Federal solution

Recently an article was published in Ha'aretz newspaper entitled "An
alternative worthy of Hillel" by Aryeh Green, a follower of Natan Sharansky.
He proposed a "democratic" solution of the Palestine-Israel conflict,
namely, the idea is that no solution is possible until the Palestinians also
live under a democratic system. So we in Israel and the whole world must
help the Palestinians to develop a democracy. Many will regard this as very
idealistic. Since everyone has their own favorite suggestion of how to
resolve the situation, so I propose a Federal solution to the problem.
A two-state solution, "with Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in
peace," is the popular vision for solving the Israel-Palestine conflict, but
some envisage a one-state solution. This is preferred by left wing
extremists who foresee a unitary state of Jews and Arabs living happily
together. Islamists and Jewish religious extremists and nationalists on
both sides foresee one state, each at the expense of the other.
The federal model for a solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict is all
around us. There are many federated states, including, of course, the United
States and the EU, which is effectively a Federal Union of Europe. But
without (as yet) removing ultimate sovereignty from the constituent nation
states. For example, France and Germany fought many wars over their mutual
boundary, but what would be the point in fighting any more when both sides
are part of the EU and there is in effect no boundary between them.
Passports are not needed to cross and there is free movement of people and
goods. So what's to fight for? There is both a Bundestag and a National
Assembly and a European Parliament.
In Cyprus, the two sides that represent the divided halves of the Island,
Greek and Turkish, have negotiated a Federal solution under UN auspices,
i.e. the divided Island will be united under a Federal Government. Each
side will have a certain number of representatives elected to the Federal
Parliament. While the Greeks rejected the plan, however, the principle
remains.
In Iraq, the question of a unitary state, preferred by the Sunnis, versus a
federated state between the Shia, Kurd and Sunni areas, is one of the major
topics that has caused difficulty in drafting a constitution acceptable to
all factions. How the power will be shared in such a partially federated
state is a matter of fine distinctions.
Just as the peace in Sri Lanka is being negotiated between the Government of
Sri Lanka and the Tamil rebels, so some Federal solution will be necessary
to give the Tamils enough self-determination short of separate sovereignty
without seceding from the Sri Lankan State. Similarly the solution between
Pakistan and India over Kashmir could be resolved by a Federated Union
between the three of them. At present this seems impossible, but it would
allow both India and Pakistan to claim continued political relations with
Kashmir.
I do not propose a Federation of Israel and the Palestinians as an initial
solution to the conflict, but rather as an ultimate solution. In the
Israel-Palestine dispute, it seems clear that several stages must be gone
through before such an idealized solution could be envisaged or implemented.
But, consider that the Palestine Authority and any future Palestinian State
as envisaged is not economically or geographically viable. It would depend
on Israel for practically everything, including trade, water, electricity,
and above all work.
The idea in this case is that it does not strictly matter where the borders
are drawn. Once they are agreed to and accepted then a Federal Union could
be promulgated between them. At present and for the foreseeable future the
militancy of the Islamist terrorists and the lack of any crackdown by the PA
makes prevents any such solution. But, after the demise of Arafat, and a
working ceasefire and the disengagement from Gaza, ultimately a form of
federation between Israel and the Palestinian State could resolve all
outstanding issues of access and sovereignty. Then finally it would not
really matter on which side of the hill a line had been drawn. Both a
two-state and a one-state solution together.