Sunday, December 03, 2006

Two state solution for all

When things concern the Palestine-Israel conflict everyone wants to get in on the act. The EU recently held a special session in Finland (that is currently Chair of the EU) to discuss this topic. The revised UN Human Rights Council have passed three resolutions against Israel and none on any other topic. The group of nations that met in Amman recently on the subject of "crises in the Arab world" also came out with proposals. And last but not least the UN General Assembly just passed its series of annual resolutions criticizing Israel for its "occupation" of Palestinian land. All agree that the solution to the perennial problem involves a "two-state" solution, Israel within the pre-1967 borders and a Palestinian State in the rest. This is in effect both US and Israeli Government policy too. The only question left seems to be where precisely to draw the lines.
Since a "two-state" solution is considered such a panacea, I suggest that it be applied to other conflicted countries in the Middle East. Why not a two-state solution for Lebanon? After all Lebanon is currently split between the Christian-Druse-Sunni anti-Syrian North and the Shia pro-Syrian South. It would be quite easy to draw a line that separates the two and leave a truly coherent Lebanon without the Shia region, that could be returned to Syria, which in any case they support. This would reverse the French-imposed solution for the Christian Arabs that unfortunately included one minority group too many.
And what about Iraq? A two-state solution for the Sunnis and Shia would be an obvious solution to the problem of the current conflict that is taking approx. 100 lives a day. Of course, there is the complication of the Kurds in the north, but they could either be a third independent region or to avoid Turkish ire be a part of the Sunni or Shia areas. While this would not suit a Bush-imposed democracy for Iraq, it would be a more natural solution to what was after all a British-imposed country lumping the three groups together.
And why not a two-state solution for Jordan (divided between the Beduin and the Palestinians) and for Egypt (between the Muslims and the Copts). None of this mixing together, lets have separate states for all religious and ethnic minorities. If it can work for the Palestinians it can work for everyone else.
But, unfortunately, all Palestinians do not accept a two-state solution for themselves. The Hamas Government of the PA, democratically elected by all Palestinians, does not recognize Israel's right to exist, will not negotiate with Israel, and does not accept a two-state solution of "Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in peace!" They want an Islamic state in all of Palestine, and that to be part of a huge Muslim Caliphate. However hard Abbas and his external supporters (including Pres. Bush, the Quartet and PM Olmert) wish it were not so. For now, even though the whole world is backing this neat solution, and even though Israel is seen by most as the impediment to this "easy" solution, no two-state solution for the Palestine conflict is in the offing. So why not let's try this easy solution elsewhere.

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