Questions for Palestinians, Israelis, others in Middle East?

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The modern state of Israel has existed for approximately 73 years now. (2021 minus 1948 equals 73.) However one feels about the state of Israel, it does not seem to me that it will be going away any time soon.

That being the case, how can peace be achieved on terms acceptable to both sides?

It seems to me that an important key to peace might be to focus less on land claims and more on finding ways to radically improve living conditions for the Palestinian people, not only in Palestine but also in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, where many Palestinians still live in refugee camps. (See What Are Palestinian Refugee Camp Conditions Like? - Anera.)

Does this idea make sense?

73 years is an awfully long time for someone to be living in a refugee camp! Many Palestinians have spent their entire lives in refugee camps. No wonder they hate Israel and want it gone!

However, not all displaced people cling to the hope of getting their land back. For example, after World War II, huge numbers of Germans who lived in what is now Poland -- and whose ancestors had lived there for centuries -- were deported into a now-much-smaller Germany. But, as far as I can tell at least, most Germans don't obsess about getting that land back from Poland.

The key difference, it seems to me, might be that Germany is now a thriving nation, and has been for decades -- thanks, at least in part, to generous Marshall Plan aid after World War II.

So perhaps the key to peace in the region might be the equivalent of a Marshall Plan for Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria?

The U.S. already gives various kinds of aid to Lebanon and Jordan. But perhaps not enough aid, or perhaps not the right kind of aid?

One basic and critical issue is water. As of this past fall at least, one problem seems to be that the Lebanese government can't get its act together to build a water desalination plant. (See Water as a Building Block for Peace in Lebanon and Beyond by Gabrielle Guerra, Geopolitical Monitor, September 1, 2020.) Perhaps either the US or some international organization could help here? On the other hand, it appears that the U.S. has recently helped to restore a war-damaged water desalination plant in Syria, despite lack of official diplomatic ties to Syria. (See USAID Restores Sustainable Water Access to Communities in Northeast Syria - Sunday, March 14, 2021.)

Seems to me there might be other kinds of infrastructure that could be built in Lebanon, Jordan, and/or Syria that might help their economies get off the ground?

Perhaps such aid should be given on the condition that the Palestinian refugees who have been living in Lebanon, Jordan, and/or Syria be allowed to benefit from the aid and be given full citizenship (or, at least, a reasonable path to full citizenship) in the countries where they have been living for lo these many years? Currently their rights in these countries are limited. (For example, according to the Anera article I linked to earlier, the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon "lack many important rights. They cannot work in as many as 25 professions. As a result, there are more Palestinian refugees living in poverty in Lebanon than in any of the other areas where UNRWA works.")

One hypothetical compromise that has been talked about now and then, over the years, is the idea of the Israeli government giving Palestinian refugees monetary compensation for the loss of their land, in exchange for the Palestinians dropping all attempts to get their land back. This seems to me like it might be a basically good idea, but it has never gotten off the ground, apparently because the amount of money offered by the Israelis has never been anywhere near enough to satisfy the Palestinians, and because of various other issues. (Just today I looked at Compensation for Palestinian Refugees: Law, Politics and Praxis by Rex Brynen, Israel Law Review, Volume 51, Issue 1, March 2018, pp. 29 - 46.)

But I wonder if it might be easier to work out a compensation deal if it were to be part of a larger international agreement involving a sustained effort, by the U.S.A. and/or by some international organization, to build the economies of the countries that host Palestinian refugees, in addition to Israel giving compensation to individual refugees.

The above are just my thoughts as an ignorant American who has never visited the Middle East. So I would be very interested in any comments, from all sides, by people who do live in the Middle East.

To salad:

Thanks for your detailed reply.

I'm well aware of the root problem. I just think the root problem is intractable. Hence, if there is ever to be a lasting peace -- and if the majority of Palestinians are ever to have any reasonable chance of a secure, materially good life -- it seems to me that this can be achieved only through some very creative outside-the-box thinking.

The unfortunate demographic reality is that more and more Jews believe, more and more fervently, that they have been commanded by God to live in Israel (see aliyah) and that God has given them the right to rule Israel within its original Biblical boundaries -- including all of "Judea and Samaria" -- which includes the West Bank. And this isn't going to change anytime soon. Reason: The Orthodox Jews who believe this tend to have lots and lots of babies, whereas the more left-wing anti-Zionist Jews and even moderate Zionist Jews are having a lot fewer babies. (There are also some anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews, who reject the modern state of Israel on the grounds that it wasn't founded by the Messiah, but they are a small minority, as far as I can tell.)

Additionally, here in the U.S.A., we have a lot of evangelical Christians who see the founding of the state of Israel as a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy, and who believe that the U.S.A. must defend Israel in order to retain God's favor. These Christians constitute our largest single organized religious subculture. They are big enough and well-organized enough to control the Republican Party to a large degree. Even the Democratic Party can't afford to ignore them completely.

Here in the U.S.A. we do have people who sympathize with the Palestinians too, but there's no large organized subculture that makes this a high priority. It's unlikely this will change any time soon either, even with the rise of a somewhat better-organized left here in the U.S.A.

Therefore, it seems to me that the only conceivable solution would be to:

1) Find some way to give at least 50% of Palestinians at least as prosperous a life, and if possible a better life -- in Lebanon, Jordan, and other neighboring countries -- than they could reasonably have expected to have had even if the state of Israel and all its citizens were somehow to magically evaporate and the Palestinians could all move back to Palestine.

2) Pressure Israel to accept at least some of the remaining Palestinians as Arab citizens of Israel. (And I think Israel would likely be much more willing to do this if more Palestinians were to find a satisfactory longterm home outside of Israel/Palestine.)

There would then be the problem of how to protect the civil rights of those new Arab citizens of Israel -- including their right not to be periodically evicted from their homes. This would be something the rest of the Arab world, and the rest of the Muslim world, and leftist movements worldwide, would still need to breathe down Israel's neck about -- but I think it would be many orders of magnitude easier to get results on that issue, within a single Israeli state, than to persuade Israel to give up any land whatsoever to a separate state, at least in the long run. I also think it would be much easier to pressure Israel to stop evictions, both in the Palestinian territories and in Israel proper, than to stop Israeli settlements altogether, even on vacant lots.

As for the holy places, that's an issue affecting not just the Palestinians but the entire Muslim world. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that the holy places are probably safe for the most part, at least in the foreseeable future, except for occasional incidents like the recent one.

Zionist Orthodox Jews do harbor a desire for an eventual "Third Temple" to be built on the Temple Mount. But, as far as I can tell, the vast majority of even the most fanatical Zionists believe that that's something only the forthcoming "Moshiach" (Messiah) is allowed to do. And, if anyone were to come along who was widely accepted by Israeli Jews as "Moshiach," that would drive a big wedge between Israel and its American evangelical Christian supporters, because said "Moshiach" would probably be seen by most evangelical Christians as the Anti-Christ.

I'll now reply to some specific parts of your post:

I believe the settlements in the West Bank and other places not in Israeli territory should stop being created.

Yep. It comes down to land.

If my neighbor were firing rockets at me over the fence I would have the urge to retaliate with force.

But if my neighbor were trespassing on my property, and were scheming to steal even more property from me I might retaliate by firing rockets at them.

What can ya say?

In the main both the Palestinians and the Israelies act much the way I would act if I were in their shoes.

But Netanyahu is going too far with allowing new settlements, and thus he is the instigator of this latest crises.

That’s what I say: full two-state solution.

Peace comes from people wanting equitable solutions. That is not the case here. Absolute world views don't allow for the compromises needed to reach peace. That is true everywhere and especially in Israel and Palestine. It is a sad and bloody history.