This is a sad and complicated situation, given that the two sides of the conflict can’t even agree on some basic facts, such as “what actually happened in 1948?” or “is holocaust a hoax?”. Depending on whose set of beliefs you buy, either side can seem like martyrs or assholes. Both sides believe that God is fully on their side and that the whole territory should be rightfully theirs.
Speaking as an outsider who probably doesn’t understand 99% of relevant facts, the Arab plan to return to 1967 borders sounds like the best starting point, simply because realistically (1) there are going to be two states, and (2) the area of neither can look like Swiss cheese. (Yes, there are states with discontinuous territory, such as USA and Alaska, but not that discontinuous.) The current situation makes almost entire territory of the fractal Palestine a border. That’s not good for either side, if they want to protect their borders.
If this seems to someone like I’m too sympathetic to the Arab side, just imagine that instead I said “like the 1967 borders, except smaller, but continuous with simple borders”. Actually, I have no strong opinion on the size of the territory, only that its shape should make sense, otherwise the conflicts have no chance to stop. You want most Palestinians to have Palestinian neighbors, and most Israelis to have Israeli neighbors, otherwise even the everyday conflicts between neighbors automatically fuel the ethnic conflict.
After the borders are established, I think it would be nice if Israel allowed a right to return to a limited number of Palestinians per year (kinda like the green cards in USA). Maybe designed in a way that people who feel most strongly about it (but pass a security check; like they really want to live there, not to blow themselves up) get a priority. Hopefully, after those who felt strongest about it have returned, the remaining Palestinian population would be on average more okay with their new situation.
Probably worth considering is some form of international help with some control mechanisms so that it would be used to build Palestinian cities and job opportunities. Again under the assumption that people who have a new house and a new job would feel more okay to stay where they are. Dunno, maybe something like this already exists. But again, this requires a non-Swiss-cheese Palestinian territory, so that you can build nice places to live that are not next to the border.
This is a sad and complicated situation, given that the two sides of the conflict can’t even agree on some basic facts, such as “what actually happened in 1948?” or “is holocaust a hoax?”. Depending on whose set of beliefs you buy, either side can seem like martyrs or assholes. Both sides believe that God is fully on their side and that the whole territory should be rightfully theirs.
Speaking as an outsider who probably doesn’t understand 99% of relevant facts, the Arab plan to return to 1967 borders sounds like the best starting point, simply because realistically (1) there are going to be two states, and (2) the area of neither can look like Swiss cheese. (Yes, there are states with discontinuous territory, such as USA and Alaska, but not that discontinuous.) The current situation makes almost entire territory of the fractal Palestine a border. That’s not good for either side, if they want to protect their borders.
If this seems to someone like I’m too sympathetic to the Arab side, just imagine that instead I said “like the 1967 borders, except smaller, but continuous with simple borders”. Actually, I have no strong opinion on the size of the territory, only that its shape should make sense, otherwise the conflicts have no chance to stop. You want most Palestinians to have Palestinian neighbors, and most Israelis to have Israeli neighbors, otherwise even the everyday conflicts between neighbors automatically fuel the ethnic conflict.
After the borders are established, I think it would be nice if Israel allowed a right to return to a limited number of Palestinians per year (kinda like the green cards in USA). Maybe designed in a way that people who feel most strongly about it (but pass a security check; like they really want to live there, not to blow themselves up) get a priority. Hopefully, after those who felt strongest about it have returned, the remaining Palestinian population would be on average more okay with their new situation.
Probably worth considering is some form of international help with some control mechanisms so that it would be used to build Palestinian cities and job opportunities. Again under the assumption that people who have a new house and a new job would feel more okay to stay where they are. Dunno, maybe something like this already exists. But again, this requires a non-Swiss-cheese Palestinian territory, so that you can build nice places to live that are not next to the border.