The Three-State Solution: East Palestine, West Palestine and Israel

On Sunday I sat in a small room with 40 or so Young Global Leaders during the 2009 World Economic Forum on the Middle East. Among us were Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians and a host of international and regional figures. This was the last event after four days in the Dead Sea talking about the regional economic outlook, Obamas upcoming trip (with Valerie Garrett), sustainable development to low-cost housing in the region (disclosure: I spoke on the later).

Back in the well-secured room for ninety minutes we were treated to back-to-back talks with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyed. Sitting listening to both men talk about a two state solution they both explained in detail all the hurdles ahead. I began to think about a three-state solution. Why not East Palestine, West Palestine and Israel?

As a pragmatic designer I tend to look at things in a different manner and by looking at the conflict as a geographical problem, not a political one then the creation of East Palestine and West Palestine seems an obvious solution.

In this arena I'm just your typical semi-informed individual, I've read as much as I can on the subject and have spoken at length with friends and colleagues from all parts of the region. So the fact that other folks in the room had spent years trying to ask these gentlemen a direct question I sat there resisting the urge to ask about addressing a tri-state option.

Some of the biggest hurdles are about managing and connecting Gaza and the West Bank. By treating the two regions as separate states it would create much simpler negotiations with all parties involved. I maybe missing something here but there seem to be a list of pluses in taking this route.

1. No need for creating a physical connection between the state, saving hundreds of millions for upgrading education, health care and governance.

2. In addition to recognizing and working with Israel, East Palestine (Gaza) would end up strengthening ties with Egypt and West Palestine (West Bank) with Jordan and Syria.

3. The two states would end up competing for peace within the global community. Nothing like a bit of competitive compassion to speed up the process.

4. If one of the states decided to continue a military approach then the other would become a safe haven for families and individuals seeking a more peaceful solution. Extremism would be contained and with the ability to move freely between East and West people would vote with their feet.

5. The debate surrounding Jerusalem will be confined to West Palestine and not connected to activities going on in East Palestine

East and West Pakistan will be the example given by many who disagree, but let's remind ourselves that the bloodshed in 1971 is going on continuously as we speak in this region. The end result was the creation of a peaceful Bangladesh, a troubled yet semi-stable Pakistan and a strong India.

There will also be criticism for allowing the creation of small countries but Gaza has close to a half million people and the West Bank is close to 2.5 million, making them the168th and 140th-sized countries respectively (out of 221). With a peaceful solution the 3 million or so refugees would be able to return and create more robust and economically secure states.

Take this with a pinch of salt. Heck, the idea was born in the Dead Sea, take it with a huge lump. This is just a simple, unexamined solution to a design problem but perhaps a far easier and economically sound one than what is currently being suggested.

Comments

[jabbyjon]

So it's 2009. Why exactly do we need a Jewish homeland?

[MosheDayanHero]

Gaza should be attached to Egypt. West Bank should be attached to Jordan. Maybe both countries can give them some extra desert land to cultivate in the sweat of their brow.

[MemoryAlpha]

Distortion:
"...some extra desert land..."

Correction:
"The military invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israeli Forces bears a direct relation to the control and ownership of strategic offshore gas reserves.
This is a war of conquest. Discovered in 2000, there are extensive gas reserves off the Gaza coastline."
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11680

"Immediately after their 1967 conquest of the West Bank and Gaza, Israeli military occupation authorities issued orders to the effect that no new wells were to be drilled to supply water to the Palestinian population. All new wells drilled in the ensuing 28 years provide water only for Israel and for the Jewish settlements in the West Bank."
http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/1095/9510013.htm

"Residents of the settlement of Elon Moreh in the West Bank have cut a pipe carrying drinking water to a nearby Palestinian village, and are using it to fill a small swimming pool located at a picnic site, which was itself built on land owned by the village."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3439192,00.html

[zaz33]

MemoryAlpha - Excellent - Keep reporting this information please.

[MosheDayanHero]

In another words, you support Palestinains so much that you prefer no one gives them extra land. Real supporter there.

[arvay]

This "idea" is just another Israeli concept on how to disperse the palestinians and make them unable to govern themselves. By this reasoning, the Jews of the world don't need a state, they can run their government over the Internet from the Diaspora.

Not a bad idea, let's try THAT!.

[MosheDayanHero]

Yes, but antisemitic hallucinations have a way of break on the rocks of reality. Notice the pattern of that for the last 50 years or so. My hero Moshe Dayan had something to do with it.

[MemoryAlpha]

Clarification:
"We would send a tractor to plow some area where it wasn't possible to do anything, in the demilitarized area, and knew in advance that the Syrians would start to shoot. If they didn't shoot, we would tell the tractor to advance further, until in the end the Syrians would get annoyed and shoot. And then we would use artillery and later the air force also, and that's how it was...The Syrians, on the fourth day of the war, were not a threat to us."
Moshe Dayan, New York Times, May 11 1997

[arvay]

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

[sudzy]

Israel and Jordan ('Trans-Jordan' ) were created by the Brittish in 1948. It would be nice if Jordan contributed something to this interesting idea of a three- state solution.

[MemoryAlpha]

Distortion:
"Israel and Jordan ('Trans-Jordan' ) were created by the Brittish in 1948."

Correction:
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/un/res181.htm
See Part II: Boundaries

[Sentientbeing09]

Why should Egypt, Jordan or any other random country replace Palestinian land that has been illegally occupied by Israel?

Its not the responsibility of other countries to provide insurance for Israels foreign policies. Israels illegal settlers are a serious and dangerous obstruction to peace. They must be removed and the land returned to the indigenous population.

[peterg76]

Gaza (which by the way is to the *west* of the West Bank) was deliberately created as a ghetto that was not economically viable on its own.

[messy]

Nice to know that I'm not the only one who thinks this....

[bloploblo]

How about east and west Israel and then North Israel...which would replace ...Syria??? A great way to get rid of the Syrian terror state!

[SaltySaltillo]

Apparently you are just a flamer and a hawk with no real interest in humanity or peace.

[BLBass]

Salty could be right, but taking you at face value:

Syria's main gripe with Israel (apart from the whole Jewish thing :P) seems to be Golan. Israel already annexed the Golan Heights, mostly to prevent the disgusting terrorist attacks that Syria allowed/abetted (at various times, depending on points of view, blahdeblah). Syria wants it back -- not necessarily because they need the venue for attacks, but because it is economically valuable.

In many ways, Golan is already "North Israel" or at least its seed, and that speck of imperialism is part of the continuing regional problem.

Alternatively, "east and west" Palestine could be (and until now, have always been assumed to be) physically connected, ENSURING a split between northern and southern Israel. Deciding one way or another is a hard question. I would probably lean towards Mr Sinclair's suggestion, but arguments on both sides seem valid.

[MemoryAlpha]

Distortion:
"Israel already annexed the Golan Heights, mostly to prevent the disgusting terrorist attacks that Syria allowed/abetted..."

Correction:
"[The kibbutzim] didn't even try to hide their greed for the land... We would send a tractor to plow some area where it wasn't possible to do anything, in the demilitarized area, and knew in advance that the Syrians would start to shoot. If they didn't shoot, we would tell the tractor to advance further, until in the end the Syrians would get annoyed and shoot. And then we would use artillery and later the air force also, and that's how it was..."
Moshe Dayan, New York Times, May 11 1997

[RobotRockRod]

I approve of this

[bloploblo]

you do?? why?

[sokolof]

What Israel government is asking in this day and age in the 21st cnetury, they want to PLEASE I beg you let me colonize Palestine. All the lies Bibi telling U.S give economic freedom is a lie. Nothing that comes out of Israel government is far from truth, no integrity, honesty, credibility that we have seen what comes out of their mouth is different than their action example, settlement issue. So Bibi is simply asking to colonize Palestine period.

[peterg76]

He's not asking. Aside from the Palestinians, no-one has tried to stop Israel.

[Sepulchre]

So how much of the land that Jordan occupies are they going to give up? They absorbed a nice chunk of what was once Palestine. I think a two state option is the best way to go, but all culpable parties need to pony up.

[Sentientbeing09]

Its not the responsibility of Jordan to replace land stolen by Israel

[SaltySaltillo]

Why don't we just revert back to British occupation?

[bloploblo]

That FAILED!!

[SaltySaltillo]

That was SARCASM... (DUH!!!)

[Sentientbeing09]

Or encourage the EU to make Palestine a member

[i am nav]

Interesting idea indeed, why not have a United States of Palestine of sorts where Gaza and the West Bank would comprise a Palestinian federation?

[vippy]

the people in Palestine or Israel surely would want peace but someone with money does not want peace for it brings no money. So this keeps on and on like the Irish and the Brits did. Politicians do whatever they please, not what the people want.

[bloploblo]

..."the people in Palestine"....WHERE is that??? Who is that??? Oh you mean "Palestinians" like Ariel Sharon who was born in British Mandatory Palestine??

[MemoryAlpha]

Question:
"WHERE is that???"

Answer:
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/un/res181.htm
Section II: Boundaries

[klondiker]

This is an interesting idea - I have not heard much about it before. When I visited Israel earlier this year, I spoke to a prominent journalist who said that the idea that has most support (among those who support a two-state solution) is to build a secured highway between West Bank and Gaza (with a smart fence around it to prevent undocumented entry into Israel), or a tunnel.

The three-state solution is certainly interesting, but I guess several issues would need to be worked out. Would people who had family in both states automatically get both citizenships? Would there be free movement between the two? Then, there's also the huge issue of access to sea ports. The West Bank state (West Palestine, as you call it) may not be in favor of the idea because it would mean that it would not have direct access to the sea.

Also, it's not just the population that's important, but also the size. Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas on earth. When you add to the existing population the refugees who might return, I don't know if the strip is big enough to sustain that population.

[misaacm]

How about reattachment? Gaza was ruled by Egypt from 1948-67. The Arabs living there are by and large the descendants of the war refugees of the Arab/Israeli wars from that period. Reattach Gaza to Egypt and allow those poor people to live anywhere in Egypt (or the other 21 Arab countries) which started and lost the wars. Who else leaves people in refugee camps for 60 years? Several hundred thousand Jews were forced out of Arab countries after 1948, they make up the largest ethnic group in Israel.

By chosing Hamas in an election the Palestinians that the concept of an independent Palestinian state in Gaza won't work. The Palestinians in Gaza prioritize killing Israelis over building their own country. If the Gaza-Egyptian concept works, then something similar needs to be tried with the West Bank Palestinians and Jordan.

Independent Palestine is over. The Palestinians had their chance in 1922, 1948 and 2000, but they blew it. Its time to try something else.

[SiberianRat]

Um, you can't just attach them to other countries if that's not what they want. Also, your references of their having blown it can be very readily disputed.

[misaacm]

I like your graphic.

The whole idea of this piece is to explore new ideas since the old ones aren't working. Try opening up your mind a little.