renard_ruse
Break up Amazon
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2007
- Posts
- 16,094
Both sides are now pretty much saying that a two state solution is dead. With Trump now completely kissing Netayahu's butt ("I'll be neutral" is long forgotten apparently), don't expect any pressure from the US to get the parties back to the bargaining table.
Given another 4 to 8 years of new settlement construction, there will be so many Israelis in the West Bank, and Palestinian land will be so chopped up into little enclaves, there will be no realistic way to create a Palestinian state.
That raises the question, what becomes of the Palestinians. I know plenty here will shout "who cares," "tranfer them to Timbucktu," etc. The reality is that this is an issue that will have to be resolved eventually. Even if the West Bank is formally incorporated into Israel and Jews are equal or even outnumber Palestinians in the area, there will still be several million of them. Can Israel get away with letting them stay with only partial rights, no vote, severe restrictions on travel and land rights, etc, in the long term?
Obviously, they more just solution would be to give them Israeli citizenship and full rights like Israeli Arabs have now. Current birth rates actually favor Jews, with Palestinian birthrates now lower than that of Israeli Jews for the first time. So they would probably remain a minority, however, they would be a very large majority for a long time.
A second possibility is similar to what Botha seemed to be working toward in the later years of white rule in South Africa, some sort of ethnic based collection of governments in charge of "own affairs" of different groups, in that case, with whites having final veto power over issues affecting the country as a whole (it was never widely implemented in South Africa and abandoned when DeKlerk became President but the model could be looked at). In Belgium there is a similar system of "community" governments that are not exactly based on territory, that could serve as a model without the controversial baggage attached to the South African example.
Other than those two possibilities, transfer (deportation/ethnic cleansing) would probably make Israel a complete international pariah. Continuing with the current situation is possible for perhaps a couple more decades, but doesn't seem like a permanent solution, not to mention violating Palestinians human rights on a daily basis.
Given another 4 to 8 years of new settlement construction, there will be so many Israelis in the West Bank, and Palestinian land will be so chopped up into little enclaves, there will be no realistic way to create a Palestinian state.
That raises the question, what becomes of the Palestinians. I know plenty here will shout "who cares," "tranfer them to Timbucktu," etc. The reality is that this is an issue that will have to be resolved eventually. Even if the West Bank is formally incorporated into Israel and Jews are equal or even outnumber Palestinians in the area, there will still be several million of them. Can Israel get away with letting them stay with only partial rights, no vote, severe restrictions on travel and land rights, etc, in the long term?
Obviously, they more just solution would be to give them Israeli citizenship and full rights like Israeli Arabs have now. Current birth rates actually favor Jews, with Palestinian birthrates now lower than that of Israeli Jews for the first time. So they would probably remain a minority, however, they would be a very large majority for a long time.
A second possibility is similar to what Botha seemed to be working toward in the later years of white rule in South Africa, some sort of ethnic based collection of governments in charge of "own affairs" of different groups, in that case, with whites having final veto power over issues affecting the country as a whole (it was never widely implemented in South Africa and abandoned when DeKlerk became President but the model could be looked at). In Belgium there is a similar system of "community" governments that are not exactly based on territory, that could serve as a model without the controversial baggage attached to the South African example.
Other than those two possibilities, transfer (deportation/ethnic cleansing) would probably make Israel a complete international pariah. Continuing with the current situation is possible for perhaps a couple more decades, but doesn't seem like a permanent solution, not to mention violating Palestinians human rights on a daily basis.
Last edited:
