POETRY, PROSE, AND POLITICS

Fiction, serious reality, and at times their interaction.

TWO STATE SOLUTION

When the war between Israel and Hamas ends, some of us would like to see a two state solution. I agree with a two state solution because the Israelis and Palestinian Arabs both exist in the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and neither group will disappear. However, two completely independent states at peace with each other with no ifs, ands, or buts will not miraculously and immediately occur. More needs to be said about the relationship. Perhaps the arrangement could be a confederation or commonwealth something like the British Commonwealth but on a much smaller scale. In the British Commonwealth, a monarch is the theoretical head of the entire Commonwealth, and each nation has its own parliament and prime minister. The prime minister of each Commonwealth  nation consults with the British monarch on a regular interval. An Israel/Palestine Commonwealth would consist of only 2 states. There would be no monarch, no King Solomon. The replacement for the monarch would be a panel of judges appointed by the Israeli Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has developed into the most reasonable entity in the Israeli government. The judicial panel would have the power to reject any unreasonable decision by the local parliament of Israel or Palestine. The judicial panel would at first include some Israeli Arabs selected by the Supreme Court, but over time the number of Arab judges (and including Palestinian judges) might increase depending on how things progress. This arrangement would give the Palestinian Arabs self- governance while at the same time would give Israel security against Palestine being ruled by a terrorist government like Hamas.

Actually, the idea of an Israel/Palestine confederation has already been suggested. See the Holy Land Confederation at https://www.monmouth.edu/news/documents/the-holy-land-confederation-as-a-facilitator-for-the-two-state-solution-english.pdf/

See also the Israeli Palestinian Confederation at https://ipconfederation.org/

There have been other variations of confederation proposed.

Also, inside Israel there are Hand in Hand Schools in which Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs study in both Hebrew and Arabic. This idea might be applied to Israelis and Palestinians as well. See https://www.hih.org.il/

However, in order for any system to work, both sides have to agree that the other side has the right to exist in the geographic Land of Israel/Palestine. This requires reasonable non-terrorist leadership on both sides.