Sovereignty-Association for Palestine-Israel ?

The concept  of "Sovereignty-Association" is a Canadian invention - to be 
precise, an invention from Quebec. If one draws a parallel Israelis === 
Anglo Canadians and Palestinians === Quebecers (Franco Canadians), then 
"sovereignty-association" opens up some interesting observations and 
possibilities.

(a) Quebec (Franco Canada) was conquered and colonized by Anglo Canada (a 
long time ago, 1759, Battle on the Plains of Abraham). Similarly, 
contemporary Palestinians are treated like colonials by Israel.

(b) Quebecers (some of them) engaged in Quebecois independista terrorism 
(fighting Anglo imperialism) and Canada (Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau) 
responded with counter-terrorism (tanks into Quebec, martial law) (thirty 
years ago). Nothing on the scale of Israeli-Palestinian violence, but not 
negligible.

Socio-economic parallels:
(c) linguistic (French versus English ---- Arabic versus Hebrew)
(d) religious (Roman Catholic versus Protestant ---- Islam versus Judaism)
(e) economic (rural/less developed versus industrial/more developed). In 
Canada, this difference was still pronounced thirty years ago, but has 
largely disappeared in the meantime).

The concept of "sovereignty-association" was developed by the peaceful 
majority of the Quebec independence movement. It is not implemented at this 
time, but could be a Canadian intellectual export to the brothers and 
sisters in the land of blood and tears.

What is "sovereignty-association"? It is sovereignty of the (really or 
imagined) oppressed people and their close association with the (really or 
imagined) oppressing people at the same time. The model is influenced by 
notions of European integration. You have sovereignty, but have the benefits 
of close integration (especially, economic) at the same time - e.g., using 
the same currency (Canadian dollar, Shekel). For other details, please check 
the gurus of the Parti Quebecois. In my opinion, this model could be of 
interest in Israel-Palestine, if it was combined with significant economic 
benefits for the Palestinians (Marshall Plan, injection of capital for 
development).

Gert Kohler



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