Greetings All, Thank you for taking the time to consider my remarks. This article proposes that the Mideast conflict between Israel and Palestine is approaching a historic fork in the road. Down one road lies a dramatic success in which almost all the goals of all the parties are met in an irrevocable permanent manner. Down the other road lies a dramatic failure of biblical proportions. Most reading this will live to see which road is taken. The following is a proposal which offers the parties an opportunity to take the road of peace by resolving the MidEast conflict in a decisive, permanent and timely manner. To prepare ourselves for such a wonderful future, we must first pay the price of saying goodbye to a tragic past. Saying Goodbye To The Past Before we consider the solution offered below, it's important for us to be resolutely clear about what has been tried already and proven beyond not to work. As the saying goes, repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of stupidity. Any benefit a reader might receive from this article will necessarily be built upon their willingness to face a well documented fact that nothing which has been tried so far over the last six decades has succeeded in resolving the MidEast conflict. Not war or threats of war, not negotiation, not a finger pointing moralistic blame game, not analysis and talk, not experts, not American mediation, not the management of captive populations, not economic development, not clever technology, not waiting and hoping things will somehow get better. None of it. None of it has worked. Despite all these endlessly repeated efforts exerted over such a long period of time by so many so capable people, Israelis still don't have the peace and security they yearn for, and the Palestinians still don't have the freedom and land they so desperately desire. Both parties may instead be careening ever closer towards an uncontrollable descent in to chaos. If a reader can squarely face the failure of all that has come before, if they can surrender the notion that repeating the same repetitive patterns over and over will somehow bring different and better results, that reader will then be on the edge of seeing a permanent peace which can satisfy the core demands of all parties to the conflict. The Path To A Real And Permanent Peace Like all peoples, the Israelis long for a durable peace, security and freedom, a safe place to raise their children and build a prosperous future. The whole point of establishing the state of Israel was to secure these worthy goals. The bad news is that such a place will never exist for Jews in the Middle East. Three wars, multiple uprising, waves of terrorist attacks, and six decades of never ending insecurity, hostility and death prove this beyond all doubt. So much blood has been spilled, so much hatred invoked, over such a period of time, that there is now no chance of a real peace within the lifetimes of anyone currently living. In fact, the stable secure peace that Israelis seek may not exist for anyone in the entire Middle East for a century to come, as the Arab world is not only in conflict with Israel, but with itself. How will Israel create a true lasting peace with it's neighbors if those countries should dissolve in to religious, political and economic chaos, a possibility which is looking increasingly likely? Israel should not confuse a history of defeating it's neighbor's strengths with an ability to survive their very real weaknesses. The path to a permanent peace will be built upon a realistic recognition that the tragedy of Zionism is that it's a very noble goal, married to a very bad plan. A great people, led to exactly the wrong place. A very understandable mistake, made by brilliant and brave people, with a potentially catastrophic outcome. The good news is that there is an excellent solution available which could accomplish the most fundamental goals of Zionism in a breathtakingly short period of time. The good news is that the safest, most secure and prosperous place on Earth would welcome the people of Israel with open arms. The good news is that the Jewish people can find everything they've been seeking for centuries in the United States. What Is The Bottom Line? Yes, ok, I know, I'm about to lose a great many of our Israeli friends. Ok, I hear you, leaving the Holy Land will definitely not be a welcome proposal for many. But before you go, perhaps you might help us understand.... What is most important to you? - An ever threatened Jewish state eternally in conflict with it's crumbling neighbors? - Or the best peace, security and prosperity available on the planet Earth for your children? What will your grandchildren inherit from you? A state eternally at war? Or real security and a permanent peace? What is it that you want most for your descendants? What is your bottom line? Welcome To America! The people of the United States would welcome the ingenius Jews of Israel as fellow citizens. America has after all been Israel's best friend since the beginning. The American West is full of empty federal land which can be shared with the Israeli people, who would undoubtably work miracles with it. Anti-semitism is minimal in the United States, and there are already about as many Jews in the United States as there are in Israel. This prosperous Jewish population of the United States would rush to assist the new immigrants, just as they have faithfully supported the state of Israel. The billions of dollars currently spent each year on defending Israel can be reinvested in the transition and in improving the lives of Israelis of limited means. The children of Israel would no longer be required to become soldiers. This benefit alone should be enough, shouldn't it? The people of Israel would be once and for all liberated from corrupt fascist dictatorships, religious fanatics, murderous neighbors, incoming rockets, tunneling militants, the disrespect of much of the world community, and a long history of chronic discrimination, oppression, abuse and slaughter. The people of Israel would instead become welcome members of the world's oldest democracy, and citizens of the most prosperous and secure nation on Earth. Come to America Israel, there is no faster, more reliable and durable way to secure the fundamental goals of Zionism. Giving up the ancient dream of Israel will be a painful price for many without question. Peace will not come for free. We can't ignore that a true sacrifice is required. But in return for that significant sacrifice Israelis would receive the assurance that their children will not perish in the firestorm which must inevitably envelope the Middle East sooner or later if this conflict is not resolved. This peace does not require war, death and suffering to achieve. This peace does not require danger or risk. This peace does not require endlessly unsuccessful negotiations with former and current terrorists. This peace does not require trust in pieces of paper, or the promises of those who seek Israel's extermination. This peace does not make the security of Jews dependent on what their enemies do or don't do now or in the future. This peace does not require waiting. Why should Israelis wait even more generations for the Palestinians to give them peace, when they can grasp the peace they seek all by themselves right now? Come to America our Israeli friends, come to America. The Price Of Failure We should recall that population-wise Israel is smaller than New York City. While the state of Israel contains some of the world's most capable people, eight million citizens still makes for a tiny country. To complicate matters further, Arabs are outproducing Jews within Israel. Which means that at some point Israelis will face a lose/lose choice between being a Jewish state, or being a democracy. The status quo is unsustainable. Israel has already lost the public relations war in Europe and most other parts of the world, and is steadily losing ground in United States as well. Whether this is just and fair and right or not does not matter. It simply does not matter. What matters is that, like it or not, the Palestinians are winning the decisive public relationship battle. And that means the people of Israel will be ever more isolated and alone within the world community as we dive deeper in to an ever more globalized 21st century. If the conflict continues endlessly, sooner or later Israel will have no friends anywhere, and 8 million Jews will fight for their survival against 200 million Arabs completely on their own. This is what losing the public relations battle inevitably entails. We might also recall that Israel's defenders have to win every single time, forever. But Israel's enemies only have to win once, just once. Each year that passes without a resolution to the MidEast conflict is like another turn of the pistol barrel in a game of Russian roulette. While Israel looks invulnerable now, change is the one thing we can always count on, and sooner or later the chamber will contain a bullet. Even the ancient story of Israel teaches us that whatever the ever brave and brilliant Jews construct, the changing tides of history can quickly sweep away. It's true for all of us. The 21st century is going to be an era of unprecedented carnage, just as previous centuries have been. Technology is racing forward at an ever accelerating rate which further empowers everybody, including the bad guys. There is little chance the great powers can do more than slow the spread of weapons of mass destruction, given that they can't even liberate themselves from those weapons. Sooner or later the murderous bad guys will get lucky and figure out how to deploy weapons of mass destruction within the tiny country of Israel, and surely other countries as well. One bad day, one miscalculation, one unlucky break, one failure one time, one push of a button, that's all it would take to push Israel in to chaos. Israel could be gone in a day, an hour, in the time it takes to read this article. Welcome to the 21st century. This is an unthinkable future, but it is coming nonetheless. The Iron Dome will not stop it from coming. The IDF can not win every single battle, forever. The Israelis can not out smart everybody, always. Nobody wins every single contest from now until the end of time. I beg our Israeli friends not to confuse their amazing accomplishments of the past with an ability to manage any future which might come. Israel has too many enemies. It is too small to survive the emerging mass destruction era of the 21st century. This reality must be faced with humility if the people of Israel are to be spared a Second Holocaust. All of us across the world must surrender our hubris if we are to save our kids. While this is a grim tale indeed, all the epic suffering coming to the Middle East can be avoided by Israelis with decisive action now. There is an abundance of good news here for anyone who wants it, and is willing to act on it. The people of Israel can choose their children's future over an ancient Zionist dream. If they do, all the peace, security and prosperity they so desire and deserve can be theirs, not maybe in future generations, but for sure, today. Come to America our Israeli friends, come to America. You'll never find in Israel what is already waiting for you here in America right now.
