Plan for Arab-Israeli Reconciliation
- The P.A.I.R. Initiative -

******** PART 3 ********
"The Specifics of the P.A.I.R. Initiative"

CONTENTS OF PART III:

III-A A better way to achieve President Bush’s proclaimed goals
III-B A Palestinian Arab State
III-C A Jewish State of Israel
III-D Reeducation for Peace
III-E A Complete Suppression of All Terrorist Groups
III-F An orderly resettlement plan

The PAIR Initiative seeks to achieve the five points listed below, which the United States government and President George Bush have also proclaimed to be their goals in resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict.

1. Achieve a ‘two-state’ solution.

2. Exchange ‘land for peace’.

3. Solve the Palestinian Arab refugee problem.

4. End the ‘occupation’.

5. Have both Israel and a Palestinian Arab state secure and at peace.

These five can be achieved, but only with the inclusion of point 6 below.

6. Establish a genuine peace, based on historic truth, enabling both sides to safeguard their vital interests and with ample land in which to grow and to thrive.

The PAIR Initiative will achieve a two-state solution with a Jewish Israel and a separate Palestinian Arab state, with both states of viable size to accommodate future growth for at least the next century. It will bring about an exchange of land for peace - with land-rich Saudi Arabia providing the land for peace. It will solve the Palestinian Arab refugee problem through resettlement of refugees, and other Palestinian Arabs, into decent homes of their own, on land of the their own and in their own sovereign state. This process will also end the ‘occupation’, however such may be defined.

This proposal may appear bold and audacious but judgment should be reserved until after thoughtful consideration of the entire plan. Achieving a just and lasting peace with honor requires the courage to be bold and audacious and not bound by the limitations of the past. The constituent elements of the PAIR Initiative, as defined throughout the following sections, comprise an integrated whole.

Size requirements: As shown in Part I - B, the 2,300 square miles of Judea and Samaria (a.k.a. the "West Bank") plus the Gaza Strip is hopelessly short of what is needed for a long-term solution. A more adequate space would be about 35,000 square miles for a long-term permanent solution. This area would be sufficient to absorb all Palestinian Arabs in the Middle East, now estimated at about 6 million, should they all chose to migrate to one place. It would also allow ample space for natural population growth over the next century for a people that is presently doubling in size about every 25 years.

Possible site: Although most of Jordan’s current population is Palestinian Arab, its ability to absorb millions more Palestinian Arabs is highly limited due to economic, political and security factors. A far better choice would be Saudi Arabia with its vast area populated by only 25 million people plus its immense oil wealth. This would also place sufficient distance between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs to reduce that proximity which leads to confrontation. Saudi Arabia is the largest Arab country with about 850,000 square miles and a Palestinian Arab state of 35,000 square miles would require only 4% of Saudi territory.

Saudi Arabia, in particular, has a huge moral obligation to extend itself for peace. They have benefited lavishly from their western-developed oil wealth and from continued western support and protection. At the same time they have been among the leading instigators of hatred toward Israel and the West and have funded terror and the teaching of radical Islamic beliefs in many countries, including the U.S. They must now be pressed to make genuine efforts to undo some of the worldwide tension they helped to create. A good start would be an improvement of their original "Saudi Plan" which called for a total Israeli withdrawal to pre-1967 boundaries. That plan would include painful uprooting of entire communities - home to hundreds of thousands of Jews in return for mere promises of peace and with no guarantee provided by anyone. The best way to improve the Saudi Plan would be their donating a tiny corner of their enormous territory for a fair and just solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict which they, in no small measure, helped perpetrate. Appendix II - C contains additional information.

Size requirement: The size of Israel should reflect both future needs and historic justice by including the following considerations:

    -  In 100 years the Jewish population of Israel could exceed 30 million, as a result  both of natural increase and the continued immigration of Jews to their national homeland, Israel, from countries in which Jews are not fully accepted as citizens or as an integral part of their country of residence.

    -  To keep such an eventual within a  barely manageable density of 30,000 people per square mile (the U.S. has 80 persons per square mile) would require as an absolute minimum at least the full 10,300 square miles of Western Palestine and the Golan Heights, even allowing for dramatic technological improvements in the sustainability of limited land to expanding populations.

    -  The League of Nations Mandate unequivocally assigned at least 10,000 square miles of Palestine (more properly the Land of Israel) west of the Jordan River to the Jewish state, and that agreement is still legally binding, despite being ignored.

    -  The millions of Jews slaughtered in WWII and during the past twenty centuries constitute a huge moral claim against the community of nations. This must be reflected in Israel’s final size which should serve to encourage accelerated growth to replace some of those lost in the past.

    -  Offsetting, at least slightly, the unfair thousand-to-one inequality favoring Muslim territory over Jewish territory must become a serious consideration.

New boundaries: Arbitrary boundaries, drawn by outside imperialist nations for self-serving purposes, without historical, legal or moral justification cannot be considered sacred, legitimate, or permanent. Fresh thinking is required to correct historical injustices and to provide for future peace and prosperity. The following considerations should apply.

    -  The Jewish People was assigned modest national boundaries by the Creator, as defined in the bible, and were twice sovereign in the Land of Israel. [link to map of ancient Israel] This is in contrast to the ‘might makes right’ attitude over boundaries prevailing elsewhere in the world. Christians and Muslims both  respect the Hebrew Bible and many among them already recognize the religious and historic right of Jews to their ancestral homeland. [Link to Christian and Muslim sources]

    -  Both Christians and Muslims already possess huge parts of the planet and cannot  begrudge the Jews having the small territory that is rightfully theirs.

    - Appendix II - D (under "boundaries") contains additional information.

In order to eliminate the attitudes of hatred and intolerance toward Jews, Judaism  that pervade the Middle East, and the massive misinformation about Jewish history, Judaism and Israel on which it is based, we  propose a thorough Education for Peace project throughout the entire region. The Education for Peace program would be particularly extensive and thorough for members of the Palestinian Arab community, but would by no means be confined to them. All adults and children would be required to attend a program of intensive courses, lasting at least three to five years for each individual, giving accurate information about these three subjects, and providing the populations of the Arab and Islamic lands, and also Israel itself, with the necessary understanding of the right of the Jewish people to live in peace in their own national homeland.  Passing these courses satisfactorily will become a precondition for exercising the rights of citizenship in all of the states of the region. This is an absolute prerequisite for creating the changed attitudes necessary to achieve peace between Israel and the Arab and Muslim worlds, and for a just resolution of the Palestinian problem.

All anti-Jewish and anti "unbeliever" propaganda, and all advocacy of "holy war" or "martyrdom," will also be strictly banned from all schools and universities, and replaced with Education for Peace courses.

The media in the Arab and Muslim countries, or at least those parts of it that are state-financed or state-run, will be prohibited in the future from engaging in hate propaganda and incitement against Israel and/or Jews, or gross distortions of current events or past history in order to libel Israel and Jews. Books such as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, The Matzah of Zion, Mein Kamph, and those with similar anti-Jewish messages will be banned.

An international commission of responsible, enlightened educators and journalists, with substantial Israeli and Jewish representation, will be appointed to oversee and implement these educational and communications improvements.

Peace and reconciliation in the Middle East, and a just, peaceful resolution of the Palestinian Arab question, will prove utterly impossible unless terror is first completely uprooted an eliminated, even before other measures to solve the Palestinian Arab’s problems are implemented.  This will mean the complete disarmament and suppression of all of the Palestinian Arab and other terrorist organizations in the Middle East region, and the seizure and freezing of all of their financial assets.

This must include Fatah, which has an undeserved reputation for "moderation," but has actually perpetrated more massacres and killings of innocent non-combatants than all of the other terror groups combined.  Fatah is continuing its campaign of terror and murder even as we write, through its "military" arm The Al-Aksa Martyr’s Brigades.

Not only Fatah, but its political-diplomatic fronts such as the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian National Authority, and the various "NGOs" ("Non-governmental Associations") controlled by them, must be completely disbanded. The vast assets possessed by these organizations, reported by some experts to total over $50 billion, and now devoted to war and the enrichment of corrupt Palestinian Arab officials, must be placed in a special fund to finance the full compensation, and peaceful and orderly resettlement, of the Palestinian Arab refugees.

The Lebanese terror groups that have carried out attacks on Israel, the United States and other countries, including and especially Hizbullah, must also be completely disarmed and suppressed.

All financial and military aid to these groups, whether direct or through their various diplomatic-political fronts, such as the PLO and the PNA, will also have to cease completely. This includes all aid from governments—not only from  Arab governments, such as Saudi Arabia, but from Europe, the United Nations, and the United States as well, must cease immediately.  In particular, the misguided practice by the United States government of arming and training Fatah in the vain hope that it can be employed to suppress the other terrorist groups, must cease.

All offices and diplomatic missions of these groups, as well as their headquarters in Syria, must be closed immediately, and all diplomatic recognition of them must be withdrawn.

Resettlement has worked elsewhere to resolve other conflicts and it can work here as well. There is great social and political value in making a clean break and offering a fresh start to the Palestinian Arabs. Those who migrate are usually obliged to think in fresh terms about their future. It has been true for immigrants to America and it can certainly be true for Arabs as well. They would be beneficially occupied for many decades building their own country and structuring their own society. There would be less time to sulk and nurture old hatreds. They could design their physical environment and finally reform their present political regime, still operating under the PA, which all know to be highly corrupt. Reform is in the air and a clean break could further empower the reformers.

There are no material problems that cannot be resolved. Only 4% of the vast territory of Saudi Arabia would provide 35,000 square miles for a new Palestinian Arab state 15 times larger than Gaza and the West Bank combined. Resettlement would be phased in over a 5-10 year interval as fast as new homes and infrastructure can be ready. Far larger and more difficult relocations of various populations have occurred during the last century. It is reported that well over 100 million people in the world are currently crossing borders in search of a better life.

Building their new country would generate jobs and excitement as people become caught up in anticipating a better life that was actually taking form.

Funding could be raised from a combination of sources, including huge reductions in bloated arms budgets of the Arab countries, from international grants and loans, and from assistance from the oil-rich Arab states, Israel, the United States, all other Western countries and the United Nations organization, as well as the generous compensation paid by Israel to Palestinian Arabs for their present or past property in Israel. Above all, funding would come from the huge assets of the Palestinian Liberation Organization other terrorist organizations and fronts for terrorist organizations, and the funds embezzled by Yasser Arafat and other corrupt Palestinian leaders from their own people. According to some experts on the international funding of terrorist organizations, these assets may total over $50 billion. Under the PAIR initiative, these funds would be first frozen, and then applied to fund new homes, infrastructure and employment for the Palestinian people, rather than for  weapons, salaries for professional terrorists and and the luxurious life-styles of  corrupt Palestinian leaders, as these funds are being misused at present. Fifty billion a year over ten years would provide $80,000 per head for all six million Palestinian Arabs with the knowledge that this is a one-time expenditure for peace that will pay generous dividends in the future.

This would offer a superb opportunity to attempt a new initiative for peace and create a bright new beginning. Located well away from Israel, it would eliminate the daily friction caused by the need of Israel to conduct checkpoints and other security measures, and the associated suffering that these measures, while necessary in the present situation, have engendered. It would only require that the Palestinian people opt for a better future for themselves. The Palestinian Arabs would be gainfully employed for a century in building their own country. Vast oil resources in this area would provide additional support for the Palestinian economy. Both sides would also experience a huge reduction in the severe economic costs associated with their conflict. Many years of hateful indoctrination against Jews could finally begin to dissipate, given enough time and proper conditions. There would be no more ‘occupation’ and Palestinian Arabs would have ample room for future population growth. They could exist peacefully within the Arabian Peninsula. They would even be near the holy sites of Mecca and Medina, the foci of their ancestral/religious roots.

It is relevant that some 900,000 Jews fled Arab countries between the 1930’s and 1960’s and forced to abandon property worth about $100 billion which is rightfully owed to them. Just as the PAIR Initiative advocates fair compensation to Palestinian Arabs who are resettled to better conditions elsewhere, there remains a just claim by Jews from Arab lands to finally receive compensation for property that they were forced to leave behind. Let there be equal justice and reconciliation for both sides.

This resettlement program should also appeal to many of the 1.2 million Israeli Arabs who could see a better future in resettlement than in remaining. Their birth rate, being considerably higher than Israeli Jews, will make them an increasing minority. Their strong separate identities will lead to increasing tension and conflict as these two distinct peoples increasingly compete for political power on limited land containing limited resources. Confining two distinct ethnic groups inside one political boundary has produced bloody failures in other instances and it will fail here as well. Tragic examples such as Rwanda, Kosovo/Bosnia, Northern Ireland, Sudan, Lebanon, India/Pakistan, etc. come to mind. (The United States is cited as an exceptional example of a successful melting pot of different peoples and cultures adapting and living in harmony. But this experience has been grounded in the integration of new immigrants into a secular culture with little sense of ethnic or religious identity. No such secular, non-ethnic culture exists in the Middle East). With so much available land in the Middle East there is NO compelling reason to confine these two peoples inside this one tiny space.

Many Israeli Arabs would provide a very valuable leadership element in the new Palestinian Arab state because they have been exposed to a modern democratic society plus a good level of education. They could be motivated to become the generation of new leaders and managers replacing the highly corrupt regime of the PLO/PA. They would also be needed to assist in the absorption of low skilled Palestinian Arabs arriving from refugee camps and poor towns in the West Bank.

The PAIR Initiative envisages Arabs and other non-Jews, together with their families, who have demonstrated or clearly expressed their loyalty to the State of Israel, continuing to live inside Israel as full Israeli citizens. Among the Arabs, Christians, Muslims, Druze, Bedouins, Bahai, and others inside Israel, there are many who have volunteered to serve in the  Israel Defense Forces or who have served  the Israeli nation in other capacities, sometimes at the cost of their lives.  These  of course would remain in Israel as full citizens, with equal rights with Jewish Israelis, following the peace settlement. On the other hand, those many Arabs who presently hold Israeli citizenship, but who identify themselves as Palestinians and Arabs, not as Israelis, and who view the Jewish State as an enemy or a foreign entity, now could join their Palestinian brethren in building the new Palestinian State, on its own territory.

Those many Arab residents of Judea and Samaria (The "West Bank") and Gaza who have helped Israel fight terrorism, prevent terrorist attacks before they can happen and when necessary to bring terrorists to justice, and who have been unfairly stigmatized as ‘collaborators" for this heroic service, at enormous risk to their own lives, would also be welcome to remain in what would now be Israel with their families, as full Israeli citizens enjoying equal rights with all other citizens.

On a practical level some critics might argue that Arabia is mostly uninhabited desert with only about 1% of the area being cultivatable land and therefore cannot accommodate resettlement there of Palestinian Arabs. At the time of the Balfour Declaration following WWI, there also were ‘experts’ and critics who argued that the land mandated to become the Jewish National Home was too barren to support a mass influx of Jewish refugees. The Jewish pioneers proved them wrong by making the desert bloom again as it did in ancient times by using methods of modern agriculture to heal the land. The same can and ‘must’ be done in the vast areas of Arabia with Palestinian Arabs leading the transformation. It is a ‘must’ situation because the world is losing arable land to desertification at a time of rising populations. The world needs the Middle East to again be a verdant garden and a regional ‘breadbasket’ as it was in ancient times.

More details on creating this transformation and the benefits to the local population are provided in the appendixes to Part III, A though F.