| V-A Creating a
new Palestinian Arab self-identity
A true Arab-Israeli
reconciliation will require far more than just physically
resettling the Palestinian Arabs as described earlier. It will
also require a radical transformation of their self-identity
and mindset.
The present
Palestinian Arab self-identity was manufactured and imposed by
Arab leaders intent on distracting their peoples from their
actual problems and needs by focusing their resentments on a
supposed external enemy. It was intended to become a political
weapon in opposition to the existence of Israel, but it was
not based on historical truth. This Palestinian Arab identity
has, at its core, an unquenchable sense of grievance,
humiliation and victimization. There is a seething resentment
towards Israel and a determination, intensified by an urge to
satisfy violated honor, to create a ‘Palestinian State’ no
matter what the cost or how much conflict and suffering it
generates, even upon themselves.
This perpetual
obsession with their national grievance deflects creative
energies into endless and sterile conflict which blocks the
way to a normal life and a better future. The P.A.I.R.
Initiative holds out the prospect of the Palestinian Arabs
finally letting go of that monumental hatred in exchange for
another, more positive, identity. For the first time these
Arabs could choose their own identity - one that was not
imposed by Britain or Arab exploiters - one that is free of
hatred and which incorporates a positive, ennobling, national
purpose. (I have some difficulty with this last
statement. If you talk about the “national purpose”
of the Palestinians, you are implicitly acknowledging them as
a different, identifiable people entitled to their own
national aspirations. But the national aspirations of a
people can only be realized in a land of their own, where they
have developed roots. Now, you are talking about moving
them elsewhere to Saudi Arabia where, most of them, have no
connection whatsoever, since the majority of these
Palestinians came from Egypt (in Gaza), Jordan and Syria (in
the West Bank) in the past two to three generations. It
is difficult to justify the coherence between the move to
Arabia and the national purpose. A way out of this
conundrum would be to leave Palestinians a choice for their
place of relocation, as Martin Sherman has proposed. But
then, it entails the rejection of any Palestinian
nationhood. We would be acting then only to improve the
living conditions of individual families, not of a whole “nation”.)
[ It is a fact that the Palestinian Arabs have now developed a
separate identity of some sort, and we must deal with it
somehow. “Facts are stubborn things.” (can’t
remember who said it). Many Palestinians do trace their roots
to the Arabian Peninsula.. For example, both the Husseini and
the Nusseibeh “aristocratic” Palestinian Arab families
claim an unbroken descent from the Arabian Peninsula. Even the
name “Arafat” refers to a mountain in Arabia. Even if the
Palestinian Arabs reject the “North Arabia option,” the
international community could at least offer it to them. There
are precedents historically for peoples migrating to a new
homeland, while still maintaining an identity acquired
elsewhere. Northern Arabia could perhaps be renamed “New
Palestine,” or something of the sort...]
History demonstrates
that new self-identities can be acquired. The countries of
Iraq and Jordan for example, along with some of the Gulf
States, were created by Britain in pursuit of British national
interests. The American identity was formed only a few hundred
years ago by people migrating to a new continent. Today that
American identity comprises peoples of many diverse
backgrounds and is as durable as any other nation. The Jewish
identity also evolved over time. In the book of Exodus we
learn how the Israelites became transformed from their being
slaves in Egypt to becoming a free people with a unique
identity including people-hood and religion. (this paragraph
addresses some of the issues I mentioned in the previous
comment. The Palestinians will have then to create a
totally new national identity in a land that is foreign to
them. It is a possibility, unlikely as it seems)
The Palestinian Arabs
will find problems in simply looking to Arab governments for
their future identity. Those governments may profess
solidarity with them against Israel but they are still
rejected by every other Arab country and denied permanent
settlement. Hundreds of thousands were cast out of Saudi
Arabia and Kuwait following the 1991 Gulf War because Yasser
Arafat supported Saddam Hussein. Egypt wanted no part of them
and kept them bottled up inside Gaza. Syria and Lebanon keep
them severely confined inside refugee camps. Even Jordan,
which is mostly Palestinian Arab, still has refugee camps for
fellow Palestinian Arabs who are not allowed to settle
permanently. It is Israel alone where 1.3 million Palestinian
Arabs are voting citizens with human and political rights that
do not exist for them in any other Arab country.
Despite the constant
reinforcement of anti-Israeli hatred by their own leadership
there are younger Palestinian Arabs who are starting to
question the old hatreds. They understand very well the
oppression and corruption of the Palestinian Authority and its
effect on their lives, and are aware of their rejection by the
Arab governments. Some are now calling for more freedom and
democracy, an end to the hostilities and even for beneficial
economic cooperation with Israel. Under Palestinian National
Authority [PNA] rule, expressing
such views can be risky and requires personal courage. This
demonstrates that there is indeed potential support for fresh
thinking, which must be encouraged.
Without the constant
reinforcement of anti-Israeli hatred by their leaders, the
Arab peoples would be less inclined towards conflict.
So much depends on
this radical change in self-identity. If the Palestinian Arabs
were to abandon their old enmity, it would then be very
difficult for other Arab and Muslim countries to use this
pretext to sustain their anti-Israel posture. Then these
countries and their leaders would lose their main excuse for
delaying much-needed internal reforms.
Once inside their new
country, located in the Arabian Peninsula, the Palestinian
Arabs’ old sterile hatred could be replaced by a new,
forward-looking and noble national purpose. Once that purpose
takes hold it could be possible to heal old wounds and elevate
the Palestinian Arabs’ entire society. They could apply
their talents and energies to becoming a model Arab society,
with the added advantage of having a fresh start.
V-B An
inspiring national purpose to go with the new Palestinian
national identity
A fresh start in a
new country is an opportune time to undertake bold
initiatives. One initiative would be to begin greening the
region with the new Palestinian Arab state, setting an example
for the Arab world. It would mean starting a vast project to
turn the desert green with grasslands, agriculture, forests,
industrial crops, etc. That effort would evolve into a vast
project over the next century while productively employing
millions of workers. The entire landscape would change from
desert brown to lush green, along with a more benign climate
replacing the harsh desert environment. When people heal the
soil they also heal themselves. This happened when Jewish
pioneers built a vibrant society by healing their neglected
homeland and making the desert bloom.
Greening the region
means pursuing self-sufficiency in food and farm-based
industrial products. True wealth cannot be based primarily on
oil production alone, which employs a small, select work force
along with foreign experts and foreign entanglements. The
future of oil is also limited because reserves are finite and
the resulting carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is posing a
growing threat to the global climate. The future is not with
oil.
True wealth must
include productive and fertile land that can provide food and
a good living for many people. This is contrary to the western
model with its over-industrialization, exploitive factory
farming practices, huge non-farm population and unstable
economic and political cycles produced by excessive
concentration of power and greed. Some of the finest members
of a society come from the land rather than from those
occupations far removed from nature and basic labor. Let those
positive sentiments found in Islam be implemented, in
combination with restoring the land. Industrialization yes,
but not to the point of plunging into the excesses of western
societies. This is only to offer a concept from the outside.
The Palestinian Arabs will have the opportunity to work all
this out for themselves.
V-C New
energy sources, the missing ingredient
To economically green
large areas in the region will require vast amounts of
agricultural water at very low prices. There are advanced
energy technologies now in the process of research and
development that could desalinate the sea far cheaper than the
best technologies available today. Once an area becomes green,
the natural hydrological cycle begins to function by producing
normal rainfall to sustain further growth. The watering
operation can then shift to greening new desert areas. It is
even possible that, under the right conditions and with the
right human assistance, the bleak North Arabian desert could
evolve into a rain forest is self-watering, while sustaining a
treasure of plant and animal as well as human life. The new
Palestinian Arab state in northern Arabia could also become a
laboratory for the development of new, non-polluting energy
and water purification technologies for the whole world. The
advanced Western countries have been far too slow in
developing these technologies. The losers have been the
western public and millions of Arab people who do not share in
the oil wealth and who will lose again when the oil runs out.
The Palestinian Arabs, along with Israel and other peoples in
the region, could now work together to bring in a new era of
clean, cheap, abundant energy to emerge for the benefit of all
humanity. This is a struggle that must be fought and won
because it is also a global necessity. Pursuing this effort
would do great honor to the Palestinian Arabs who could lead
the region in this noble cause.
V-D Reducing
the causes for big power intervention
There have been at
least two main reasons for outside powers to meddle in the
Middle East.
1. The quest for
Middle East oil has drawn outside intervention for decades.
2. The conflict
between Jews and Arabs has been exploited and exacerbated by
outside powers in pursuit of their own national interests.
A reconciliation
between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs would remove the excuse
for outside powers to meddle in Middle East affairs and
exploit local conflicts. Jews and Arabs could then work to
develop new, nonpolluting advanced energy technologies . This
would eliminate oil as the object of contention by the great
powers including America, Europe, China and India. Making oil
obsolete will also deprive local dictators of their oil
wealth, which they have often misused to fund terrorism,
accumulate weapons, oppress their own people and retain power.
Developing new,
nonpolluting energy technologies would make cheap, clean
energy available to everyone (see comment above on “suppression”).
The peoples of the Middle East would be better off and be able
to afford to green the desert. The oil importing powers could
now have all their energy needs met internally and without
competing one against the other. The P.A.I.R. Initiative
envisions these possibilities which would contribute to
regional tranquility and to world peace.
V-E Many
Arab states are moving toward their own internal crisis.
The P.A.I.R.
Initiative has the potential to play a constructive role in
responding to a regional dilemma. The principal factors moving
some Arab states towards their own internal crisis are:
government corruption; oppression of their people; stagnant
economies; burgeoning youth populations (in Syria, Egypt,
Jordan and Saudi Arabia over half the population is under 25);
high unemployment; no clear program for reform; increasing
popular unrest. These regimes are facing a severe dilemma.
They are too corrupt and inept to effect genuine reform on
their own initiative. If they cannot reform voluntarily and
soon, the radical Islamic extremists will attempt to topple
these regimes and Taliban-type regimes may replace them.
The unresolved
Palestinian Arab refugee problem also poses dangers to the
stability of some Arab states in the region. Many Arab states
fear that an unresolved Arab-Israeli conflict could provoke a
regional war that will draw them in, radicalize their
populations and threaten their own stability.
The dilemma
confronting the Saudis, other Arab regimes and American policy
makers is exemplified by two equally bad choices. On the one
hand, oppressive regimes are sitting atop social pressure
cookers fueled by intense anti-American sentiment heightened
by the U.S. war on terrorism. Maintaining an oppressive lid on
the unrest, without improving conditions, assures an eventual
explosion. On the other hand, a number of Arab regimes have
responded to internal tensions with limited reforms designed
to calm domestic unrest. But these reforms may be far too
little to assure stability, while they also open the door to
possible takeover by the extremists. They appear both unable
to manage peaceful reform and to significantly reduce the risk
of violent takeovers by the militant fundamentalists.
Meanwhile, time is running out.
V-F
Another vision of the future.
What is needed now is
another vision of the future for the oppressed Arab masses,
namely a transition toward moderate, representative societies.
The U.S. and Europe had not pushed for such a transition prior
to 9/11. The United States has now finally begun to press for
increased democracy in the region in the hope that this will
halt the trend towards Islamic extremism and lead, instead,
towards moderate self-government. Unfortunately, certain Arab
regimes, the mullahs and the Islamic extremists are all
opposing Bush’s vision.
Pressures for reform
are emerging with increasing strength from within the Arab
public and independently of governments and of Islamic
extremism. Besides Iraq and Afghanistan, there are active
movements seeking greater freedom in other Arab states
including Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the Gulf
states. In the recent Palestinian Arab election younger
leaders are taking power. They reject the extreme corruption
of Arafat’s old guard and they favor political reform, even
while many remain hostile towards Israel.
Stagnant old beliefs
are new being challenged by progressive new thinking. This is
the time for a bold initiative to resettle the Palestinian
Arabs and finally resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. Many
experts have long insisted that democracy could not be
transplanted into Arab society and also that resettling
Palestinian Arabs elsewhere was unthinkable. Just as these
voices of the past are being proven wrong about democracy for
Arabs they are just as wrong in opposing a beneficial
resettlement plan. When old attitudes begin to change, new
opportunities open up. What previously was considered
impossible may now become eminently possible.
The P.A.I.R.
Initiative could well fit within the U.S. government’s
announced effort to democratize the Arab nations and defuse
the Arab-Israeli conflict. The image of Palestinian Arabs
building their own independent future inside Arabia might fire
up some imaginations. It would represent Arabs successfully
helping themselves in a peaceful and honorable manner and
without the presence of foreign troops and constant killing as
in Iraq. This would represent a breath of fresh air in the
Arab world where their restless youth could see a successful
model of hope for a better future, free of the corrupt Arab
dictatorships, free of the Islamic terror organizations and
also free of direct Western influence and meddling. It would
also be in step with the yearning for positive changes now
starting to manifest among the Arab masses. The West would
also have a big stake in seeing a truly progressive Arab
society emerge as an antidote to a militant and hostile Islam.
For this reason the West might well assure that this bold
experiment is quietly nurtured and well supported.
Saudi rulers could
also benefit. Their corrupt and inefficient regime has
produced the likes of Osama bin Laden who threatens their
monarchy as well by stirring justified resentment among the
Saudi population. A successful Palestinian Arab state,
supported by the Saudis, could begin to defuse the negative
feelings among their own population who might become inspired
by a better alternative than Osama bin Laden and, in the
process, give new life to a constitutional monarchy that can
implement peaceful reform with stability.
The oppressed,
resentful public throughout the Arab and Muslim world could be
inspired with pride in this bold, peaceful Palestinian Arab
initiative taking place and with the Saudis acting as midwives
to a new Palestinian Arab state. It could defuse much of the
arguments and appeal of Arab dictators against Israel and the
West. The Saudis could feel pride in supporting a unique
social and political accomplishment on the world scene with
their energies channeled towards peaceful development instead
of war. The potential implications of peaceful change could
extend far beyond just solving the Arab-Israeli conflict.
V-G A just
place among the nations for the Jewish people
Eliminating the
debilitating conflict with the Palestinian Arabs would free up
huge material resources and human energies inside Israel that
were previously consumed by conflict. Israel could accelerate
her development to achieve even greater success in the arts
and sciences and, even more significantly, in the realms of
social progress and of the spirit. Throughout the centuries,
and despite often-severe persecution, Jewish talent and
creativity still made an immense contribution to human
progress. With more space to grow, and with increased
security, Israel’s progress could become truly astounding,
enabling Israelis to strive to fulfill the prophetic dream of
becoming ‘a light unto the nations’.
As long as humanity
remains trapped inside the current primitive mindset, there
will be no peace and no security for anyone. If allowed to do
so, Jewish spirituality, thriving in an expanded and secure
Israel, may yet offer the key to a more sane and peaceful
world. Israel’s potential should not be judged by her tiny
size. In the realm of the spirit and of the biblical prophetic
vision the Jewish people have already demonstrated that being
both few and of small size is no limitation.
There would also be
an opportunity for a more secure Israel to undertake major
internal political reforms. Israel needs to resolve the
conflict between the religious and the non-religious elements
within its population, and to reduce the widening gap between
rich and poor. Israelis also need to reform a corrupt
political system that empowers the few, denies full
representative government and contributes to the growing
social inequalities. Peace would at last give the Israeli
people the time, space and security they need to address these
urgent domestic problems. |