The most brilliant plan ever for Middle East peace ever comes from this guy commenting at Matt Yglesias' blog. Since most of the Jewish holy sites are on the "wrong side" of the Green Line, and Palestinians claim descent from people who lived by the Mediterranean Sea, he asks, Why can't Israelis and Palestinians just switch countries?
This is awesome. Palestinians get their right to return. Israelis get the Old City, Abraham's tomb and Jacob's Well.
Granted, the Israelis might be a little bit nervous about becoming a land-locked country surrounded by Arab states, but given their overwhelming advantage in nuclear weapons, I'm sure they could negotiate a corridor to a sea port/beach resort on very favorable terms. AND, it coheres with long-standing American policy, which the President reiterated last week, that a peace treaty needs to be negotiated on the basis of the 1967 borders with mutually-agreed upon swaps.
OK, I concede that that's a whole lotta land swappin'. But what's your plan for Middle East peace? How's it not any more DOA than this plan?
This "plan" may strike some as a bit glib and even snarky--too glib and snarky for what is one of the most tragic conflicts of our time. But when the situation is hopeless isn't a little gallows humor in order?
And things do seem hopeless. The President gave a speech last week that broke no new ground, and the Israeli Prime Minister and his minions in the right wing media threw a hissy fit. Today the PM spoke to Congress and denied that Jewish settlers in the West Bank are foreign occupiers. That line got a standing ovation.
I'm trying to imagine some alternative universe in which the Cherokee nation up and moved back to the North Carolina mountains, bulldozed the Biltmore Estate, built a subdivision on the property, and the Cherokee PM, in a speech to a joint session of Congress, denied that the Cherokees were foreign occupiers.
Nope. Can't imagine it.
The Cherokees' return to their ancestral homeland doesn't figure in anyone's end times scenario. I don't think they're even in the Book of Mormon. So Congress won't aid and abet them with violating international law.
Of course, the Palestinians need to make concessions. Hamas needs to bury their awful fantasy of destroying the Jewish state. Dude, Israel ain't going anywhere. They got skyscrapers and everything!
The problem is, what the current Israeli government wants the Palestinians to concede to is some kind of Indian reservation existence under permanent Israeli suzerainty. Actually, it's worse than that. American Indians get to vote for President. But Palestinians will never, ever have any political self-determination if the current Israeli government gets its way. So the Palestinians will never, ever agree to such odious terms which means that for all intents and purposes, the Israeli government stands for the status quo.
And the status quo is unsustainable.
Josh Marshall is right. Peace would be nice, but if Zionism has any future, the two sides have got to "get shed of each other" (as people I grew up with used to say), and pronto. But there is no willingness in the current Israeli government even to think about that, nor is there any willingness in the Congress of Israel's patron to exercise their substantial leverage toward that end.
Nevertheless, things are never hopeless. I grew up in the 70s and 80s when it seemed like the Berlin Wall had stood forever and would stand forever. But then it was gone. And in fact, the Wall wasn't even as old as I am now when it crumbled. So seemingly intractable situations can change.
And people of faith are never without hope. I have said before that much of this conflict is spiritual in nature. These two peoples have hurt each other and been hurt by each other so much that there's very little room in their hearts for even the minimal amount of trust that it takes to make a deal. Much less forgiveness and reconciliation. So as we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, we need to pray for a collective healing of old and deep wounds, so that the leaders on both sides have the spiritual space to make courageous decisions.
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