What would be your ideal solution to the Israel/Palestine issue?

[Simfan34]

Possible solution: swap American Haredis for Israeli non-Haredi Jews.

[MalaspinaGold]

You want to send Naftali Bennett here?
Why do you hate America.

[Simfan34]

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There are worse things that could happen. And what would Bennett do- complain about all the Palestinians in Westchester? At least I doubt he would steal diapers by sticking them in his jacket, as an aunt of mine once observed at a Rockland Walmart.

[windjammer]

Simply, there isn't a single ideal solution.

Too many mistakes were made in the past. Israel/Palestine will always be a problem.

[Cassius]

Windjammer (and others who've said similar things in this thread) have cut through to the nub of the problem here. There is no ideal solution. Indeed, its the pursuit of the mythical 'ideal solution' that has caused this affair (and many others) to drag on for so long. You see, an ideal solution, in some respects, postulates the idea that there is a solution that will please everybody (although this usually means discounting diehards and radicals, which makes it a nonstarter). The fabled 'secular, democratic Israel-Palestine' is a good example of this; a state where the boundaries of race and religion will magically melt away and everybody will join hands and sing kumbaya. Usual very few details are given on how to make this happen, besides the old standby of 'muh education', even though, as history has shown, education emphatically does not equal tolerance and moderation.

You see, most 'solutions' are rather messy; they don't please everyone (in fact they often don't please anyone). Whenever a 'problem' is solved there are always winners and losers from that; indeed, the losers often benefited from whatever the 'problem' was in the first place (see Afrikaner nationalists during the apartheid era, some union members during the days of strong unions Orangemen in pre-troubles Northern Ireland, the support bases of multiple dictatorships generally speaking, slaveholders who profited from slave-labour etcetera). Naturally, someone needs to get chopped if positive change (depending on one's own point of view) is to be affected. The actualisation and maintenance of a solution may also require pestering, bullying, flattery and even simple brute force for it to be a successful one.

Nowadays, of course, we are increasingly averse to making a tough choice and sticking with it. We prefer to be 'objective', to see the middle path that satisfies everybody, even if none can be found. We don't want to lower ourselves to the nasty methods of bullying, flattery and brute force because, ya know, reasoned debate will conquer all. And so we find ourselves somewhat stuck in many cases; where there is no 'ideal' solution, where we may have to lower ourselves to achieve results, we prefer shy away and hope that things will sort themselves out on their own. To my way of thinking, the Israel-Palestine question is an intractable problem that will not go away, unless some dramatic game changer comes into play. I don't see that happening, not in our world of ideal solutions at any rate.

[MalaspinaGold]

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There are worse things that could happen. And what would Bennett do- complain about all the Palestinians in Westchester? At least I doubt he would steal diapers by sticking them in his jacket, as an aunt of mine once observed at a Rockland Walmart.

Fair enough I suppose

Though I don't suppose the Teitelbaumians will be too thrilled about it (you know, anti-Zionism and all)

[Indy Texas]

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There are worse things that could happen. And what would Bennett do- complain about all the Palestinians in Westchester? At least I doubt he would steal diapers by sticking them in his jacket, as an aunt of mine once observed at a Rockland Walmart.

Fair enough I suppose

Though I don't suppose the Teitelbaumians will be too thrilled about it (you know, anti-Zionism and all)

But there are already Haredim living in Israel.

In a weird way, it might make more sense for them to live in the West Bank, because that would allow them to be in the area of the historical Jewish homeland without living in an explicitly Jewish political entity.

[MalaspinaGold]

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There are worse things that could happen. And what would Bennett do- complain about all the Palestinians in Westchester? At least I doubt he would steal diapers by sticking them in his jacket, as an aunt of mine once observed at a Rockland Walmart.

Fair enough I suppose

Though I don't suppose the Teitelbaumians will be too thrilled about it (you know, anti-Zionism and all)

But there are already Haredim living in Israel.

In a weird way, it might make more sense for them to live in the West Bank, because that would allow them to be in the area of the historical Jewish homeland without living in an explicitly Jewish political entity.

Different haredim have different views on the State of Israel. The ones that are still in Boro Park are the ones that say that Jews are bringing a curse on the Jewish People by living there.

Also, I think they would still consider the West Bank as part of ancient Israel, and would thus still be loath to live there.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Mikado is right. Alas that can not be returned to.

The ideal situation would be a single multi-religious, multi-ethnic and fully democratic state consisting of present Israel, Gaza and the West Bank with no laws based on ethnicity. Although the same but with a government system similar to Lebanon's would still be far preferable to the status quo.

[courts]

the one state solution (normal)