th century, according to scholar Samuel Taros. The Kurds, who are under systematic discrimination? The Yazidi people who are under risk of genocide? The Bahia, whose temple is in Israel because it's the one place in the Middle East they can practice freely? And let's not forget the fate of Jews in Arab countries whose protected status was revoked at whim? Syrian, Egyptian, Libyan, Iraqi and Lebanese Jews remember far too well, how quickly relations could turn sour and deadly. Its impossible for Christians, Muslims, and Jews to live side by side, not only because Israel won't come to terms with it, but also because Arabs and Islams just don't experience it. Jews and Christians don't even live together in the Palestine Diaspora so how could they be expected to live side by side today in equality?
Thirdly how can they find a way to live together without being aggressive towards each other? A constitution sounds like a good idea but the issue of this is different from everyone that precedes it. How could we be sure that it would be enforced? Would Jews have to give up their homes to compensate for the 5 million Palestinians that are incoming? What if a secular democracy becomes voted out for a religious fundamentalist view? What if the new government decides to persecute the Jews who played any part in the occupation? What if they decide to totally imprison them, scour their homes, and give them the ultimate penalty. Considering the support for the Hamas it would be dangerous for any I would be most wary of this line of events happening.
And lastly, looking from an economic viewpoint this convergence would create an economic gridlock. Combining a third world economy and a first world economy would only lead to economic misery. Israel couldn't accept so many civilians without having their social systems collapse. Start Up Nation would be evacuated, as millions of penniless refugees would pour in. Google, Apple, Teva, all of those brain industries would flee, as would anyone with a passport. A bankrupt economy would follow, as the overextended Israeli social welfare system would burst at the seams.
The two state solutions aren't much better, they all are either barbaric and use backwards thinking or they would lead to an automatic Arab opposition they could exorcise their Zoabis and Tibi demons and put secular nationalists out. And of course the U.S. intervention of paying them 8 million each day to help Israeli to control the radical and rebelling is just giving them more military power which in turn makes rebelling Palestinians more extreme and innocent Palestinians more scared.
There is no clear solution to this never ending conflict but there is a silver lining in all this, as the form of a lesson. Even if there comes to be a solution the losses will be too heavy to call it an accord. Intervention should always be used as a last resort and when it is used it shouldn't be at the mercy of one side. Because peace cannot come from a lack conflict. But peace is handling conflict in peaceful means. It's through this sight that those two opposing sides are forever plagued with discord.
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