There’s a perennial idea of proposing Northern Ireland as a model of how progress might be achieved in the fighting between Israelis and Palestinians. After reading this recent posting by Megan McArdle, one of the difficulties in such an idea becomes plain.
In Northern Ireland, both sides had moral, if not logistical, support from larger powers that were themselves allies. So while the nationalists found it difficult to trust the British government, they would generally trust the US government, who in turn trusted the British government, while the same chain applied in reverse for the loyalists.
By contrast, while Israel receives moral and logistical support from the USA, none of America’s close allies really comes close to giving the Palestinian cause at large, let alone Hamas in particular, the sort of tacit support that America gave the Irish nationalists.
Agreed. We need to have a completely different approach to peace. I have a modest proposal based upon a very simple but compelling premise:
The best compromise is when neither party is happy.
So based on that premise, here’s the plan:
1. Move both the Palestinians and the Israelis to some godforsaken part of the world with plenty of space. Like, say, the Australian outback.
2. Turn present day Israel/Palestine into a toxic nuclear waste dump so that nobody has any incentive to return and fight for control ever again.
3. Problem solved!
4. …
5. Profit!