A Vision for an Israel-Palestine Solution - Ian Browde

Israel is engaged in unwinnable wars in Lebanon against Hezbollah, expanding as I write to Iran, and in Gaza against Hamas. The former conflict is just starting to escalate and how it will play out, whether the United States will be drawn in, how it will or won’t affect the presidential and federal elections in America are all questions we must ask and whose answers we anticipate with bated breath.

The war in Gaza has been raging now for over 12 months. On the surface it is against Hamas, an Islamist organization that not only perpetrates horrific acts against Israelis, as they did on October 7, 2023, an assault of unimaginable atrocity, but also tyrannizes the general Palestinian population of Gaza. Prior to those fateful, reprehensible October 7th actions, Hamas had been supported by the Netanyahu regime over years to ensure that the Palestinian Authority, albeit an ineffective, corruptible group, were never able to unify the Gaza and West Bank populations and actually implement a Palestinian state.

The showdowns, which have lessened recently, that occurred this past year on campuses around the USA and elsewhere between pro-Palestine and pro-Israel protesters, mimicked what happened in Paris of the late 1960s, early 1970s and the anti-Vietnam protests of the same era. Many of the protesters have no idea of the complexity behind the current situation in Gaza. They don’t understand the psychological trauma that the October 7th attack caused, evoking devastating, horrific Nazi Holocaust imagery for Jews in Israel and elsewhere, or the distinction between the Islamist ideology of Hamas, Hezbollah etc., who want a caliphate in the region, and legitimate Palestinian nationalism, which aspires to self-determination and freedom. The protesters’ conflation of anti-Zionism and antisemitism while accurate in some cases is misleading in most. It is not antisemitic to oppose what Israel has perpetrated against Palestinians since its inception or at least since 1967 when it became absolutely clear to any thinking person that a safe Israel could only be predicated upon a safe Palestine, no ifs, ands or buts. Also, what is not understood is that Zionism was never a monolithic ideology. It comprised a wide array of ideas and beliefs ranging from Utopian socialism where Israel would manifest the prophetic vision of being “a light unto nations,” to Revisionist Zionism where the state of Israel would occupy “both sides of the river Jordan.”

Many have argued that the surrounding Arab states should have absorbed the Palestinian refugees who were expelled or fled during the war of 1948. Those voices have not understood that Palestinians are very similar to Jews in that they have been despised by other Arab states like Jordan, Syria et al. who actually tried to massacre them in the early 1970s. The opportunity to support Palestinians and work with them has always been there but the state of Israel and the Jewish establishment have failed to take advantage of it and have in many cases worked against it.

Regardless of all of the above, the killing and maiming must stop! And the two peoples of that region, Palestinians and Israelis, not to mention Druze, Bedouins, and others, must be able to live in peace and contribute to solving the real problems of the world like climate change, water and food insecurity, poverty, violence and crime, human and animal trafficking, and affordable healthcare as well as harnessing opportunities like space exploration, wildlife conservation, artificial intelligence partnerships to raise our intelligence and consciousness, and on and on.

As a former Israeli citizen who lived on a kibbutz in Israel’s Jezreel Valley, served on the Golan Heights in the IDF (Israel Defense Force) tank corps in the 1973 war and spent the 6 Day War of 1967 in an air raid shelter on Israel’s border with Lebanon and Syria, I am persuaded that the dualistic, separatist approach of 2-states cannot work and that a unity is required.

The current approach of violence begetting violence will only continue to produce more barbaric acts and more suffering of innocents. Global leadership must step up and stop the violence, the local actors are too enmeshed, too conditioned by militaristic thinking and the arms industry to muster, let alone imagine, alternatives.

These two peoples, Palestinians and Israelis, have much more in common than areas of difference. My experience with them in both the Middle East and the diaspora is one of significant contributors to the societies in which they find themselves as professors, doctors, lawyers, restaurateurs, entertainers, technologists, scientists, businesspeople, and even politicians. Yes, both peoples have been respected, welcomed and admired for their resilience, their commitment to advancement, education and care for family and community.

What I offer here is an alternative way of thinking about this ostensibly insoluble problem, a solution that I implore people to consider.

What if, instead of thinking about this as Israel versus Palestine or Jews versus Arabs, we think about a groundbreaking Union between 2 peoples who have been scapegoated, expelled, living for generations in diasporas, who aspire to living under self-determination, in happiness, peace and health?

What would that look like and how would it be accomplished?

How I envision this, big picture-wise, is the establishment of the UPI (Union of Palestine and Israel) with Jerusalem as its capital and home of its supreme court. The Union would consist of 3 states or provinces, Palestine West Bank, Israel, and Palestine Gaza. Each of these would have a local government in Ramallah, Tel-Aviv and Gaza City, respectively. The UPI would have one military to protect it and more importantly to help build and rebuild where needed. Those who have been living under oppressed refugee status would be given reparations and assisted to build homes, schools, hospitals and other critical infrastructure. The UPI would have 3 first languages, English, Arabic and Hebrew, which would be taught in all public schools and used in all media.

The UPI Constitution would use other countries’ constitutions as its template like South Africa used the U.S. Constitution when it transitioned from apartheid to the new South Africa in the early 1990s. The UPI Constitution could, for example, guarantee separation of religion from state while at the same time guaranteeing protection of Jewish, Muslim, Druze and other ethnoreligious groups and guaranteeing a physical asylum for Jews and Palestinians in the event of antisemitic and/or anti-Palestinian outbreaks, pogroms, and other violent threats against these vulnerable groups. It could also make capital punishment unconstitutional, there have been too many people killed in this region for too long as it is and make LGBTQ rights constitutional as the UPI models a new way of being human in a fast-paced, technology driven, climate challenged world.

The single UPI economy, with incubators in all 3 states to ensure high employment across the board and a single payer healthcare system, i.e., socialized healthcare for all, could result in the UPI becoming one of the most sought after trading partners globally.

The time has come for these 2 peoples to unite, to combine their talents and their cultures and form a formidable, future-oriented model of 28 million people, in the UPI and globally, rather than continuing to be unrelenting enemies of 14 million apiece unable to live normal, healthy, productive and peaceful lives.

How this might be accomplished is not easy but it is definitely feasible.

Firstly, a Truth and Reconciliation, Truth and Justice, or Truth Telling Commission would have to be established so each and every Israeli and Palestinian could hear those who have engaged in human rights violations admit to their actions and ask for forgiveness. By whatever name, it would ideally be a restorative justice model rather than a retributive one. It would be headed by respected members of clergy, education, and other walks of life across the spectrum ensuring representation for Jews, Muslims, Christians, Israelis, Palestinians and other faiths and groups like Druze, Bedouins, etc. This approach has been used in Canada, Australia, South Africa and other places with varying degrees of success.

In parallel an election across the entire region would be held to select an interim government under whose auspices the first UPI Constitution would be drawn up. Also, the unified military would be set up with commanders representing all groups instated to start rebuilding, building and protecting the new Union.

Groups of UPI promoters, young, old, diverse, would be trained quickly in how to represent their newfound Union, with its new anthem and flag. These groups would be sent to neighboring countries as well as far afield to North and South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia to show strength and encourage investment in transparent foundations established to launch the UPI on its journey of establishment, discovery and role modeling.

My purpose with this essay is not to say “I know,” or “do it my way.” It is more about throwing a pebble of thought into the sea of acrimony, death and destruction that is Israel/Palestine today and hopefully to spawn a movement of people to reinvent the region so that Jews, Muslims, Palestinians, Israelis and others can strive, thrive and live peacefully, healthily and happily.

My intention is to offer a solution-oriented approach that will permit the passionate, resourceful people of the region and their supporters worldwide to turn their attention to addressing issues that we all know are increasingly threatening all of humanity like climate-, food-, water-, housing-, health- and education-insecurity. This is my attempt to imbue the people living in the region with hope for the future, a rare commodity in the current scenarios of devastation and suffering.

Let’s start a new dialogue and make the wars currently raging across the region and particularly in Gaza and southern Lebanon/northern Israel the last one. Let’s all help to make it so, equitably, compassionately and lovingly.