My Plan to Solve the Middle East Crisis

[oberliner]

1. Hezbollah turns Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev over to Lebanese government officials.

2. Israel completely withdraws all forces from all of Lebanon including Shaba farms.

3. An international force is temporarily deployed in South Lebanon.

4. Hezbollah disarms and the Lebanese military takes over jurisdiction of the entire country as per the Taif agreement.

5. Israel pays massive monetary reparations to help pay for repairs to Lebanon’s infrastructure.

6. Israel removes all settlements and withdraws completely from all territories occupied in 1967 as per UN Resolution 242.

7. The State of Palestine is declared on said territories and recognized by all UN Member States.

8. Arab States terminate all claims or states of belligerency and acknowledge the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of Israel and her right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force as per UN Resolution 242

9. A Reconciliation Conference is held to recognize all past historical crimes committed by parties in the region and to grant one another forgiveness for said crimes.

10. Peace and prosperity for all in the Middle East.

[cali]

1. Sounds good

but you still end up with no way to connect Gaza to the West Bank. And what about the status of Jerusalem, and what about all the palestinian prisoners?

[oberliner]

8. Palestinian Prisoners

How about the release of all Palestinian prisoners who have not been found guilty of killing Israeli civilians?

Do you have any ideas on the other issues you mentioned?

I know that Clinton had helped work out a framework for having East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian State and West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel but I don't think the parties were
ever able to agree completely. I would propose something along those lines.

What would you propose for connecting Gaza to the West Bank? I do not know enough about what suggestions Palestinians have made regarding that concern.

[burythehatchet]

2. and who gets to keep the nukes?

[cali]

4. that's about the last thing on

the list. Solve the other problems first, then address the nukes.

[burythehatchet]

11. That list would be relevant to you and the OP

not so much muslim states in the mideast

[oberliner]

12. Israel dismantles its nuclear weapons program

Israel dismantles its nuclear weapons program to the satisfaction of UN inspectors.

All countries in the region agree not to develop nuclear weapons and to be subject to regular UN inspections to ensure that agreement is being upheld.

[cali]

16. Why wouldn't it be relevant to muslim states

provide your solution.

[SoCalDem]

3. Got to look at a map... even a "two state" solution won't work

non-contiguous chunks of land do not a state make.

[cali]

5. If you're referring to Gaza and

the West Bank, there are possible solutions.

[SoCalDem]

18. I sure hope you are right... and very young.

I don;t see it happening in MY lifetime :(

[burythehatchet]

7. Please tell me

that's not a real pop-up ad....please.

[SoCalDem]

14. It's a joke banner ad.. You are the FIRST to notice it

:)

[burythehatchet]

31. I'm somewhat relieved

:(



B-)

[oberliner]

10. Are you proposing a "one state" solution instead?

Not sure what you are suggesting here.

Please elaborate.

[SoCalDem]

15. Not "suggesting" anything

I was just commenting on the fact that having a split state is just a newly planted garden of future despair.

[oberliner]

19. If a two-state solution won't work

Do you have any ideas for what might work?

How is the conflict ever going to be resolved?

[SoCalDem]

21. Frankly, I don't ever see it truly "solved"

I have no solutions.. People who mark time by the thousands of years, cannot let go of the past long enough to see the future.

like the monkey with its paw stuck in the jar, they refuse to let go and never retrieve what's in the jar.

[Selatius]

17. I believe he wishes to see a contiguous nation in the West Bank/Gaza Strip

Basically, he doesn't want it to be a nation where it is bisected and segmented by access roads and check points connecting colonial settlements of Israel on top of the nation. It wouldn't really be an independent nation as goods travel through those checkpoints that Israel controls.

[oberliner]

20. still a two-state solution

Completely agree. There should be zero settlements, no access roads, no check points.

Just two independant states.

On the question of how to link Gaza to the West Bank, I am interested in ideas.

I don't know enough about what proposals have been out there for this.

[SoCalDem]

24. A THREE state solution might make more sense?

Gaza, Israel & Palestine

[Selatius]

26. You mean Gaza as a sort of city-state like Luxembourg or Monaco? n/t

[greatauntoftriplets]

33. To be picky since I am related to about half the country....

Luxembourg is not a city state. Luxembourg City is the capital, but the 999 square miles (true) have countryside, farms and numerous other smaller cities.

You are correct about Monaco, though.

[oberliner]

28. What do you think of the Gaza-West Bank bridge idea?

posted down-thread

[Selatius]

29. It's good enough; it beats having intersections with check points.

I'd be on board with such an idea.

[SoCalDem]

23. I am a "she"...and it's not about what anyone "wants"

:hi:
It's about what everyone in the region can live with. Based solely on what has transpired to this point, I cannot see this as a permanent resolution.

[panader0]

6. A good start, a "roadmap to peace' as it were. All of your ideas

should be in every negociators briefcase.

[Greyhound]

9. If we were dealing with rational adults, but really.

We will see peace in the middle east the moment the last inhabitant dies.

The best thing we can do is to quit arming everyone, but of course that's a ridiculous notion as well.

[oberliner]

13. That is very cynical

"We will see peace in the middle east the moment the last inhabitant dies."

I pray that is not the case.

[Greyhound]

27. Yes it is, but it is also historically true.

If we were to wave our majik wand and make the Jews and Arabs love each other, they'd turn to the next guys that wronged their great-great-grand parents, a hundred years ago to justify killing them.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but there has been no peace in that region since the Hebrews (Habaru, or homeless ones, IIRC) invaded and killed the neolithic agricultural cultures that lived there 6,000 - 12,000 years ago.

[oberliner]

30. where does that spelling of "majik" come from?

i've never seen it before

[Greyhound]

34. I think I've seen it in one of my GF or mothers books, although I may have

mis-spelled even that (could've been a 'g')

[Greyhound]

35. double post

[Selatius]

22. The plan is extremely difficult to achieve, but possible nonetheless

With rational people, the only issue is time, but there are extremists on both sides of the conflict. We will have to attempt to move forward with the extremists throwing obstacles in the way. This may mean it could take a lifetime or more to accomplish this plan due to delays and setbacks.

I may be long dead before point 10 is ever reached, but it's better than doing nothing.

[oberliner]

25. Interesting Proposal to Make Gaza-West Bank Contiguous

The Gaza-West-Bank Bridge : by Ricky Seabra, Strategic Designs, 2001
(Quite literally, a road map for peace)

Even with the eventual and inevitable establishment of a Palestinian State, the movement of Palestinians between the Gaza and the West Bank through Israeli territory will be a point of future aggravation between the two nations.

To avoid friction: A 37 kilometer 6-lane bridge connecting the West Bank and Gaza offering Palestinians freedom to come and go within their own homeland. Israel, Palestine. Two entwined nations. Two contiguous borders. A bit less tension.

http://www.rickyseabra.com/bridge.html

Don't know what that site is, but it came up on a google search for Gaza West Bank Contiguous.

[Clarkie1]

32. Move #4 to #1.

For starters...good thinking, by the way.

[Douglas Carpenter]

36. well I cannot find anything in that to disagree with

I am certain that vast majority of Arab people - especially Palestinians- and I believe the majority of Israeli people would agree.

[Douglas Carpenter]

37. these points are very close to the so-called Saudi Plan

link:

http://www.mideastweb.org/saudipeace.htm

Regarding Hezbollah, outside of the more conservative parts of the Shiite community ( who are very much a minority) they are actually dispised in the Arab world. They just have some amount of folk-hero status for their role in confronting the Israeli occupation of Lebanon.

[oberliner]

38. The issue of "Right of Return"

is one that I am not sure how to address though, and you'll note I did not make mention of it in my proposal.

Your link includes:

"The plan as adopted calls for Israeli withdrawal from all territories occupied since 1967 and return of the Palestine refugees to Israel in return for recognition of Israel and normal relations"

In my vision the Palestinians would concede that they do not claim lands inside of Israel proper as part of the creation of the Palestinian State.

I do not know that the Saudi plan would have agreed to that concession.

[Douglas Carpenter]

39. the Saudi Plan would have recognized the 67 border which would

have ended any territorial claims inside Israel itself. Although 242 allows for mutually agreeable exchanges of land when practicality dictates. The right of return issue is not detailed in the Saudi Plan; that is true. But according to Israel's chief negotiator, former Former Foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, that problem reached an agreeable understanding at the Taba talks in January 2001. Refugees would have the right of return to the territory of the new Palestinian state and those who had land claims inside Israel itself would be given compensation and of course the right of return to the new Palestinian state. It is true that the American representative, Dennis Ross has said or at least implied that the right of return was the deal breaker. However that is not how Mr. Ben-Ami recalls the matter.