Pipes and Sherman

Submitted by Vivarto (Israel), May 15, 2017 at 07:45

Here are a couple of comments to Daniel Pipes:

"The allure of a state after the conflict ends offers benefits to both sides. Israelis will be free of ruling unwanted subjects. Palestinians have a reason to behave."

I disagree; "Palestinians" patriotism is artificial and is not rooted in their real identity. They know they are Arabs, and they know they are from elsewhere. If given an opportunity to emigrate half would leave almost instantly, and the rest would follow. Unlike Jews, they don't have a deep love for the land. Jews are coming to Israel leaving behind a much higher living standard in America because of deep love of the land.
Arabs will follow economical opportunities. They don't love the land, they turned the land to desert, through mismanagement, overgrazing, cutting the trees.
Jews plant the forests, Arabs make arsons.

Arabs know well that they cannot make a successful state. They know that all their presidents will be corrupt dictators ruling by bribing the heads of the clans. Deep down they know well that a Muslim Arab "Palestine" will be another failed state. Opinion surveys consistently show that the overwhelming majority of Arabs in the "occupied" part of Jerusalem would prefer to live under the Israeli rather than under Palestinian rule.

"Due to intense nationalism, even stronger social pressure, and likely threats of violence, I highly doubt this scheme will find significant numbers of takers, but it's certainly worth a try."
Their nationalism is indeed intense and at the same time it is every bit as superficial as it is fake. It will not prevent the Arab squatters from migrating to the next place if the opportunities are better.

Daniel Pipes is correct about social pressure and threats of violence. These are the factors that need to be addressed and removed through correct intervention. One interesting idea would be to move entire village or clan after having sufficiently bribed the clan leaders, and after securing a landing place for them in another country for another handsome compensation. Another idea would be for Israel to provide security and privacy.
However the most important part of Sherman's project is to make it morally acceptable and supported by important players. It is a reframe of the problem, from "national liberation" to the humanitarian problem. Once the important players accept that this is a humanitarian problem, the solutions and money will be found.

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