Common Ground News Service - Middle East
Three wild "out-of-the-box" ideas
by Gershon Baskin and Hanna Siniora
17 August 2007
Memo to:
Prime Minister Olmert
Minister of Foreign Affairs Livni
Minister of Defense Barak
President Abbas
Prime Minister Fayyad
Minister of Information Malki
Re: Three wild "out-of-the-box" ideas
Dear Leaders,
If the news reports are correct regarding real progress on talks towards an
agreement on principles for permanent status, you are all worthy of
congratulations. Some of the ideas presented in the press are quite
constructive and show real progress through demonstrated flexibility and a
genuine desire to find agreements.
The following are three wild "out-of-the-box" ideas that could help to
translate some of the progress into concrete steps that can be already
implemented and would not only strengthen the process by translating them
into reality, but will also strengthen your leadership facing your own
people and the need to convince the public to support the process. All three
of these ideas are quite wild, but they could be accepted, advanced and
could make a real contribution. Here they are:
1. Jerusalem
Within the future framework of an agreement on Jerusalem, as reported, there
would be some kind of formal symbol (perhaps) a flag indicating Muslim/Arab
control over the Haram al Sharif/Temple Mount. It could be possible even now
for the two sides to agree that President Abbas would issue an invitation to
all of the heads of State of the Arab League to be his guest and to come to
pray in the Al Aqsa Mosque. There would be no Israeli demands for meetings
or for photo ops, this would be President Abbas' invitation and they would
come to Jerusalem as his guest (with Israeli agreement, facilitation and
recognition). Imagine the image of all of the heads of the States of the
Arab League coming to Al Aqsa with President Abbas leading them! The payoff
to President Abbas in Palestine and in the Arab world would be immediate.
Israel would also gain its share of credit and appreciation for allowing
this to happen. This would also be an indication and a step in the right
direction towards the Arab Peace Initiative. It is important that for this
to be successful Israel would not make any demands for the Arab leaders to
visit Israel or to meet with Israeli officials – that could and would come
at a later time.
2. Refugees
Recognizing that any real return of Palestinian refugees in the future will
be to the Palestinian state, it could be possible to begin to translate that
into reality by agreeing to offer the refugees in Lebanon to come home to
the West Bank now. The refugees in Lebanon are in the direst situation from
all Palestinian refugees and they are the most potentially volatile refugee
community in the Palestinian Diaspora. It is clear that not all of them
would accept this offer and it is also clear that there is no immediate
possibility to absorb all of them now. There is already talk about building
a new Palestinian city in the West Bank as a means of creating investment
and employment. Linking the construction of a new city in the West Bank with
the invitation to the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon to come home would put
the refugees issue on the right track. This would also attract a lot of
support from the international donor community and from the Arab world and
the Palestinian Diaspora. Obviously Israel would have to agree to this offer
and Israel would also have to agree to turn over land in area "c" in the
West Bank for this purpose. It is a proposal which will take several years
to implement, but it can already begin quickly and to demonstrate the new
reality in the West Bank that is so urgent to create.
3. The West Bank-Gaza Link
Prime Minister Olmert has already stated that he prefers the option of
linking the West Bank and Gaza through a tunnel. The proposed tunnel going
from Tarqumieh to Gaza is approximately 40 kilometres in length. At a cost
of about $25 million per kilometre we are looking at a cost of about $1
billion. This is the most expensive option of the three main possibilities
(an elevated route, a sunken route and a tunnel) or possible combinations of
the three options. It is quite clear that there can be no real peace process
without the inclusion of Gaza, however; given the current political
circumstances it seems quite impossible to include Gaza in the framework of
the current permanent status talks. Any agreements reached would have to
include possibilities for the inclusion of Gaza at a later time. One
positive point on this issue is that there are no real territorial questions
open regarding the future of Gaza. The talks on Gaza will have to focus
Gaza's external borders, the seaport and the airport as well as the link to
the West Bank.
The current reality and political process seems to be focusing on creating a
real contrast between Gaza and the West Bank with the hope being that a new
West Bank reality of stability, security, economic development and
investment and a genuine peace process would prod the people of Gaza to seek
a different political course in the Gaza Strip.
It could be possible and feasible that the construction of the West
Bank-Gaza link (tunnel and or other combinations) begin from the West Bank
side towards Gaza. The project could be completed to within a few hundred
meters of the Gaza Strip until Gaza can be reintegrated into the new
political realities. While the Gazans might not immediately see the
proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel" they will be quite aware that
the entrance to that tunnel is very near by. Hoping that the people of Gaza
would not take the initiative to dig a tunnel themselves to link to the West
Bank tunnel, a significant real incentive would exist for them to understand
the seriousness of the need to adapt to the international conditions for
regaining full re-entry into the diplomatic process.
Respectively yours,
Gershon Baskin, PhD and Hanna Siniora
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* Gershon Baskin and Hanna Siniora are the Israeli and the Palestinian
Co-CEO's of IPCRI - Israel/Palestine Center for Research & Information. This
article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be
accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.
Source: Arabic Media Internet Network, 08 August 2007, www.amin.org
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.
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