- Banned
- #1
Author John Bell is Director of the Middle East Programme at the Toledo International Centre for Peace in Madrid. He is a former UN and Canadian diplomat, and served as Political Adviser to the Personal Representative of the UN Secretary-General for southern Lebanon and adviser to the Canadian government during the Iraq crisis in 2002-03.
Bell supports, an Israeli-Palestinian confederation in order to achieve a peace in the area where "the two peoples live in different rooms, but under one roof".
He further states, "A confederation would involve the two states, Israel and Palestine, living under one agreed-upon common political structure: Israel-Palestine (not the one-state Israetine that the late Muammar Gaddafi once proposed in The New York Times). This idea would involve a shared economic zone, and require an open border to work properly. But, it also provides each people with key needs met, independence for the Palestinians, and preservation of a Jewish state for Israelis".
Israel and Palestine: Two states and the extra step - Opinion - Al Jazeera English
Mr. Bells' vision is shortsighted in that each side, Israeli and Palestinian want dominance, not only on the physical territorial plane but in the administration of laws, political direction and presence on the world stage. It is not only the Israeli/Palestinian domestic issues to consider, there are alliances that have been long established by both sides which either must be abandoned or drastically changed. I hardly think the United States and Russia would be fast friends should this "confederation" come into existence, for example.
The road to peace is paved with mutual recognition and respect by each party to this conflict. New or novel ideas will fall by the wayside as old and dug-in ideals and beliefs rise to the top of the proposed alliance known as the "confederation".
Bell supports, an Israeli-Palestinian confederation in order to achieve a peace in the area where "the two peoples live in different rooms, but under one roof".
He further states, "A confederation would involve the two states, Israel and Palestine, living under one agreed-upon common political structure: Israel-Palestine (not the one-state Israetine that the late Muammar Gaddafi once proposed in The New York Times). This idea would involve a shared economic zone, and require an open border to work properly. But, it also provides each people with key needs met, independence for the Palestinians, and preservation of a Jewish state for Israelis".
Israel and Palestine: Two states and the extra step - Opinion - Al Jazeera English
Mr. Bells' vision is shortsighted in that each side, Israeli and Palestinian want dominance, not only on the physical territorial plane but in the administration of laws, political direction and presence on the world stage. It is not only the Israeli/Palestinian domestic issues to consider, there are alliances that have been long established by both sides which either must be abandoned or drastically changed. I hardly think the United States and Russia would be fast friends should this "confederation" come into existence, for example.
The road to peace is paved with mutual recognition and respect by each party to this conflict. New or novel ideas will fall by the wayside as old and dug-in ideals and beliefs rise to the top of the proposed alliance known as the "confederation".
