ok, i know this has been suggested before, but i'm going to outline my proposal for the issue, tell me what you think. I think a one state solution could really work, here is why: -With one state, they can have one capital, Jerusalem, so both arabs and jews can have it as their capital. -Israeli settlers can live legally in the west bank, and have fully equal rights, along with all other arabs in the west bank and gaza. -Palestinian refugees would be able to return to the land of their ancestors, and would not have to live in limbo anymore. They can resettle the towns and villages of their grandparents which were destroyed in 1948. -As part of one country, with one army, one parliament, and one constitution, there will be an effective end to the state of war. -Religious Jews can live freely and legally anywhere in the land they believe God gave them, and thus fulfill their prophetic beliefs. -Christian and Muslim Arabs, along with Jews can all have access to all the holy sites in the ancient land, people often forget why these three religions share the same holy sites; in the end, they all believe in the same God. however, I am a realist, and I know their are many existing hurdles which would challenge the one state solution. -Radical muslim zealots, salafists, Khomeinists would be greatly unwilling to live alongside followers of another religion. -Radical jewish groups would also not like to live alongside non-Jews. their are many such as Lieberman's party and the Likud party who believe that the entire holy land should only be for followers of the Jewish religion, and followers of other religions, despite the fact that the land is just as equally holy to them, should not have access to it. However, people are forgetting that one of the strongest arguments for the creation of a Jewish state was freedom from the Jewish people from persecution following World War 2. many felt that Europe had rejected them and they must find a new home where they can be free from persecution. This coincided with a strong religious belief to live peacefully in the land of their Abrahamic ancestors. If both sides can agree to stop the violence, then peace would be guaranteed. There is no real need for an entirely Jewish ethnic composition of the republic, even in the ancient kingdom of David, the Jews alongside gentiles such as hittites, canaanites, syrians, and others. There are those who fear a loss of the Jewish majority, which is likely due to high arab birthrate. but that should not matter, anybody who thinks in terms of majorities and differences between religion is forgetting the concept of peaceful unity and brotherhood. If you all look at yourselves as equal citizens of the same nation, then your minor differences won't matter. Secondly, there is the Islamist militant element which would entirely reject not only a non-muslim presence but a non-fundamentalist presence. But you must keep in mind that these elements are in reality very small, very few Palestinians support Islamist fundamentalism. Infact, it was almost non-existent for the entire history of the palestinian nationalist movement, it only grew strong in the late 90's because people were fed up with the failures of the secular parties to achieve independence. This was coupled with the expanding influence of Iranian khomeinists in the arab world who were using fundamentalism to gain control over the arabs. I believe once the arab palestinians realise they have achieved everything they have sought without the help of Hamas or hezbollah, they will entirely reject those parties along with the rest of the iranian camp. The ones who truly would not accept the presence of the other exist on both sides, (likud in israel, hamas in palestine), but once people realise that peace has been achieved without these parties, they will entirely reject them. I know it is unlikely to work immediately, as you can see, Lebanon has strong religious divisions, and has resulted in war, as has Iraq. But this is entirely due to the presence of fundamentalist militants who are trying to expand the influence of foreign aggressors such as iran and america, and do not really want what is best for their country. Before the rise of khomeini, in both those countries, the religious divisions were practically invisible. So I say again, if they forget their religious differences, accept each other as brothers, and see that their goals are infact exactly the same, they both want to live in peace in a land which they worship an which their ancestors lived in, and they both want teh same fair rights in those countries. Einstein himself supported the one state solution and was against the division, he said that Arabs and Jews are the two greatest semitic peoples, they are both descended from abraham. infact, if you are a fluent speaker in hebrew, arabic, and perhaps even aramaic, you will find these languages are in fact very similar.
Israel - 14 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
No. It wouldn't work. That country is called Israel, and that land was conquered. And, to be honest, Israel has grown and Israelis worked a lot to make that country rich as it's now. Jews used to inhabit that land, before people (muslims included) started persecute them. After WW2 they founded THEIR country on their promised land... Palestinians who used to live there were defeated.
2 :
I suppose yur gunna paste an israeli and palestinian flag together and call the country Palestrael as well.
3 :
I love your idealism, and I wish I could endorse it. But there's just too many 'ifs'; the main one, to me, is how the rights of Jews could be maintained in a state that would rapidly, if not immediately, have an Arab Muslim majority. I'd so hope it were possible, but given how history has gone, I would say it's too big a risk. Jews cannot be made a stranger in their own land again, as has happened too often throughout history.
4 :
I would like you to know that I read the full text of your question, which many people (Dandyl) do not do, and apologize for the brevity of my response. Nukes. Israel has nuclear weapons. No one would ever let them come under the control of Palestinians.
5 :
Like my valued contact A L. said, I love your idealism, and I wish I could endorse it. It just won't work. God Bless You for your idealism, but the world does not work that way. To remain democratic, to remain free, Israel must remain a Jewish state. The demographics say that an Arab/Moslem state will result if Israel tries to create a one-state solution, and such a state would rapidly devolve into the same sort of dictatorship that exists among all of Israel's hostile neighbors. People say that Israel's desire to be a Jewish state is racist, etc...but such folk have no problem with neighboring states being Islamic. Then the Israeli Jews are compared to South Africa's "apartheid" regimes of the past...seriously, the Jews of Israel are in a no-win situation here. We need a two-state solution where Israel remains a Jewish state.
6 :
I agree with you but this will not work because the Zionist are racist. They are as racist as the Nazis were, They really believe they are gods only chosen people and that means they are superior. They want a 100% Jewish state and all the land they can get. It is ironic that they are always playing the holocaust card but many of their ideas and methods aren't much different than the fascist.They don't have any morals and will use anybody and any means to advance their goals. Their holy book the Torah gives then permission to act in this matter.
7 :
The reason it won't work is that cause Arabs will over breed the Jews or bring more Arabs and make israel an Arab majority country, and israel is the Jewish state that's the idea of it. Israel cannot absorb all the arabs and give them full rights, it is simply not possible, add the fact that the koran says that Jews are sons of pigs and apes and calls for their death every second page, they also treat Christians in similar manner, so the religious muslims cannot ever accept Jews as "brothers", for them the koran is the words of allah so it is 100% right no matter what, it is just a stupid idea which ignores the reality, expects that religious fanatics will forget their religion with their 'good will' and assumes that Arabs want to have liberal democratic countries with millions of jews. Also it expets israel to forget all the horrible things done to the country and the jews in order to accept the islamic cult of death. It might sound nice in a caffe with your liberal friends but in reality it doesn't catch, and never will. On top of that 'Palestinians', is a horrible lie created by Arabs after they lost in the six day war in 1967 but cannot admit and must lie to protect their 'honor' lying about everything and playing victim all the time even thought it is the other way around is just fine with their crippled morals which could be summed as "itbach kul alam" and lie, that's about it. There is not a single thing that could point on a diffrenece between arab from Iran,iraq,saudi arabia,jordan(the real palestine)... to a 'palestinian' they have the same language,same culture,same food,same everything, Jordan even have the same flag...you can hear arab leaders admit it even on the last link I give. And claiming israel is racist is another lie to scapegoat jews even more, israel allows arab citizens and mosque building while in countries like saudi arabia jews and chistrians cannot ever become citizens or build synagoges and churches...and they say israel is racist...typical arab hypocrisy. two state solution is unreal too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjy1ml2h5Bs&feature=related The only way to solve this is who have the bigger guns wins,currently its israel and it will stay this way forever I hope, the second it stops israel is gone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6lg7PgbPHo&feature=related http://christianactionforisrael.org/isreport/janfeb04/jordan.html http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf21QqvHauw&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOGG_osOoVg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP2ePHOLSqo
8 :
no it would never work since you can NEVER satisfy the arabs. israel keeps giving and giving and the arabs just want more and more. also if their was one state the arabs would probably try to take control over Israel right away. just look at all the other arab countries. Israel would be just like them since the arabs would take control of Israel like their trying to do now. besides g-d gave only the jews the land of Israel and dividing it or giving it away or even sharing it would be going over the Jewish law (not that that stopped prime ministers in the past.
9 :
In theory it sounds good but in practise it simply would not work Would the Israelis be prepared to share their military and atomic weapons with the Palestinians . Never . Who would have overrule power in this one state. ? The Palestinians. Never. Would Israel agree to the return of 4 million Palestinians that have been exiled.. Never. It has to be a 2 state solution with Israel returning to its 67 borders with the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem returned IN FULL to the Palestinians who would have COMPLETE control of their own military, port and air port end even their own airspace. One more thought. Who would control Israeli prisons where 11,000 Palestinians are presently being held. ?
10 :
my father was born in tel aviv many years before 1948 when in fact there were both arab and jews living there.... and the arabs were not happy then... attacked the jews in every settlement. they were not happy then and they wouldnt be happy now.
11 :
I agree with a one state solution where Israel is not included, the Israeli government make the Palestinian's life a living hell
12 :
If you read "Jay's" answer you'll understand why it wouldn't work. Israel would never accept it. It would mean that if Israel was to be truly democratic, it would no longer be a "Jewish state" indeed that was the stated expulsion of the Palestinians (Muslim and Christian) in 1947-48. One Israeli leader TRIED to negotiate, he was killed. Israel is run by coalition governments, which means to break with the conservative movements would be political suicide.
13 :
No, it would be a bad idea unfair to Israelis and Palestinians
14 :
Yugoslavia, at war as one, at peace as many. It is very difficult as these problems are in its way. Refugees: The number of Palestinian refugees include many which were expelled from Jordan and perhaps some who claim to be such. There is no real way to determine if someone was a real Israeli-Palestinian unless if they claim to be. If they require proof, that would lead to a large number of real Palestinians who still can't provide it. Gaza: They would have to convince the leaders in Gaza to ultimately (as there would be little need for a violent Hamas organization in peace) give up their power permanently. Likud and Hamas- Well they seem to be in power so who's going to sue for peace? Not likely, in this case I think a two state might be better.
