I promised to address the question of how can the US support Israel without creating enemies which our current policy is doing. Considering the history of the area and the situation currently on the ground, following is what I believe could be an acceptable solution to both sides. First, just a brief look at the history:
The Middle East and in particular the Egypt-Palestine/Israel-Saudi Arabia triangle has always been and will always remain the focal point of Humans ever since they inherited this planet The people living in that area are aware of the uniqueness of their land and they always traded with each other with no major conflict between them. All the fights in that area were almost always with outsiders trying to control it. Starting from the middle of the Ancient Egyptian era to the Tatar, the Romans, the Greeks, the Crusaders and now the “West”, the fights were always to reclaim the land from the “Invaders”. That doesn’t mean there were no friction between one group or the other every once in a while, but it was no different than the normal frictions between different groups in any other region in the world.
The Real problem started when the Romans persecuted the Jewish population in the area surrounding Jerusalem and forced large numbers of them to flee to other countries including Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Morocco and of course to Europe. The rest of the problem is a well known history.
I mentioned the above in order to establish a fact that most of the people who are concerned about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict ignore: The current Palestinians Are the descendents of those who stayed, they are not some alien creatures from another lands.
Israel’s recreation ignored that fact and Israel’s hard liners today still ignore it. At the same time the current Palestinians hard liners also ignore the fact that those who returned to the land in 1948 and since are the descendents of those who fled the persecution 2000 years ago.
It is obvious, to any neutral observer, that it is not fair for anyone to come after 2000 years to claim a land they left behind even if they were forced to leave specially that the ones who stayed had no role in that terrible act of forcing people out of their land. If anyone objects to that logic, and I suppose that there will be many, let them answer this question: would the African Americans and the rest of the African people who were kidnapped and forced into Slavery allover the world have the right to go back to their original land in Africa and claim that they are the rightful owners of that land?
However, and regardless of the rights and wrongs, we now have two groups having the same origin i.e. they are in reality distant cousins each claiming the same land. It is obvious that both are partially correct in that claim and neither one will ever be satisfied with only part of that land. This fact is very clear to anyone who knows both sides. Any talk that we hear from the leaders in the area about “The Two State Solution” is being said because they CAN’T, politically, say what they really want. Only what we call the fanatics on both sides admit that. The sad fact is that those fanatics are the honest ones. Their way of achieving what they want may be vicious and wrong, but they are honest in what they want. The politicians are not honest, on both sides.
So, what is the solution then and how the USA can support Israel and still be fair to all sides? Sometimes we don’t see the forest from the trees. This time we only have to look to our north Boarder to See the solution. It is the Canadian Model.
The “One State Solution”
One state with two, may be three provinces each with their own language and traditions but all citizens are free to live in either one. The provinces are “Israel”, “The West Bank” and “Gaza” of one country called “Palestine” shared by the Cousins who were raised in different environments but now came back to their home land. The details are not an impossible task. It could be worked out. Over time they will get to trust each other and hopefully look at this period of their common history as just another struggle they had to go through together.
The USA could be instrumental in making this solution a reality by convincing each side to give up a little in order to gain a lot. The USA could also offer Compensation to both sides for whatever reasonable claims they have and help in providing guarantees for both sides to be treated fairly by the central government of the new "Palestine".
Of course this is a “draft” of what could really be an acceptable solution to both sides but it needs the USA to act neutrally and have the interests of both sides at heart not just Israel. That is how a Superpower should act.
