For almost 10 months now we have had to listen to the incessant, at times violent chants of ‘Free Palestine.’ If my social media ‘friends’ are anything to go by, I am in the minority of people that believe that Israel has a right to exist, in their ancestral homeland. By definition that labels me a Zionist – one admittedly with no skin in the game, which I believe gives me an certain edge. I have no preconceived ideas of who is right and who is wrong, I have no friends or relatives that will be directly affected by what happens thousands of kilometres away in a foreign land. But hey, maybe they are right and I am wrong! Maybe, the randoms on my feed are on the right side of history? Maybe I am a closet genocidal baby killer who ‘believes Israeli women’ when I should have been demanding proof? So I decided to free Palestine and see what happened.
Palestine is free
One of the first points on the agenda would be to make Palestine a Sovereign State or a Country of its own. Assuming we get rid of all the Israelis – around 9.5 million, of which approximately 20% are Arab, and a good portion Palestinian. Not sure where they would go, but I digress. Palestinians must be given the right to self-determination and the right to govern themselves. Now this is where it gets interesting. Palestinian support for Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza remains high, according to a Palestinian poll released on March 20 of this year, that support has increased since the Iran-backed terrorist group attacked Israel on October 7. So there is a good chance that Hamas would form the new Government. This is not good for the people of Palestine. Under decades of Hamas rule, a huge social gap has opened between the wealthy elite who belong to Hamas and the rest of the population who were increasingly living in driving poverty. Public sector jobs were limited to Hamas members, and taxes were increasing on necessities day by day, even as the cost of living skyrocketed. There is no reason to believe that this would change.
Building Palestine
If Palestine was now its own Country, you would assume that they would lose their refugee status. There would be an influx of international dollars to rebuild, much like what happened in Japan after World War II, but the 76 year refugee status would be over. Now consider that those billions donated from the international community would be dispersed through a government run organisation (say UNWRA) – but remember, the government is still Hamas. Can anyone guarantee that the billions that will be invested, on their face, in the restoration of civil infrastructure in Gaza, will not be diverted again to the development of terrorist infrastructure or to the billionaire leaders in Qatar? If we don’t learn from history, then we are doomed to repeat it. Cumulatively since the 1990s over $50-60 billion has likely been given in foreign aid worldwide, with the EU, US, Gulf states and UN being the largest providers. Little to none of that has been invested in legitimate manufacturing, farming, housing, or long term infrastructure. Billions has been lost to corruption and mismanagement. How do you ensure that doesn’t happen, while still honouring the Palestinians right to self-determination?
Palestines borders
Palestine is bordered by Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Jordan. Its unlikely that these countries are going to allow free travel from Palestine into their countries. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi refuses to take Palestinian refugees, warning this could wreck peace in the region. Jordan’s King Abdullah II gave a similar message, saying, “No refugees in Jordan, no refugees in Egypt.” Its difficult to see how the Palestinians will live in peace with their new neighbours.
Currently Gaza shares a border with Egypt, but leaving and entering Gaza is no easy feat. It is only possible to enter Gaza with a permit from either the Egyptian or Israeli government. Those who wish to leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing must register with the local Palestinian authorities (Hamas) weeks in advance, though those willing or able to pay extra can try via Egyptian authorities. With Israel out of the picture, there is no reason to think that this will improve.
Ideology
Giving Palestinians self determination does not change an ideology that has been indoctrinated into the society at large for generations. Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, Al Qaeda, all stem from the same ideology. Getting rid of the Jews doesn’t change the ideology. How do you deal with that?
A failed state
A failed state is a state that is unable to perform the two fundamental functions of the sovereign nation-state in the modern world system: it cannot project authority over its territory and peoples, and it cannot protect its national boundaries. In 2005, Israel implemented its unilateral disengagement plan under which it completely withdrew Israeli armed forces and settlements from the Gaza Strip. Since 2005, nothing much has changed in Gaza. Hamas have proven themselves to be unworthy of the job of governing their people, yet the only available alternative at the moment, the government of Palestinian Authority, has proven itself unable (or unwilling) to meaningfully provide for Palestinian prosperity. Rather, the PA has become widely acknowledged as a cesspit of corruption, graft and misrule.
Also relevant, the PA is overwhelmingly unpopular among Palestinians. In April 2024 a survey by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey research, two-thirds of respondents expressed “the belief that the PA is now a burden on the Palestinian people,” and the majority of those polled favoured its outright dissolution.
Prior to Oct. 7, Israel provided the Palestinian Territories with almost a third of their fuel, direct employment for over 100,000 workers and indirect employment for tens of thousands more and myriad other incentives. All that would come to an end with the formal creation of “Palestine.”
This means that, without serious internal change, “Palestine” is predestined to be something like a failed state from the start, requiring intensive investments and involvement from international donors for decades.
If Israel ceased to exist, there still wouldn't be peace in the Middle East
All the right questions.
The Middle East is so complicated, but let me humbly try to simplify.
Israel is you. The Palestinians are Ted Bundy. The West is the local Sheriff.
The Sheriff will ensure that when Ted breaks into your apartment from the shanty he's built on your back porch (which poor misunderstood Ted seems to attempt daily and succeeds almost daily) that he will probably badly rape and maim you, but the Sheriff will probably stop him from fully killing you. Probably.
The Sherriff will also help you equip your apartment with better door locks and install security cameras here and there, but sternly cautions you that while he supports your right to armed self defence, under no circumstances does that defense allow you to pursue Ted with that handgun you legally own and have in the required gun safe. But the Sheriff's support for your self-defence is 'iron clad'. So Sheriff mandates Nerf bats as a proportionate response to Ted's behaviours. But not the 2000-lb versions.
You are however fully permitted to scratch Ted around the eyes while he's raping you, but not 'indiscriminately' or directly in the eyes. You must also never pursue Ted onto the back porch and certainly not into his shanty. That would be 'over the top'. That would be you escalating the whole situation. So just lie back while he violates you and think of England or a place in Israel if you really insist, but it better be well inside the Green Line and have a lot of Ted's cousins in it and votes Labour and hates Ben-G'vir.
Over the decades of 'living' with Ted on your back porch, you've tried everything carrot and stick to get his to stop raping you. But to no avail. Poor, oppressed Ted just can't help himself.
A thought comes into your mind now and then and, in some of your clearer moments where you don't self-edit and shrink from voicing it, you quietly propose that instead of killing Ted, or even arresting him, perhaps the Sheriff could just require Ted to move to the east side of the county, you know, on the other side of the river that runs through the county north to south.
This hasn't been tried before and would just allow you to put up enough razor wire on your side of the river to keep Ted at a safe distance where Ted's ground-launched rapes are no longer possible or you'd at least have sufficient lead time to call the Sheriff if Ted just can't contain himself.
Ted's family is everywhere on the east side the county anyway, he should fit right in. Heck, you'll even to pay for Ted's relocation, job training to start a new life there, and the cost of the tent he slept in on your back porch all those years.
The Sheriff, not to mention the entire city council, immediately condemns you as a 'racist colonist ethnic cleanser' for even suggesting this vile hate-plan and immediately sends more money, food, and bigger tents to Ted. The Sheriff and council also re-affirm Ted's right of resistance and self-determination for himself and his progeny in perpetuity through the establishment of still more tents on your back porch even though they declare repeatedly that Ted openly declares that he will continue his rape-o-rama until the sun blows up.
I hope this clarifies all the geo-political complexities.
Welcome to Israel!