material interests (Israeli-Palestinian)

If this proposal seems idealistic, well, it is not, it is materialistic.

Underneath the helicopter gunships and dynamite sticks and the religious conflict (Jahwe versus Allah, Wailing Wall versus Temple Mount) there are material interests as the driving force. The facts are: Palestinian GDP per capita of 1000 or 1500 dollars per year versus Israeli GDP per capita of 18,900 dollars per year - a relation of more than 1 : 10 (from CIA Factbook, year 2000). From a materialist point of view, fighting for a secure Israel means fighting for a secure high standard of living at 18,900 dollars per year or better and fighting for a Palestinian homeland means fighting for a secure standard of living better than 1000 dollars a year. From a materialist point of view, both are just causes, both have a dollar value.

 

This view suggests certain possibilities for ending / overcoming / resolving the conflict and breaking out of the bloody tit-for-tat spiral.

 

One of the sticking points at the diplomatic-political level has been the "right to return" for Palestinians. As one can learn from Canadian land claims settlements, land and a right to return have material meaning. For those who claim them (Canadian aboriginals or Palestinians), land and/or right to return are symbols of a better material life. (Wanting a better material life is no crime.) It can be deduced that a material settlement / compensation for the land lost in the Nakwa / foundation of Israel could go a long way of making / buying peace in the land of blood and tears.

 

America has not gained all of its territory by force - major chunks were purchased - Louisiana purchase  from France and purchase of Alaska and Northern California from Russia. Canadian aboriginals, having to live with irreversible fact of white settlement of their ancestral lands, are happy to get certain land claim settlements, partly in cash. Money can thus grease the arrival of peace and/or justice and/or security.

 

The Palestinian claim of "right to return" has a symbolic and a material side. Given the fact that Palestinians cannot undo the existence of Israel, a generous material compensation for the Nakwa / ethnic cleansing from their homeland could be of diplomatic and popular interest for Palestinians, given their miserable life in Gaza and the West Bank.

 

To make a long story short, the creation of a Palestinian welfare state, financed with international money, might be a way out of the bloody mess. What would be the price tag? Don't know. If one figures 500,000 dollars per person - there are about 2.5 million Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, the price tag would be 2.5 million * 500,000 = 1.25 power 12 = 1, 250,000,000,000 = 1.25 trillion dollars. Oops, that's a lot of money. Well, peace has a price; but peace has something to do with with material interests.

 

Gert