| III-A
A
better way to achieve President Bush’s proclaimed goals
The P.A.I.R.
Initiative seeks to achieve the five points listed below,
which the United States government and President George Bush
have also proclaimed to be their goals in resolving the
Arab-Israeli conflict.
1. Achieve a ‘two-state’
solution.
2. Exchange ‘land
for peace’.
3. Solve the
Palestinian Arab refugee problem.
4. End the ‘occupation’.
5. Have both Israel
and a Palestinian Arab state secure and at peace.
These five goals can
be achieved, but only with the inclusion of point 6 below.
6. Establish a
genuine peace, based on historic truth, enabling both sides to
safeguard their vital interests and with ample land in which
to grow and thrive.
The P.A.I.R. Initiative
will achieve a two-state solution with a Jewish Israel and a
separate Palestinian Arab state, with both states of viable
size to accommodate future growth for at least the next
century. It will bring about an exchange of land for peace -
with land-rich Saudi Arabia providing the land for peace. It
will solve the Palestinian Arab refugee problem through
resettlement of refugees, and other Palestinian Arabs, into
decent homes of their own, on land of the their own and in
their own sovereign state. This process will also end the ‘occupation’,
however such may be defined.
This proposal may
appear bold and audacious but judgment should be reserved
until after thoughtful consideration of the entire plan.
Achieving a just and lasting peace with honor requires the
courage to be bold and audacious and not bound by the
limitations of the past. The constituent elements of the P.A.I.R.
Initiative, as defined throughout the following
sections, comprise an integrated whole.
In the absence of
such a re-education process, any promise by the leaders of the
Palestinian National Authority or other Arab regimes to put an
end to terrorism and other forms of warfare against Israel
will not be made in good faith and will not be carried out.
III-B A
Palestinian Arab State
Size requirements: As
shown in Part I - B, the 2,300 square miles of Judea and
Samaria (a.k.a. the “West Bank”) plus the Gaza Strip is
hopelessly short of what is needed for a long-term solution. A
more adequate space would be about 35,000 square miles for a
long-term permanent solution. This area would be sufficient to
absorb all Palestinian Arabs in the Middle East, now estimated
at about 6 million, should they all chose to migrate to one
place. It would also allow ample space for natural population
growth over the next century for a people that are presently
doubling in size about every 25 years.
Possible site:
Although most of Jordan’s current population is Palestinian
Arab, its ability to absorb millions more Palestinian Arabs is
highly limited due to economic, political and security
factors. A far better choice would be Saudi Arabia with its
vast area populated by only 25 million people plus its immense
oil wealth. This would also place sufficient distance between
Israel and the Palestinian Arabs to reduce that proximity
which leads to confrontation. Saudi Arabia is the largest Arab
country with about 860,000 square miles and a Palestinian Arab
state of 35,000 square miles would require only 4% of Saudi
territory.
Saudi Arabia, in
particular, has a huge moral obligation to extend itself for
peace. They have benefited lavishly from their
western-developed oil wealth and from continued western
support and protection. At the same time they have been among
the leading instigators of hatred toward Israel and the West
and have funded terror and the teaching of radical Islamic
beliefs in many countries, including the U.S. They must now be
pressed to make genuine efforts to undo some of the worldwide
tension they helped to create. in return for mere promises of
peace and with no guarantee provided by anyone. The best way
to improve the Saudi Plan would be their donating a tiny
corner of their enormous territory for a fair and just
solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict which they, in no small
measure, helped perpetrate. Appendix II - C contains
additional information.
III-C A Jewish
State of Israel
Size requirement: The
size of Israel should reflect both future needs and historic
justice by including the following considerations:
a) In 100 years the Jewish population of Israel could exceed 30 million, as a result both of natural increase and the continued immigration of Jews to their national homeland, Israel, from countries in which Jews are not fully accepted as citizens or as an integral part of their country of residence. To keep such an eventual growth within a barely manageable density of 30,000 people per square mile (the U.S. has 80 persons per square mile) would require as an absolute minimum at least the full 10,300 square miles of Western Palestine and the Golan Heights, even allowing for dramatic technological improvements in the sustainability of limited land to expanding populations. Israel also badly needs the water resources of the Golan, Judea and Samaria to provide water for its growing population (Israel within its pre-1967 frontiers had woefully inadequate water resources).
b) The millions of Jews slaughtered in World War II and during the past twenty centuries constitute a huge moral claim against the community of nations. This must be reflected in Israel’s final size, which should serve to encourage accelerated growth to replace some of those lost in the past.
c) The thousand-to-one ratio of Muslim territory surrounding Jewish territory, and the fact that Israel is five times more densely populated than the Arab and Muslim nations com
d) The League of Nations Mandate unequivocally assigned at least 10,000 square miles of Palestine (more properly the Land of Israel) west of the Jordan River to the Jewish people as their National Home, and that agreement is still legally binding, despite being
ignored.bined, are legitimate considerations in drawing Israel’s permanent frontiers.. The Jewish people have little long-term chance of survival in their homeland when enemies, or even former enemies who might become enemies again, have such a vast territorial advantage over them. Israel also needs at least a slightly larger area to accommodate its rapidly growing population, to accommodate possibly massive future immigrations of Jewish refugees from countries where the position of Jews remains precarious, and to provide its people with adequate water resources.
e) New boundaries: Arbitrary boundaries, drawn by outside imperialist nations for self-serving purposes, without historical, legal or moral justification cannot be considered sacred, legitimate, or permanent. Fresh thinking is required to correct historical injustices and to provide for future peace and prosperity.
f) The deep historical, cultural and indeed spiritual links of the Jewish people to the land of Israel, extending continuously over a period of more than three thousand years, which we have described in Section I , deserve some consideration in determining Israel’s borders. [Link to Christian and Muslim sources]
g) Both Christians and Muslims already possess huge parts of the planet and cannot begrudge the Jews having the small territory that is rightfully theirs. [See Appendix II - D (under “boundaries”) for additional information]. |
III-D Reeducation for
Peace
Any agreement for
peace in the Middle East, if it is to have a chance to
succeed, requires the reeducation for peace of all
of the Arab and Islamic peoples, including but not confined to
the Palestinian Arab community. It is the hatred for Israel
and Jews, and the massive misinformation about them and
indoctrination of them, which is the fuel that keeps the fires
of war burning. The war can never be ended until this fuel is
taken away.
In the absence
of such a re-education process, any promise by the leaders of
the Palestinian National Authority or other Arab regimes to
put an end to terrorism and other forms of warfare against
Israel will not be made in good faith and will not be carried
out.
In order to eliminate
the attitudes of hatred and intolerance toward Jews and
Judaism that pervade the Middle East, and the massive
misinformation about Jewish history, Judaism and Israel on
which it is based, we propose a thorough Education for Peace
project throughout the entire region. The Education for Peace
program would be particularly extensive and thorough for
members of the Palestinian Arab community, but would by no
means be confined to them. All adults and children would be
required to attend a program of intensive courses, lasting at
least three to five years for each individual, giving accurate
information about these three subjects, and providing the
populations of the Arab and Islamic lands, and also Israel
itself, with the necessary understanding of the right of the
Jewish people to live in peace in their own national
homeland. Passing these courses satisfactorily will
become a precondition for exercising the rights of citizenship
in all of the states of the region. This is an absolute
prerequisite for creating the changed attitudes necessary to
achieve peace between Israel and the Arab and Muslim worlds,
and for a just resolution of the Palestinian Arab problem.
All anti-Jewish and
anti “unbeliever” propaganda, and all advocacy of “holy
war” or “martyrdom,” will also be strictly banned from
all schools and universities, and replaced with Education for
Peace courses.
The media in the Arab
and Muslim countries, or at least those parts of it that are
state-financed or state-run, will be prohibited in the future
from engaging in hate propaganda and incitement against Israel
and/or Jews, or gross distortions of current events or past
history in order to libel Israel and Jews. Books such as The
Protocols of the Elders of Zion, The Matzah of Zion, Mein
Kampf, and those with similar anti-Jewish messages will be
banned.
An international
commission of responsible, enlightened educators and
journalists, with a diverse background, but including
substantial Israeli and Jewish representation, will be
appointed to oversee and implement these educational and
communications reforms.
III-E
A Complete
Suppression of All Terrorist Groups
Peace between Israel
and the Palestinian Arabs and peace in the Middle East
generally requires, at a minimum:
a) An end to all foreign support, direct or indirect, for the Palestinian Arab terrorist organizations. This aid cut-off must include the dismantling of the United Nations Works and Relief Agency (UNWRA), which has become a tool of the Palestinian terrorist organizations, and the closure of all the programs run by this terror-tainted agency. It also requires an end to an end to all financial, military, diplomatic and other support for the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Palestinian National Authority, and the entire network of “NGOs” (Non-governmental Organizations) controlled by them.
b) The complete disarmament and suppression of all of the Palestinian Arab and other terrorist organizations in the Middle East region, and the seizure and freezing of all of their financial assets.
c) The election of a new Palestinian leadership without any history of involvement in, or support for, terrorism, advocacy of the destruction of Israel, or hostility to Judaism and Jews. |
Peace and
reconciliation in the Middle East, and a just, peaceful
resolution of the Palestinian Arab question, will prove
utterly impossible unless terror is first completely uprooted
an eliminated, even before other measures to solve the
Palestinian Arab’s problems are implemented. This will
require the complete dismantling and disarmament of all of the
Palestinian Arab, Lebanese, and other terrorist groups, and an
end to all international funding of these groups. Fatah,
which has an undeserved reputation for “moderation,” but
has actually perpetrated more massacres and killings of
innocent non-combatants than all of the other terror groups
combined, must be included in this disbanding, disarmament and
defunding process. Not only Fatah, but its
political-diplomatic fronts such as the Palestine Liberation
Organization and the Palestinian National Authority, and the
various “NGOs” (“Non-Governmental Organizations”)
controlled by them, must be completely disbanded. The vast
assets possessed by these organizations, (reported by some
financial experts to total over $50 billion), now devoted to
war and the enrichment of corrupt Palestinian officials, must
be placed in a special fund to finance the full compensation,
and peaceful and orderly resettlement, of the Palestinian Arab
refugees.
The Lebanese terror
groups that have carried out attacks on Israel, the United
States and other countries, including and especially Hizbullah,
must also be completely disarmed and suppressed, as called for
by UN Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1701.
All financial and
military aid to these groups, whether direct or through their
various diplomatic-political fronts, such as the PLO and the
PNA, will also have to cease completely and immediately. This
includes all aid from governments—not only from Arab
governments, such as Saudi Arabia, but from Europe, the United
Nations, and the United States as well. In particular,
the misguided practice by the United States government of
arming and training Fatah in the vain hope that it can be
employed to suppress the other terrorist groups, must cease.
All offices and
diplomatic missions of these groups, as well as their
headquarters in Syria and elsewhere, must be closed
immediately, and all diplomatic recognition of them must be
withdrawn.
III-F An orderly
resettlement plan
Resettlement has
worked elsewhere to resolve other conflicts and it can work
here as well. There is great social and political value in
making a clean break and offering a fresh start to the
Palestinian Arabs. Those who migrate are usually obliged to
think in fresh terms about their future. It has been true for
immigrants to America and it can certainly be true for Arabs
as well. They would be beneficially occupied for many decades
building their own country and structuring their own society.
There would be less time to sulk and nurture old hatreds. They
could design their physical environment and finally reform
their present political regime, still operating under the PA,
which all know to be highly corrupt. Reform is in the air and
a clean break could further empower the reformers.
There are no material
problems that cannot be resolved. Only 4% of the vast
territory of Saudi Arabia would provide 35,000 square miles
for a new Palestinian Arab state 15 times larger than Gaza and
the West Bank combined. Resettlement would be phased in over a
5-10 year period as fast as new homes and infrastructure can
be ready. Far larger and more difficult relocations of various
populations have occurred during the last century. It is
reported that well over 100 million people in the world are
currently crossing borders in search of a better life.
Building their new
country would generate jobs and excitement as people become
caught up in anticipating a better life that is actually
taking form.
Funding could be
raised from a combination of sources, including huge
reductions in bloated arms budgets of the Arab countries, from
international grants and loans, and from assistance from the
oil-rich Arab states, Israel, the United States, all other
Western countries, the United Nations Organization, as well as
generous compensation that would be paid by Israel to
Palestinian Arabs for their present or past property in
Israel. As we have proposed in the preceding section,
substantial funding would also come from the huge assets of
the Palestinian Liberation Organization, other terrorist
organizations and fronts for terrorist organizations, and the
funds embezzled by Yasser Arafat and other corrupt Palestinian
leaders over the years from their own people. Under the
P.A.I.R. initiative, these funds would be first frozen, and
then applied to fund new homes, infrastructure and employment
for the Palestinian people, rather than being misused for
weapons, salaries for professional terrorists and the
luxurious life-styles of corrupt Palestinian leaders, as in
the past.
Fifty billion a year
over ten years would provide $80,000 per head for all six
million resettled Palestinian Arabs, with the knowledge
that this is a one-time expenditure for peace that will pay
generous dividends in the future. This would offer a
superb opportunity to attempt a new initiative for peace and
create a bright new beginning. Located well away from Israel,
it would eliminate the daily friction caused by the need for
Israel to use checkpoints and other security measures, and the
associated suffering that these measures, while necessary in
the present situation, have engendered. It would only require
that the Palestinian people opt for a better future for
themselves. The Palestinian Arabs would be gainfully employed
in building their own country. Vast oil resources in this area
would provide additional support for the Palestinian economy,
at least in the early phases of the new nation’s
development. Both sides would also experience a huge reduction
in the severe economic costs associated with their conflict.
Many years of hateful indoctrination against Jews could
finally begin to dissipate, as the Palestinian Arabs’
energies were now devoted to construction, rather than to war
and to nostalgia for a largely mythical past. There would be
no more ‘occupation’ and Palestinian Arabs would have
ample room for future population growth. They could exist
peacefully within the Arabian Peninsula. They would even be
near the holy sites of Mecca and Medina, the foci of their
ancestral/religious roots.
This resettlement
program should also appeal to many of the 1.2 million Israeli
Arabs who could see a better future in resettlement than in
remaining in Israel. Their birth rate, being considerably
higher than Israeli Jews, will make them a growing minority.
Their strong separate identities will lead to increasing
tension and conflict as these two distinct peoples
increasingly compete for political power on limited land
containing limited resources. Confining two distinct ethnic
groups inside one political boundary has produced bloody
failures in other instances and it will fail here as well.
Tragic examples such as Rwanda, Kosovo/Bosnia, Northern
Ireland, Sudan, Lebanon, India/Pakistan, etc. come to mind.
(The United States is often cited as an example of a
successful melting pot of different peoples and cultures
adapting and living in harmony. But this experience has been
grounded in the integration of new immigrants into a secular
culture with little sense of ethnic or religious identity. No
such secular, non-ethnic culture exists in the Middle East).
With so much available land in the Middle East there is NO
compelling reason to confine these two peoples inside this one
tiny space.
Many Israeli Arabs
would provide a very valuable leadership element in the new
Palestinian Arab state because they have been exposed to a
modern democratic society and a good level of education. They
could be motivated to become the generation of new leaders and
managers replacing the extremely corrupt regime of the
PLO/PA. They would also be needed to assist in the absorption
of low skilled Palestinian Arabs arriving from refugee camps
and poor towns in the West Bank.
The P.A.I.R. Initiative
envisages Arabs and other non-Jews, together with their
families, who have demonstrated or clearly expressed their
loyalty to the State of Israel, continuing to live inside
Israel as full Israeli citizens. Among the Arabs, Christians,
Muslims, Druze, Bedouins, Bahai, and others inside Israel,
there are many who have volunteered to serve in the
Israel Defense Forces or who have served the Israeli
nation in other capacities, sometimes at the cost of their
lives. These of course would remain in Israel as full
citizens, with equal rights with Jewish Israelis, following
the peace settlement and will be given every assistance in
fully integrating themselves into Israeli society, advancing
their education and achieving prosperity. On the other hand,
those many Arabs who presently hold Israeli citizenship, but
who identify themselves as Palestinian Arabs, not as Israelis,
and who view the Jewish State as an enemy or a foreign entity,
could now join their Palestinian brethren in building the new
Palestinian State, on its own territory.
Those many Arab
residents of Judea and Samaria (The “West Bank”) and Gaza
who have helped Israel fight terrorism, prevent terrorist
attacks before they can happen and when necessary to bring
terrorists to justice, and who have been unfairly stigmatized
as ‘collaborators” for this heroic service, at enormous
risk to their own lives, would also be welcome to remain in
what would now be Israel with their families, as full Israeli
citizens enjoying equal rights with all other citizens.
More details on
creating this transformation and the benefits to the local
population are provided in the appendixes to Part III, A
though F.
III-G
Compensation for the Jews forced to leave Arab countries
as a result of the Conflict
Just as the
P.A.I.R. Initiative
advocates fair compensation to Palestinian Arabs who are
resettled to better conditions elsewhere ,it proposes that
just compensation be given to the 850,000 to 900,000
Jews that fled Arab countries between the 1940’s
and 1960’s and were forced to abandon property worth up to
$100 billion. These Jews were either expelled, or heavily
pressured by threats, violence, boycotts and other acts of
organized hostility, to emigrate from their native lands.
Compensation for the property that they were forced to leave
behind is rightfully owed to them, as is compensation for the
costs of their rehabilitation and resettlement in Israel and
other countries. Let there be equal justice and reconciliation
for both sides.
Israel has
rehabilitated most of these Jewish refugees and given them
meaningful lives as citizens, for the first time, of a state
that truly accept them as equal citizens with full rights. But
Israel should not have to bear the cost of integrating these
people at alone. Some of the resources from the frozen assets
of the terrorist organizations and their fronts should be
given as compensation to the Jewish refugees from the Arab and
Muslim states.
Let there be
equal justice and reconciliation for both sides.
III-H
Empowering Islamic voices of moderation.
There are important
voices of Islamic moderation that deserve to be heard. Some
support Israel and its historic right to the land. Others
focus on their support for democracy and pluralism and
strongly oppose the extremists. These voices of moderation
include religious Muslim scholars who can cite the Qur’an
with authority in support of their views. Unfortunately, these
voices of moderation are not being given adequate recognition
and the support that they deserve. Visitors to the web sites
of moderate Muslims will be impressed with their extensive
knowledge and positive attitude that they are reaching out to
Jews and Christians in the spirit of peace and friendship.
These are people of great personal courage because their
activities require intense dedication and fearless
determination. They are in the best position to challenge the
influence of militant, intolerant, warlike version of Islam
which is being taught to Muslims around the world,
including the Muslims of Europe and the United States, with
Saudi funding.
[Appendix II N
contains a list of web sites representing views from a variety
of moderate Muslim sources.]
The adoption and
implementation of the P.A.I.R. Initiative
depends upon the voices of the moderate Muslims, who can open
the door to the win-win approach being offered for both Arabs
and Israelis, at last being heard. At present, moderate
Muslims encounter various obstacles that mute their
voices. Within their own communities, moderate Muslims face
opposition, ostracism and sometimes even personal risk if they
express their opinions. The major media is reluctant to accord
them sufficient exposure. The U.S. government, the Israel
government, other Western governments, and the American Jewish
community leadership should all be doing much more to reach
out actively to authentic moderate Muslims and to help them
gain much- needed opportunities for presenting their
views to the Arab and Muslim peoples. |