A Million Dollar Middle East Peace Plan

One night on the dinner desk inside the American Colony—the gorgeous boutique watering hole in East Jerusalem—I overheard an aged American heiress proclaiming that she would give 1,000,000 {{dollars}} to anyone who may resolve the Arab-Israeli battle. It was 1956, and I was merely five-years-old, nonetheless I tugged my father’s sleeve, and talked about, “Daddy, now we have now to win this prize.” 

I spent my complete childhood inside the Heart East, the son of an American diplomat. It was nothing distinctive—in addition to that Zelig-like, I lived by the entire wars of the Arab-Israeli battle. After which as a youthful man I married the one daughter of two survivors of the Shoah. I’ve always labored exhausting to see either side of this tragic, seemingly intractable battle. Nevertheless I’m now fed up with these unhealthy actors and their tribal bloodbaths.

All these just a few years later, the ‘troubles’ inside the ‘dangerous neighborhood persist. Actually, points have gotten worse. Merely check out the horrifying atrocities of October 7, 2023 when some 1,200 Israelis have been butchered. And easily check out the indiscriminate killing of over 30,000 Palestinians, principally civilians in Gaza inside the current battle. Alarming incidents of blatant anti-Semitism and Islamaphobia gasoline a toxic ambiance all through quite a lot of the globe. The tide of extremism on all sides has risen, and civil society voices of moderation are largely deemed irrelevant.

Temporary-sighted leaders on either side are fueling a model new period of violence and hatred. Hamas’s bloody terrorism is unhealthy enough, nonetheless I wouldn’t be surprised if tomorrow the current battle expands to Lebanon or Iran—or if a radiation ‘dirty’ bomb explodes in Tel Aviv, making elements of the city uninhabitable. The one good news is that the political careers of every Bibi Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas are clearly coming to an end. Every of these deplorable leaders have led their peoples to a dull end.

Study Further: Israel’s Dangerous Game with Iran

This battle is so dangerous that the time has come for the worldwide neighborhood to impose a solution. Right here’s what have to be carried out.

First, a six-month cease-fire have to be imposed whereby Hamas releases all their remaining hostages and Israel amnesties a complete bunch of long-term Palestinian prisoners—along with the favored Fatah chief (and convicted murderer), Marwan Barghouti.

Second, and concurrently, convene a Geneva peace conference. Invite the entire occasions to a one-month, time-limited negotiation via which diplomats iron out a whole political compromise, broadly based mostly totally on a two-state peace treaty. It must be modeled on the one-page, six-point program drafted in 2002 by Ami Ayalon, the earlier Israeli intelligence chief, and Sari Nusseibeh, a Palestinian Oxford-trained thinker. It envisions two-states with borders based mostly totally on the 1967 Inexperienced Line with some territorial modifications and with East Jerusalem as a result of the capital of a demilitarized Palestinian state.

It’s a superb doc—simple and obvious.

Skeptics will say that the hardliners on either side obtained’t current up at Geneva. The worldwide neighborhood, led by the Biden Administration, might make it clear that any celebration not displaying up at Geneva might be penalized with financial and approved sanctions. Israeli political leaders should come. Non-state actors may even be invited, along with representatives of the Palestinian Authority, Fatah, Hamas and members of Palestinian civil society groups. They too will face financial and approved sanctions within the occasion that they fail to point up. A dialog will occur via which all occasions are heard. Nevertheless the American, European and completely different worldwide diplomats invited to Geneva might be liable for the exact drafting of a peace treaty. Certain, this may be an imposed peace because of the worldwide stakes are too extreme.

Nevertheless the following Geneva treaty will then be submitted to a referendum in Israel, Gaza, and the West Monetary establishment. I hope {{that a}} clear majority of every Israelis and Palestinians will approve the treaty. Unusual people on either side ought to note that the selection is numerous battle. An imposed, internationally sanctioned referendum will encourage the politicians to stop catering to their respective hardliners. The prospect of an precise peace based mostly totally on simple compromise will immediately seem wise and economically useful to all people. The fog of numerous battle will elevate and customary sense will prevail.

And when that happens, can any individual please ship me that look at for 1,000,000 {{dollars}}?