Make Gaza Part of Egypt
It has been over a year since Israel disengaged (got out) from Gaza. What next for this strip of land on the Mediterranean Sea where more than million Palestinian Arabs live? The plan, which is chiseled in stone and accepted as the only way to proceed by UN Security Council, the EU, and the US., is that Gaza will become part of the new Palestinian State. That state will also someday include whatever parts of the west bank Israel eventually disengages from. A new Palestinian State--make that Country--will be started. Israel has a State--a Country--ergo the Palestinians must have one.
My understanding of the the recent history of Gaza is as follows: The land area we now call Gaza was, prior to 1948, part of Egypt. The people living there were mostly Sunni Muslims, spoke Arabic, and had many of the same customs and traditions as Egyptians. During the 1st Israel/Arab war in 1948, some of the Arabs living in the area that was to become Israel left for Gaza and joined the existing Gaza Arab population. Depending on one’s reading of history, the Arabs either fled from Israel in fear because of the war or left Israel upon the urging of Arab leaders (the idea being for them to return after the Arabs won the war). In the 1948 war, Israel could have taken over Gaza, but chose not to. Then in the 1967 war, when Israel swept into the Sinai Dessert, it also took Gaza. In the early 1980s, when Israel was giving the Sinai back to Egypt, as part of its Peace Agreement, Israel offered to give Gaza back to Egypt but Anwar Sadat said no.
At the risk of sounding not-with-the-program, I think the best outcome is for Gaza to become a demilitarized part of Egypt, like it was before. The new Palestinian State will be a perpetually unhappy place, always defined by its grievance with Israel. It will be divided into two parts from day one, with the in-between area being their former and current enemy--Israel. The Palestinian leadership is either the corrupt and ineffectual PLO or, after the election last year in Gaza, the Islamofascist group Hamas. The area has steadily become more lawless. See: http://www.nypost.com/seven/04252007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/hamas__m...
If I were a current resident of Gaza, and was given a choice between being a part of the new Hamas/PLO State or joining Egypt, I would opt to be a part of Eqypt. Part of a "normal" or “real” country. Give me my Eqyptian passport and let's get on with life. I understand that Egypt has to be persuaded to take the area.
There may be historical instances of solving border disputes between two countries (which is what I think this is) by creating a 3rd country in the disputed area, but I can‘t see that improving the situation in the case of Gaza. Since we are all for promoting Arab democracy at this time, how about a referendum for the people of Gaza?. Question: Do you want to join Egypt? Let's see what happens.
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Comments :
For that matter...
Maybe Jordan could annex the other Palestinian areas... but that's too simple, and there's probably a thousand reasons why it's a terrible idea...
skymutt: wise and powerful... enlightened...
the main reason
is that no arab country wants these guys. The percentage of terrorists and terrorist supporters must be overwhelming and too much for any, even totalitarian corrupt sinkholes, to take. All those countries would get is trouble.
"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR
Sounds reasonable
The main problem I see with creating a new, tiny state is that small states generally do not have the resources needed to function properly on their own. It would have to be heavily subsidized (by whom? just us, probably) just to provide the basic functions of a state such as courts, civil services, roads, schools, support for commerce and trade, etc. So joining with an established state makes a lot of sense, especially if there are cultural ties.
"Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge" -- Kahlil Gibran
Sandbox: While I differ from you in my opinion as to whether or
not to make Gaza Strip part of Egypt, I have recommended this diary because it's especially well written and your points are expressed eloquently.
However, I disagree with the idea of making the Gaza Strip a part of Egypt, first of all because the Gaza Strip was designated to become part of the independent, sovereign Palestinian nation-state that was to be formed for the Palestinians, comprised of Gaza and West Bank, with Jerusalem as an international city and shared capitol between Israel and Palestine: Jewish West Jerusalem as Israel's capitol, and Palestinian Arab East Jerusalem as Palestine's capitol. That was how it'ls supposed to be. The two-state solution, with Jerusalem as a shared capitol city should and must happen, if Israel is to survive as a Jewish majority state, and the Palestinians are to survive and be protected from political exploitation and persecution.
There's also been some talk about forming a sort of an overhead commuter rail, going across Israel, connecting the two parts of the nascent Palestinian nation-state, so Palestinians can travel freely to and from each part of Palestine, if need be, or desire.
Another way they could do it is a three-state solution, the way India and Pakistan are set up; for example, East Palestine and West Palestine.
I appreciate the positive feedback
Here is another way to look at it:
Name a country in the whole world which is divided into two distinct geographic non-adjacent parts and whose two parts are not traversable by water (ocean, sea, or river) transport. Answer: No country. As Purpleface has noted, setting up a country is difficult to start with--there are now so many failed states in the world. Places that are called a country or a nation, they have a flag and a national anthem (I guess) and a seat at the UN, but they are in chaos and many of the people who live there just want to get out. Now add to that the geographic burden of having your new country be divided into two parts. This is not a formula for success.
I am questioning the received wisdom that there should be a Palestinian State and that the Palestinian arabs in Gaza are all that distinct from the Egyptians and that the West Bank Arabs are culturaly different that the Jordanians. So I favor the 3 state solution: Egypt, Jordan, and Israel.
BTW, how do you go about recommending a diary and how do you know who has recommended one.?
name the enemy, win the war
That is not for you to decide but Palestinians.
you cannot tell them what to do.
And I dont here Egypt or Palestine wanting that.
The thing is, sandbox, is that
Egypt and Jordan are both adamant about not taking any more Palestinians into their countries, and Jordan's especially adamant in that way.
Israel can't absorb them for obvious reasons, and the vast majority of Israeli Jews and Palestinians alike support the two-state solution, with Jerusalem as the shared capitol between the two states.
That's how it was supposed to be, how it should be, and how, hopefully, it eventually will be.
I don't think we know what the
majority of Palestinians think. That is why I proposed a referendum for Gaza:"yes" of "no"--Do you want Gaza to become part of Egypt?
As to Israelis, while a majority probably don't want the Gaza Arabs and the West Bank Arabs to be part of Israel, I think most of them, if given a choice, would rather have Egypt and Jordan take control of those areas. Likewise, I doubt Israelis want any kind of shared capital.
name the enemy, win the war
It has to be remembered that
after taking and holding the West Bank and Gaza Strip for themselves in the War of Independence in 1948, Jordan ruled over the Palestinians in the West Bank, and Egypt ruled over the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip from 1948 to 1967, when Israel, threatened by the Egyptian, Jordanian and the Syrian Armies who encircled her borders poised for attack, launched a pre-emptive strike, taking the Occupied Territories, plus Golan Heights and the Sinai by storm.
Here's something else that I could envision happening, in the event that a Palestinian state did emerge in Gaza, West Bank and East jerusalem:
The most that might happen would be Jordan and Egypt would be willing to accept the idea of a shared confederation with the new, independent sovereign Palestinian nation-state. First of all, Jordan has a Palestinian majority, and secondly, Gaza was kind of part of Egypt. However, in any case, neither Egypt, Jordan, or any other Arab country want the Palestinians to be citizens in their countries, and, as has been pointed out previously, israel can't absorb them for obvious reasons.
Two separate, smaller states--Israel and Palestine make more sense, imo
About your BTW question
The recommend function is a little 'R' in the top-left corner of user diaries (FPers sometimes have the function, but not usually--only if they write it as a user diary first and then Front-Page it instead of writing it from their privileged secret page). It looks sort of like a 'registered trademark' symbol. When you put your pointer over it, it will turn red. Click on it for a recommend, but there is no way to unrecommend it. Nor is there a way to see who has recommended a diary at the moment that I know of (but I will admit that I recommended this one :) ).