Palestinians Can Declare Independence, Ask for Israeli Citizenship or Wait for the U.S.
With the current Israeli government, Palestinians won't be able to sign a peace agreement. They can forget it. The president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and his premier Salam Fayyad, should move on to plan B, C or D. Plan A, would obviously be a negotiation with the Israelis — which has been rejected.
Plan B: Pressure the U.S. so that the Obama administration brings its peace plan to the table for the Palestinians and Israelis to say "yes" or "no" to. The president of the U.S. and his entire administration, as well as the international public, know that the plan would provide for two states. Palestine would consist of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The largest block settlements at the border would stay with Israel in exchange for other land with the Palestinians. Jerusalem would continue to be unified and remain the capital of both states, despite Ramallah being the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority. Palestinian refugees would not be able to return to today's Israel, but they would be free to live in the new state. This plan is better than anything that Netanyahu can propose.
Plan C: Declare unilaterally the independence of Palestine. Kosovo did that. The countries of the world would have to say "yes" or "no." Palestine would immediately recognize Israel and would expect the same from the Israelis. Certainly the majority of European, African, Asian and Latin American countries would accept the new state. And the U.S.? Probably not. But they would be isolated from the U.N. Security Council, maybe with the support of France and Great Britain.
Plan D: Demolish the Palestinian Authority and give up the independent state. The objective would be simply to ask for Israeli citizenship. If Israel does not concede, it will formally be an apartheid state, with millions of habitants living in the territory without the same rights as the rest.
Recognition of Israel as a Jewish State
The Israelis made peace with Egypt and Jordan without this demand.
The Palestinian Authority already recognizes Israel.
If Israel wants to be Jewish, dealing with that and their minorities is their problem. Iran and Saudi Arabia want to be Islamic states. Canada and Sweden don't insist on being religious in any way. If the Israelis prefer to be closer to the Saudis and the Iranians than to the Swedes and the Canadians, it is their sovereign choice.
Declaring Loyalty to the Jewish State
Countries are fully entitled to decide how to grant nationality to their citizens, including recognizing the religious nature of a nation, like Iran, and apparently Israel.
But of course, this should apply to everyone. But only non-Jews (Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, atheists, etc.) will be obliged.
Plan B: Pressure the U.S. so that the Obama administration brings its peace plan to the table for the Palestinians and Israelis to say "yes" or "no" to. The president of the U.S. and his entire administration, as well as the international public, know that the plan would provide for two states. Palestine would consist of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The largest block settlements at the border would stay with Israel in exchange for other land with the Palestinians. Jerusalem would continue to be unified and remain the capital of both states, despite Ramallah being the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority. Palestinian refugees would not be able to return to today's Israel, but they would be free to live in the new state. This plan is better than anything that Netanyahu can propose.
Plan C: Declare unilaterally the independence of Palestine. Kosovo did that. The countries of the world would have to say "yes" or "no." Palestine would immediately recognize Israel and would expect the same from the Israelis. Certainly the majority of European, African, Asian and Latin American countries would accept the new state. And the U.S.? Probably not. But they would be isolated from the U.N. Security Council, maybe with the support of France and Great Britain.
Plan D: Demolish the Palestinian Authority and give up the independent state. The objective would be simply to ask for Israeli citizenship. If Israel does not concede, it will formally be an apartheid state, with millions of habitants living in the territory without the same rights as the rest.
Recognition of Israel as a Jewish State
The Israelis made peace with Egypt and Jordan without this demand.
The Palestinian Authority already recognizes Israel.
If Israel wants to be Jewish, dealing with that and their minorities is their problem. Iran and Saudi Arabia want to be Islamic states. Canada and Sweden don't insist on being religious in any way. If the Israelis prefer to be closer to the Saudis and the Iranians than to the Swedes and the Canadians, it is their sovereign choice.
Declaring Loyalty to the Jewish State
Countries are fully entitled to decide how to grant nationality to their citizens, including recognizing the religious nature of a nation, like Iran, and apparently Israel.
But of course, this should apply to everyone. But only non-Jews (Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, atheists, etc.) will be obliged.
There is an element of a surprise mixed heavily with a painful shock for Jews relevant to Israel. For America it might be equally unnerving and even of peril. One feels surprised that nobody has bothered to look at the trouble spot of Israel. Israel’s zealot Zionist founding father made, probably inadvertently, a grave error by laying Israel’s foundation without allegiance to God. If what is reported about Ben Gurion’s remarks at the founding ceremony is correct, it was a suicidal error. Did Ben Gurion rebuff Rabbis for affirmation of faith in Hebrew God at the ceremony? It is on record that Ben Gurion was rather casual if not disdainful when he rejected God, saying: “God had done too little for Jews to deserve this credit.” “Jewish history,” wrote the eminent Jewish Author, Chaim Bermant in his Book: “The Jews” – “Jewish misfortune, explained the Rabbis, as they explain it still, was the measure of Jewish iniquity.” The blaspheme that occurred at the founding ceremony of Israel might be difficult to overlook.
There is another and, perhaps, a bigger dimension of the issue, eclipsing the conflict as a non-issue. This is about the much neglected transition of the Middle East from its obscure placement as a backwater in the medieval age to the first world. In this context, Middle East is crucially linked with the Central Asian Muslim Republics that also must be brought from stagnation and complacency into the global mainstream. Both areas are enticing territories full of potential hidden wealth that needs tapping. Where does the tiny, unstable and a non-Jewish Israel stand in this context? Israel has been a drag and a drain on America. Iran poses no threat either of the two countries: Israel and America. Israel is a potential threat to itself seen from its blaspheme to Hebrew God. I have portrayed the big picture to President Barack Obama. If he addresses to the transition of both Middle East and Central Asia into the global mainstream ahead of China, he would be solving the pressing economic squeeze on the Americans on the one side and it is a bet that both Al Qaida and the Taliban might get lost in this endeavor. Jews have lived for twelve consecutive centuries in the Umayyad Spain (seven) and with the Ottomans (five centuries). What is most significant is that the Jews were spared from heavenly visitations during all this long span of time, which for them had been a golden period. God, it seems, has chosen the Middle East for the Jews to play as big a role here, may be even bigger, than they did with the Ottomans. Let Americans become more conversant with Islam and its history.