Anonymous wrote:Great idea OP! It worked so well for Yugoslavia.

South Africa is peaceful

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In theory, this is a great idea. In practice, it seems highly unlikely, unless there is a catalytic event that brings everyone to their senses.

It usually isn't the Israelis who rekindle the fire, but rather the (insert: Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese, Gaza, Egyptions, Iranians etc) who stoke the flames. Why can't they all just leave it alone? They don't, and the Israeli's then feel they have to defend themselves. Multiply this time 60 years or 4,000 years and you get the picture.

How about unicorns and rainbows for everyone too?

Let's not forget the contributions to the conflict made by Israeli settlers who keep building settlements where their govt ostensibly says not to (although the govt does very little to stop it)

It's not just the settlers. The land grabs and expulsions in 1948 were made by the government and its armed forces.

Anonymous wrote:In theory, this is a great idea. In practice, it seems highly unlikely, unless there is a catalytic event that brings everyone to their senses.

It usually isn't the Israelis who rekindle the fire, but rather the (insert: Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese, Gaza, Egyptions, Iranians etc) who stoke the flames. Why can't they all just leave it alone? They don't, and the Israeli's then feel they have to defend themselves. Multiply this time 60 years or 4,000 years and you get the picture.

How about unicorns and rainbows for everyone too?

Would you give the same advice to the raped woman who is trying to get recognition for what happened to her? To leave it well enough alone?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In theory, this is a great idea. In practice, it seems highly unlikely, unless there is a catalytic event that brings everyone to their senses.

It usually isn't the Israelis who rekindle the fire, but rather the (insert: Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese, Gaza, Egyptions, Iranians etc) who stoke the flames. Why can't they all just leave it alone? They don't, and the Israeli's then feel they have to defend themselves. Multiply this time 60 years or 4,000 years and you get the picture.

How about unicorns and rainbows for everyone too?

Let's not forget the contributions to the conflict made by Israeli settlers who keep building settlements where their govt ostensibly says not to (although the govt does very little to stop it)

Don't be ridiculous, you can't build a doghouse in Israel without a government permit. Who do you think hooks up settlements to utilities? builds roads around them? Collects taxes on these properties?

Great idea OP! It worked so well for Yugoslavia.

Anonymous wrote:In theory, this is a great idea. In practice, it seems highly unlikely, unless there is a catalytic event that brings everyone to their senses.

It usually isn't the Israelis who rekindle the fire, but rather the (insert: Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese, Gaza, Egyptions, Iranians etc) who stoke the flames. Why can't they all just leave it alone? They don't, and the Israeli's then feel they have to defend themselves. Multiply this time 60 years or 4,000 years and you get the picture.

How about unicorns and rainbows for everyone too?

Let's not forget the contributions to the conflict made by Israeli settlers who keep building settlements where their govt ostensibly says not to (although the govt does very little to stop it)

In theory, this is a great idea. In practice, it seems highly unlikely, unless there is a catalytic event that brings everyone to their senses.

It usually isn't the Israelis who rekindle the fire, but rather the (insert: Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese, Gaza, Egyptions, Iranians etc) who stoke the flames. Why can't they all just leave it alone? They don't, and the Israeli's then feel they have to defend themselves. Multiply this time 60 years or 4,000 years and you get the picture.

How about unicorns and rainbows for everyone too?

I posted this before - as much as I sometimes disagree with Tom Friedman, he summarized it perfectly in From Beirut to Jerusalem.

Israelis have a choice to make. They can be a Jewish state, a democratic state and the state in the whole of Palestine/Eretz Israel. But they can have only two out of three.

They can be Jewish and democratic within much smaller borders that exclude the Arab population.

They can be Jewish and in the whole of Palestine/Eretz Israel but it won't be democratic because that entails the subjugation and oppression of millions of Palestinians.

They can also be democratic and in the whole Palestine/Eretz Israel, but then it won't be Jewish, because millions of Arab citizens will change the character of the state.

These are hard choices. Israeli public, on the whole, is not prepared to face them and make a stand. So they continue with business as usual, parroting the usual lines that "there is no partner for peace", "Palestinians just want to kill us" etc., because it keeps them from facing the hard choices.

I also agree. I generally think further slicing up countries is a short-term solution, that doesn't really fix anything (see, Pakistan/India).

People have to learn together. The Jews, Muslims, and Christians lives cohesively for a long time on that land. They can do it again with one secular state.

Agree OP, but in the transition I think there would have to be a carving up the land into three "provinces". One province is as you describe, right down the middle. At first, it would allow only those Jews and Palestinians who are willing to live together peacefully. That province would get TONS of money and attention. Best schools and so on. Then two tiny provinces, one for Jews and one for Palestinians, the hard liners who can't get along. Less money to them, less investment, only the basics. Then let those people living in the extreme provinces decide when they want to join the rest of the world in the middle. They would have to apply to live in the middle province, and their backgrounds would be checked and so on. The goal would be that the middle province grows and makes the other two seem obsolete.
Just my dream.

I would love to see a one state solution work. That would certainly shock the world and change the course of history, it would be beautiful. That day when palestinians and isrealis can live together, in peace, palestinian children going to school without being terrorized and stopped at checkpoints, the dream!!

I think this is the only solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

I am not anti-Semetic.

The Jews obviously will still have their religion and culture but their "Jewish" State at the expense of the Palestinians/Arabs is a failure.

Their constitution already says all of their citizens are equal regardless of religion and ethnicity...so why not go all the way and just negotiate with the Palestinians for one secular State?

I don't really get why the Jews need their own country?! They don't.

Why should a country be based on a religion? I think a country that is based on a religion is crazy and only leads to trouble for everyone. But I am an atheist.

There needs to be a secular democracy (like the USA) in the land of Palestine.