| Chapter 12. | The Conflict between Israel and Palestine | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The conflict in the Holy Land has an eerie resemblance to the Thirty Years' War in Europe in the 17th century. Originally it was the Catholics and Protestants in Germany who fought each other, but this conflict spread, and it became a political power struggle of nations. After much bloodshed and destruction a political solution was found which, although religious issues remained unresolved, established the principle of Separation of the Church from the State. The differences between Protestants and Catholics still exist but both factions have learned to accepts the facts, tolerate each other and practice peaceful co-existence. However, while the separation of the church from the state was important progress, especially for the subsequent forming of democracies, political peace was only temporary. In particular France and Germany became arch enemies who periodically fought each other. It took the bloody confrontations of WW 1 and WW 2 that finally some reason emerged. Today both countries are partners and the driving forces to build a European Union. The conflict in the Middle East is almost a mirror image of the events of the Thirty Years' War in Europe. As it was then, there is presently not the slightest chance that Jews and Muslims will find common ground. One can only hope that some day soon reason and common sense will prevail. Maybe the "Road Map to Peace" is a solution but at best it can be only a temporary one. Just as previously France and Germany, Israel and Palestine are and remain for the foreseeable future arch enemies who just can't see eye to eye. The specter of WW 3 is a frightening thought. The history of Europe, past and present, teaches us: We should strive for peaceful co-existence not only politically, but in our beliefs as well. The idea of peaceful co-existence is not without precedents.
As in Iraq, the UN selects from Israel proper, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip a cross section of its people and brings them and their families to Canada. There, within weeks it will be obvious whether the animosities continue or human contact is developing. In the first case the process can be discontinued and just some money is lost. The second case will be the stepping stone to continue the peace seeking process. As in Iraq, these selected people become now the BOD's who tackle, with the guidance of the UN personnel, the religious and political problems. If they succeed they will have become a close knit community well equipped, upon return, to convince their fellow citizens of the merits of democracy and peaceful co-existence. The participants, Jews, Muslims and Christians, will be able to answer, at some point in the future, the following referendum question: Do you agree to the formation of the secular state of ISPAL? [Just to give it a name] Of course, the whole process to produce a blueprint for the future of the Middle-East depends entirely on the Israeli and Palestine governments. They have to agree. One the one hand this shouldn't be a problem A - Up to the day of the referendum, all peace seeking activities do not interfere at all with their governing functions. B - The initial stage, the selection of the BOD's and their activities in Canada, is only an experiment. On the other hand aiming at and holding a referendum will be controversial, after all it's the politicians' job to solve the problems and make the decisions. Thus it will be the litmus test for both authorities to agree to a referendum. If they really care for their people they should give them the opportunity to decide their future. This referendum should be different. It should not be the overall majority of the three diversities which counts. Instead it should be the majority of each, the Jews, Muslims, and Christians which decides the issue. Only if each of the three have decided with a majority the referendum will stand. The BOD's seek immediately election if the referendum is unanimous and positive. This creates the Ispal e- parliament and establishes the power of the new state. The first act of the new parliament will be to form a temporary coalition government from the politicians of the two authorities. In due time the people elect their government in a separate campaign. One major problem remains. It is the demographics of the region. Presently the Jews have the largest number in population and in the TD e-parliament they would outvote everyone else. Of course, this wouldn't work. No matter how good the intentions are in the beginning to make co-existence work, in the long run it won't and some equalizing mechanism is needed. This mechanism can be that each diversity has equal voting power. E.g. at each vote the central computer registers whether the vote given is from a Jewish MP, a Muslim one or a Christian. The computer tabulates the Yes and No votes from each diversity and adjusts the vote according to their numerical relation.. If, for example 60% of the TD MPs are Jewish, 30% are Muslim and 10% are Christian, the central computer will automatically reduce the number of the Jewish group to 40% to match the combined 40% of the Muslims and Christians. Or, the vote count for each groups would be adjusted to 33% of the total vote count. This manipulation of the final vote is merely an adjustment which doesn't interfere at all with the representation of the citizens or the consensus seeking process in the e-parliament. It is merely a measure which reflects the original agreement that Jews, Christians and Muslims have equal rights, that they are partners and no group should dominate. Most religious problems would have been straightened out by the BODs' in Canada and the people would have accepted the solutions, thus religious issues would no longer interfere with the day to day politics of the State of Ispal and the people could finally enjoy peace. |